Eastern Philosophy

Although enormously attractive as sheer entertainment, Dervish tales were never presented merely on the level of a fable, legend, or folklore. They stand comparison in wit, construction, and piquancy with the finest stories of any culture, yet their true function as Sufi teaching stories is so little-known in the modern world, that no technical or popular terms exist to describe them. The material in Tales of the Dervishes is the result of a thousand years of development, during which Dervish masters used these and other teaching stories to instruct their disciples. The tales are held to convey powers of increasing perception unknown to the ordinary man.

In this second canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, we hear the great sage Shukadeva Goswami answering the questions of King Parikit, who has been cursed to die in seven days. After briefly delineating man’s highest duty and the best way to conquer suffering and death, Shukadeva explains the path of mystic yoga and meditation.

One of the most profound studies of warfare ever written, The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China presents us with an Eastern tradition of strategic thought that emphasizes outwitting one's opponent through speed, stealth, flexibility, and a minimum of force - an approach very different from that stressed in the West, where the advantages of brute strength have overshadowed more subtle methods.

We had been in India about two years, doing regular routine research work, when I met the Master known in these writings as Emil. While walking along a street in the city where we were staying, my attention was attracted to a crowd. I saw the center of interest was one of the street magicians, or fakirs, that are so common in that country. As I stood there I noticed beside me an elderly man who was not of the same caste as those about him. He looked at me and asked if I had been long in India.

The Mengzi is one of the very greatest works of world literature and philosophy, and it is perhaps the single most influential Confucian text of all time. Of all the Confucian classics, it is also the one most likely to speak to a contemporary audience. The Mengzi contains the dialogues, debates and sayings of Mengzi, a Confucian sage of the fourth century BCE. (He is also known by the Latinization of his name, 'Mencius'.)

One of the most significant and popular books in the history of human thought, and China’s earliest philosophical classic, The Dao De Jing has served for millennia as a brilliant guide to living healthily and happily, to treating the Earth with respect, and to understanding our place in the cosmos. Renowned translator J. H. Huang has spent over two decades researching the Dao, resulting in the most accurate translation to date based on the oldest known transcripts of the text.

El camino del zen y la senda del samurái son formas de sabiduría para transitar nuestra cotidianeidad. En tiempos de cambio e incertidumbre, valores de ética samurái como la devoción o la resiliencia pueden ser muy convenientes. La austeridad y el vacío fértil del zen nos enseñan a vivir en el presente. Alexis Racionero Ragué nos sumerge en el universo japonés combinando de forma muy amena la filosofía y la espiritualidad con el libro de viajes. A partir de una ruta por Japón, nos introduce en la ética, la estética y la espiritualidad del samurái, el monje guerrero imbuido por el zen.

As the author of more than 20 books on the world's spiritual traditions, Tim Freke is in a unique position to present a revolutionary new approach to spiritual awakening. With astonishing clarity and directness he explains why popular spiritual teachings that urge us to reject the mind, attack the ego, and detach from the vicissitudes of life are misguided. Using the powerful tool of "paralogical thinking", he reveals that everyone has both a "deep I" and a "personal self". The deep I is our spiritual essence, which is one with everyone and everything.

For the first time in any modern language, a female scholar and translator reimagines The Art of War. Sun Tzu’s ancient book of strategy and psychology has as much to tell us today as when it was first written 2,500 years ago. In a world forever at odds, his rules for anticipating the motivations and strategies of our competitors never cease to inspire leaders of all kinds.

The Art of War dates back to the fifth century BC, and is an ancient Chinese military handbook. Attributed to the intelligent military strategist Sun Tzu, the title of the work is Master Sun's Rules of Warfare when literally translated from Chinese. The book contains 13 chapters, each of which are dedicated to a single aspect of warfare strategy. Emperor Shenzong of Song deemed it the most important of China's Seven Military Classics in 1080 and it is still one of the most influential strategy texts in East Asia.

The question-and-answer format makes this introduction to Zen especially easy to understand - and also to use as a reference, as you can easily look up just the question you had in mind. The esteemed Zen teacher Norman Fischer and his old friend and teaching colleague Susan Moon (both of them in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, author of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind) give this collaborative effort a playful tone: Susan asks a question on our behalf, Norman answers it, and then Sue challenges him.

Beginning students in Japanese martial arts, such as karate, judo, aikido, iaido, kyudo, and kendo, learn that when they are in the dojo (the practice space), they must don their practice garb with ritual precision, address their teacher and senior students in a specific way, and follow certain unwritten but deeply held codes of behavior. But very soon they begin to wonder about the meaning behind the traditions, gear, and relationships in the dojo.

The Abhidharma, one of the three major text collections of the original Buddhist canon, frames the psychological system of Buddhism, explaining the workings of reality and the nature of the human mind. Because of its complexity, the Abhidharma has traditionally been reserved only for academic or monastic study; now, for the first time, clinical psychologist Beth Jacobs brings this dynamic body of work to general listeners, using practical explanation, personal stories, and vivid examples to gently untangle the technical aspects of the Abhidharma.

Distinguished philosopher Hilary Putnam, who is also a practicing Jew, questions the thought of three major Jewish philosophers of the 20th century - Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, and Emmanuel Levinas -- to help him reconcile the philosophical and religious sides of his life. An additional presence in the book is Ludwig Wittgenstein, who, although not a practicing Jew, thought about religion in ways that Putnam juxtaposes to the views of Rosenzweig, Buber, and Levinas.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky is best known as the cofounder of theosophy, which is essentially a selective conflation of Hindu and Buddhist ideas combined with Blavatsky's idiosyncratic system of cosmology. The Voice of the Silence, first published in 1889, is described by the author as "chosen fragments from the Book of the Golden Precepts, for the daily use of disciples".

The modern lifestyle with its excesses and worldly desires, the constant need to be connected, and the rapid development in technology, has made stress and lifestyle-related diseases the norm. The need for meditation, thus, is more acute. Meditation calms the mind, brings focus and enhances the senses, resulting in a better quality of life and work. And with the right Mantras, meditation becomes a highly effective tool in unleashing the immense potential within oneself.

At the core of this ancient strategy manual is the understanding that conflict is an inescapable part of human life. Since, as Sun Tzu teaches, aggression and response in kind can lead only to destruction, we must learn to work with conflict in a more profound and effective way. Crucial to this strategic vision is knowledge - especially self-knowledge - and a view of the whole that seeks to bring conflicting views into a larger perspective.

The classic spiritual travelogue by one of Tibet’s best-known explorers, The Way of the White Clouds is the remarkable narrative of a pilgrimage which could not be made today. In 1948, Lama Anagarika Govinda made an unforgettable journey into Tibet before its invasion by the Chinese. His unique account is not only a spectacular and gloriously poetic story of exploration and discovery; it is also invaluable for its sensitivity and clearly presented interpretation of the Tibetan tradition.

In The Beginner’s Guide to Karma, Lama Lhanang Rinpoche and Mordy Levine encourage listeners to forget what they’ve heard about karma and look at the subject afresh. Delving into Buddhist scripture and tradition, the authors give a comprehensive overview that incorporates psychology, ethics, and metaphysics. Using everyday language and real-life examples, they clear away myths, illustrate how karma works in daily life, and offer practices to build positive karma.

Voici le jardin du philosophe. On y cueillera des fruits mûris sur le tronc de la sagesse commune et dorés à cette autre lumiére des idées. Ils en reprennent leur saveur d'origine, qui est le goût de l'existence. Saveur oubliée en nos pensées ; car on voudrait s'assurer que l'existence est bonne et on ne le peut ; on en décoit donc l'espérance par précaution, prononcant qu'elle est mauvaise.