Follow up to my post: Professor Ding must know of her colleague formerly at Northwestern, now at U. of Chicago, Dr. Brook Ziporyn, whose works on Chinese philosophy, Chinese Tiantai Buddhism, and Daoism interpret and present the vast span of Chinese philosophical wisdom in English. I can highly recommend his "Emptiness and Omnipresence" and "Being and Ambiguity," - books for the philosophically inclined. See my (Blaine Snow) reviews of these books on Goodreads.com or on Academia.edu.
This essay blew my mind - SO insightful, instructive, revealing, and wise. I've read much about Schopenhauer and also know Urs App's work on the influence of Asian philosophical systems on western philosophers (see App's 2010 "The Birth of Orientalism"). I also learned about Schopenhauer's influence on Wagner and later on Nietzsche through Brian Magee's book "The Tristan Chord."
Having been an ESL teacher for 38 years working mainly with East Asian college students from Japan, Korea, and China, Ding's insights into their compressed modernity malaise and emptiness wasn't surprising - I could see this going on 20 years ago. But it's clearly been greatly amplified with the intensification of modernity.
I'm also a lifelong student of Buddhism and have amassed hundreds of volumes on Indian, Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese forms of Buddhism. Knowing as I do the richness, depth, and sophistication of the Buddhist tradition in these countries makes me sad to think that these young people look to a western philosopher, Schopenhauer, to teach them about their OWN TRADITIONS when they should be immersed in centuries of their own Buddhist wisdom that Schopenhauer, frankly, didn't represent very well, or at least only very thinly.
No doubt Asian youth have been soured on their own wisdom traditions in the same way westerners have been soured on western religious traditions which is super sad because philosophical Buddhism is a thousand times richer than anything Schopenhauer ever produced. Traditions in Japan, Korea, and China are unbelievably diverse, refined, nuanced, argued, developed with thousands of volumes of wisdom texts to be discovered. It's a shame the great works of their own traditions are still lost to them... Chan/Zen tradition, Tiantai and Huayan Buddhism of China, Chinese Daoist tradition, Chinese Neo-Confucianism... fantastically rich, centuries of literature, hundreds of philosophers, sages, poets...
Thanks again to Iza Ding for one of the best essays on East Asian culture I've ever read.
Thank you for reading my essay and for leaving such encouraging and thoughtful comments! The Birth of Orientalism is on my list—App’s writing on Schopenhauer&China was a delightful find. The Tristan Chord also sounds like a book I would like—putting that on my list too. I think I might be one of these “young people looking to a western philosopher to teach them about their own traditions” you talked about; although, alas, I’m not young. I admit it was actually Schopenhauer who got me interested in Buddhism. But all my knowledge on Buddhism comes from the secondary literature. I’ve even read the Bible, but I’ve never read any Buddhist text in full. Yesterday I had the same conversation with my best friend, who is American and knows a lot more about Buddhism than I do. So there is clearly something there. Maybe foreign ideas just seem more exotic and appealing to some people. Maybe those who are more self-critical are more likely to appreciate other cultures and traditions. Maybe it will be a topic for a future essay. And by thinking through this topic, I might finally force myself to read a Buddhist text. Maybe I will start with 大藏一覽, since that’s Schopenhauer’s favorite :)
Thanks to you for opening my eyes to the struggles many Asian youth are experiencing in these times of "compressed modernity." Having visited Korea, Japan, and Taiwan multiple times in the 2000s I have a sense of what things there are like. I was in PRChina in a different era, summer of 85, so I can only imagine how ultra-modern things are there now.
It's a curious cultural phenomenon that Asians and westerners so often look to each other's cultures for wisdom, guidance, new ideas, and inspiration. I've had many long conversations on why this is the case and know for myself the reasons I became disillusioned with western monotheism (less so with western philosophy) and what attracted me to Buddhism. I'd be interested in knowing more how Asian youth discover the wisdom of their own traditions? Like for you - Schopenhauer's Buddhist inspiration becomes their curiosity? I'm sure you know that, until very recently, academic western philosophy has acted as if it's the only game in town - South and East Asian philosophy has been relegated to "cultural studies" and not counted as "real" philosophy. Schopenhauer was the one outlier so other similar western philosophers are rare, obscure, or unknown. Today however is a different story.
Nowadays there are SO many doors into Buddhism - everyone has his/her own way, a teacher, a book, a podcast, a film, a friend, a visit abroad - Buddhism is such a huge tent with so much to offer. I have a ton of respect for Schopenhauer's work but remember, his understanding of Buddhism is very antiquated... AYK, it's well known that each generation of scholars produces better interpretations of Buddhist teachings and thought. Even interpretations of post-war scholars such as T.R.V. Murti ("The Central Philosophy of Buddhism") have been superseded by recent scholars and authors. And now there are literally thousands of books in English on every aspect of Buddhism you can imagine so you have much to choose from. If interested, you can look at my Buddhism bookshelf on Goodreads.com (https://tinyurl.com/43rryfrk) for the many volumes that have inspired me. Thanks Iza for engaging!
In defense of Hegel: The German poet Heinrich Heine reports that Hegel himself had orally re-phrased his famous dictum like this: "Whatever is rational, ought to be made real." That sounds rather less reactionary.
