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Eastern philosophy and cultural history
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Tangil
Hi guys

I'm looking to get a better understanding of Eastern philosophy and history (from a cultural point of view - i.e. way of life/values/traditions etc).

Would love some recommendations for a book or documentary that would be a useful starting point.

Xie xie :)
Paradox Lost
Had to web surf a bit just to verify that we weren't indeed the last forum left on Earth.
DJ RANN
Are you sure we're not?
Lira
Head of the Centre of Asian Studies of my university here, I think I can help :)

The Great Courses series has a course called Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition, starring all the great Asian thinkers you probably have in mind (and loads of others). The course is a bit pricey, but there are occasional bargains on Audible if you're lucky. Also, it comes with a course guide with dozens of university-level references, so you know it's quality stuff. Is it too general? Or would you like something more specific about a certain tradition?
Tangil
Hey thanks Lira! That course looks great, but is probably a bit too expensive for me at the moment.

I was thinking something that would give a solid introduction to the most prominent Eastern philosophers combined with history and culture.

This book, The Pulse of Wisdom (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...pulse-of-wisdom) looks pretty good but not sure if it will have a lot of detail on history/culture aspects of Eastern living.

Any recommendations for a book would be great, although I will keep my eye on Audible for a discounted price for that course.
DJ RANN
Lol, this is actually brilliant; a random comes on, with an incredibly random question about learning sources for asian philosophy (on a schranz website of all places) and our mod is actually head of asian studies and is probably one of the best suited people to ever answer said random question.

Gotta love TA.
Dykes_on_Jay
Move here and you will laugh at this question.

Mr Myagi died for a reason.
Dykes_on_Jay
I love you LIRA--you could have 20 phds...but the culture.
Jon_Snow
All the answers you seek can be found at the bottom of a bottle of Tsingtao.
Dykes_on_Jay
Have you sexxed an adult yet?

wotyzoid
Lira, I need more samurai books. I'm reading Hagakure.
Lira
quote:
Originally posted by Tangil
Hey thanks Lira! That course looks great, but is probably a bit too expensive for me at the moment.

Not sure it helps but, it's 75% off right now, so you can get it for 30 bucks at the moment.
quote:
Originally posted by Tangil
This book, The Pulse of Wisdom (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...pulse-of-wisdom) looks pretty good but not sure if it will have a lot of detail on history/culture aspects of Eastern living.

This looks like one of those interesting new religious strains of thought that have been coming out of South Asia. They're fascinating in their own right but, yeah, if you want a comprehensive description on Asian religions, maybe a broader book like Bradley Hawkins' Asian Religions would also be a good idea.
quote:
Originally posted by DJ RANN
Lol, this is actually brilliant; a random comes on, with an incredibly random question about learning sources for asian philosophy (on a schranz website of all places) and our mod is actually head of asian studies and is probably one of the best suited people to ever answer said random question.

Gotta love TA.

Haha, reminds me of the day I posted I was going to see Darude here in Brasília, someone jokingly said "tracklist or stfu", and then Darude himself posted the tracks :p
quote:
Originally posted by Dykes_on_Jay
I love you LIRA--you could have 20 phds...but the culture.

:stongue:

And I love you too, Jay, but I can't believe you let someone else shoot "Lost in Translation"... that damn film could've been so much more amusing :p
quote:
Originally posted by wotyzoid
Lira, I need more samurai books. I'm reading Hagakure.

Hmm... Samurai books? Have you read Musashi yet? It was all the rage around here in Brazil some ten years ago. This is one of the gaps in my knowledge, even though I had to teach about the history of Japan a couple of years ago :toothless
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