From: esot@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Eric Sotnak)
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts
Subject: Re: Well, well, well...
Date: 9 Jan 93 05:39:31 GMT
Organization: University of Rochester - Rochester, New York


  Oh, I probably shouldn't bother with this, but ...

  Mr. Capell claimed something to the effect that Eastern philosophies are
grounded on practice rather than intellection, in contradistinction to
Western philosophies, which are grounded the other way round.
  If this is meant to point out a direction of emphasis for the respective
philosophical "traditions" (very broadly construed), then perhaps he is
correct.  But surely he realizes that a number of Buddhist, Taoist, and
Confucian philosophical traditions (in fact, the majority of such
traditions) derived much of their character from specific texts, which
defined orthodoxy for the tradition.  Tien tai Buddhism (J. tendai), for
example, took the Lotus Sutra as its "patron text," Hua Yen (J. kegon) the
Flower Ornament Scripture, and so on.  Even the so-called "tradition outside
the teachings" (viz., Chan/Zen) borrowed heavily from classical Buddhist
scriptures (many zen sayings cannot properly be understood without
regognizing that they allude to classical texts).
  Only the Zen and Taoist traditions held that sagehood/enlightenment could
be attained without any (particular) form of intellectual study.  (Although,
more recently, Nichiren varieties of Buddhism have developed according to
which enlightenment just IS chanting "nam-myohorenge-kyo".  Come to think of
it, something similar obtains for the "time-school" of the Jodo tradition,
only with "namu-amida-butsu" serving the crucial role).  And no zen master
of note was ever unfamiliar with (and was often able to quote at length from
memory) numerous classical texts.  Even Hui Neng, who was supposed to have
been an illiterate woodcutter before discovering Zen, was well-steeped in
classical terminology and texts (that is, if we are to believe that those
texts we have which have been associated with him are rightly associated).
  In the West, there have been plenty of philosophical traditions that
emphasized practice (though few have thought that practice alone was
sufficient).  Aristotle's ethics emphasized practice in the form of the
cultivation of character traits by habituation.  The Stoics and Epicureans
developed philosophies which bear many similarities to (especially) early
Buddhism.  And the much-maligned Nietzsche's perspectivist view of truth was
probably deeply inspired by his study of buddhism.  (Nietzsche greatly
misunderstood Buddhism -- hardly surprising given the sources he had
available to him -- but in rejecting Buddhism, he formulated a philosophy
which was far more buddhist in some respects than he ever realized.)

  By all means enjoy your love-affair with Eastern traditions.  But please
don't do them a disservice by ignoring the intellectual accomplishments of
those within that tradition.  Please, too, do not malign Western
philosophical traditions without making the effort properly to understand
them.

--
********************************************************************
Eric Sotnak                   |  One life.
esot@troi.cc.rochester.edu    |  One chance. 
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts