We call Eastern philosophy to the currents of thought that evolved in South Asia, especially in countries such as China, India and Japan, and in the areas of influence of Islam (from the Iberian Peninsula to Indonesia).
These philosophies are very diverse and only have in common having arisen in Asia, in very ancient and structured civilizations, such as China and India, with little contact with Western thought that emerged in the Mediterranean basin..
Religious-philosophical currents such as Confucianism, Taoism or Buddhism, among others, continue to have millions of followers and practitioners in the world, and have influenced thinkers and ordinary people in the West and the rest of the world..
The oldest philosophical traditions in the East arise in India and China, between 1500 and 1200 BC, associated with religious systems such as Hinduism in India and ancestor worship in China, and spread through the emergence of kingdoms and empires.
In India, Hinduism was imposed from the invasion of the Aryans, in 1500 BC, and the imposition of the caste system and a pantheon with thousands of gods.
In China, as centralized systems of government are created, Confucianism thrives, but also philosophical currents such as Taoism.
In later centuries philosophies such as Buddhism emerged, in part as a reaction to the rigidity of systems such as Hindu.
The main philosophical currents are associated with the main religious systems of Asia, or end up drifting towards religious behavior, such as the establishment of monastic orders or the construction of temples.
Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, as well as Islam much later, are closely associated with political systems, such as principalities, kingdoms, and empires..
Eastern philosophy is not part of a strictly academic or intellectual thought, but a way of life, with millions of practitioners in Asia and the rest of the world. Proof of this is the tea ceremony in Japan, through which the philosophical foundations are transmitted.
Interest in Eastern philosophies in the West began in the mid-nineteenth century, among thinkers such as Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), and became massive from the sixties of the last century.
There are currently millions of followers in Europe and America of Buddhist practices, yoga and meditation, and thousands of readers of the I Ching or the Tao Te King; as well as outstanding contemporary physicists -such as Robert Oppenheimer or Erwin Schrödinger-, connoisseurs of Hindu sacred texts, who have linked with the most advanced scientific thought.
Following the contact, not always desired, between the West and the East, currents of Western thought have influenced Asian countries, especially Marxist philosophy in China, Vietnam and North Korea..
Eastern philosophies do not try to separate the individual from society, but to integrate him into the family, such as Confucianism, or his social group, such as Hinduism (with the caste system).
Both in India and China the different currents tend to disdain the ego and propose the search for spiritual liberation, the end of suffering. One of the ways they promote as a source of enlightenment is meditation
Philosophical thought dates back to the appearance of I Ching (the Book of mutations), a divination text that also collects beliefs and ideas from the 12th century BC. But the main currents of Chinese thought are Taoism and Confucianism..
Taoism emerged in the 6th century BC. as a search for harmony with nature. It is an individual search that differentiates it from Confucianism. Its main representative is Lao Tzu, whose doctrine is collected in the Tao Te King (400 BC).
The father of this current is Confucius (551-479 BC), who proclaims the cult of ancestors, the family and social rituals. It promotes a political and social ethic that was adopted by the different dynasties of the Chinese empire, and that has even survived the current Chinese communist state.
Confucianism is present in other Asian countries and wherever there is a colony of Chinese migrants.
The Hindu religion dates back to the clash of the Aryan and Dravidian peoples around 1500 BC. The Bans, first sacred books of Hinduism, are from 1200 BC, and other sacred texts, such as the Upanishads, They are from 1000 BC.
Hindu philosophy cultivated areas such as ethics, epistemology, metaphysics, and soteriology (theology of salvation). They believed in reincarnation and liberation through meditation and religious practice.
Hindu philosophy is present in other countries, such as Nepal or Bhutan, and other Asian nations.
It is one of the heterodox branches of Hinduism, emerged in the 6th century BC, from the teachings of Prince Gautama Buddha. Buddhism seeks liberation from suffering through ethical living, meditation, and the pursuit of wisdom through the practice of moderation..
Buddhism spread to other Asian nations, such as China, Burma, Tibet, Japan, and, in the last two centuries, to Western nations. As it spread, it took different forms, such as Tibetan Buddhism, Won (Korean) Buddhism, or Zen Buddhism. They also believe in reincarnation.
Japanese philosophical thought, like the Korean, was greatly influenced by philosophical currents from China and even India, such as Buddhism.
However, it maintains an immemorial religious cult (with some records from the 8th century AD), Shintoism. Shintoism consists of the worship of the ancestors and the kami, divinities of nature.
From its emergence in the 7th century AD. and from its rapid expansion through Africa, Asia, and Europe, the Islamic tradition developed several schools of thought in the Middle East and the Iberian Peninsula..
It should be noted that it was thanks to these centers that the West again had contact with classical Greek texts, translated from Arabic into Latin, Hebrew and Spanish..
Unlike the West, Eastern philosophy is never completely separated from the religious spirit.
Eastern philosophies emphasize the importance of family, religion, state, and social life. That of the West tends to individualism.
Philosophy in the West eventually takes a critical stance on the state and forms of government, while Eastern ones support governments and systems, such as that of castes in India..
Western philosophy favors logical, rational thought, while Eastern philosophy leans towards intuitive thinking, enlightenment.
Philosophy in the West has become an academic and specialist activity, while in the East (and even in the West when Buddhism is practiced, for example), Eastern philosophy is part of everyday life.
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