You are totally right that Hegel probably didn’t mean what that line came to mean in contemporary discourse. PS: Heinrich Heine is another Chinese favorite—his poetry collection sits on the other side of the display shelf in Exhibit A.
Happy to hear that - Heine is my favourite, the very proof that German prose can be light, concise and witty. I imagine he could be hard to translate in Chinese though!
Love “the very proof that German prose can be light, concise and witty.” To be honest I’ve only read him in Chinese. But now my German is high-school level, I will try to read him in German, and report back re: translation.
Hegelians take note: there's a fresh, new interpretation of Hegel by the philosopher Richard Brandom, entitled "A Spirit of Trust: A Reading of Hegel's Phenomenology" (https://a.co/d/7Sn5jX1) so Hegel's definitely not forgotten.
Follow up to my post: Professor Ding must know of her colleague formerly at Northwestern, now at U. of Chicago, Dr. Brook Ziporyn, whose works on Chinese philosophy, Chinese Tiantai Buddhism, and Daoism interpret and present the vast span of Chinese philosophical wisdom in English. I can highly recommend his "Emptiness and Omnipresence" and "Being and Ambiguity," - books for the philosophically inclined. See my (Blaine Snow) reviews of these books on Goodreads.com or on Academia.edu.
Will read both!
This essay blew my mind - SO insightful, instructive, revealing, and wise. I've read much about Schopenhauer and also know Urs App's work on the influence of Asian philosophical systems on western philosophers (see App's 2010 "The Birth of Orientalism"). I also learned about Schopenhauer's influence on Wagner and later on Nietzsche through Brian Magee's book "The Tristan Chord."
Having been an ESL teacher for 38 years working mainly with East Asian college students from Japan, Korea, and China, Ding's insights into their compressed modernity malaise and emptiness wasn't surprising - I could see this going on 20 years ago. But it's clearly been greatly amplified with the intensification of modernity.
I'm also a lifelong student of Buddhism and have amassed hundreds of volumes on Indian, Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese forms of Buddhism. Knowing as I do the richness, depth, and sophistication of the Buddhist tradition in these countries makes me sad to think that these young people look to a western philosopher, Schopenhauer, to teach them about their OWN TRADITIONS when they should be immersed in centuries of their own Buddhist wisdom that Schopenhauer, frankly, didn't represent very well, or at least only very thinly.
No doubt Asian youth have been soured on their own wisdom traditions in the same way westerners have been soured on western religious traditions which is super sad because philosophical Buddhism is a thousand times richer than anything Schopenhauer ever produced. Traditions in Japan, Korea, and China are unbelievably diverse, refined, nuanced, argued, developed with thousands of volumes of wisdom texts to be discovered. It's a shame the great works of their own traditions are still lost to them... Chan/Zen tradition, Tiantai and Huayan Buddhism of China, Chinese Daoist tradition, Chinese Neo-Confucianism... fantastically rich, centuries of literature, hundreds of philosophers, sages, poets...
Thanks again to Iza Ding for one of the best essays on East Asian culture I've ever read.
Thank you for reading my essay and for leaving such encouraging and thoughtful comments! The Birth of Orientalism is on my list—App’s writing on Schopenhauer&China was a delightful find. The Tristan Chord also sounds like a book I would like—putting that on my list too. I think I might be one of these “young people looking to a western philosopher to teach them about their own traditions” you talked about; although, alas, I’m not young. I admit it was actually Schopenhauer who got me interested in Buddhism. But all my knowledge on Buddhism comes from the secondary literature. I’ve even read the Bible, but I’ve never read any Buddhist text in full. Yesterday I had the same conversation with my best friend, who is American and knows a lot more about Buddhism than I do. So there is clearly something there. Maybe foreign ideas just seem more exotic and appealing to some people. Maybe those who are more self-critical are more likely to appreciate other cultures and traditions. Maybe it will be a topic for a future essay. And by thinking through this topic, I might finally force myself to read a Buddhist text. Maybe I will start with 大藏一覽, since that’s Schopenhauer’s favorite :)
Thanks to you for opening my eyes to the struggles many Asian youth are experiencing in these times of "compressed modernity." Having visited Korea, Japan, and Taiwan multiple times in the 2000s I have a sense of what things there are like. I was in PRChina in a different era, summer of 85, so I can only imagine how ultra-modern things are there now.
It's a curious cultural phenomenon that Asians and westerners so often look to each other's cultures for wisdom, guidance, new ideas, and inspiration. I've had many long conversations on why this is the case and know for myself the reasons I became disillusioned with western monotheism (less so with western philosophy) and what attracted me to Buddhism. I'd be interested in knowing more how Asian youth discover the wisdom of their own traditions? Like for you - Schopenhauer's Buddhist inspiration becomes their curiosity? I'm sure you know that, until very recently, academic western philosophy has acted as if it's the only game in town - South and East Asian philosophy has been relegated to "cultural studies" and not counted as "real" philosophy. Schopenhauer was the one outlier so other similar western philosophers are rare, obscure, or unknown. Today however is a different story.
Nowadays there are SO many doors into Buddhism - everyone has his/her own way, a teacher, a book, a podcast, a film, a friend, a visit abroad - Buddhism is such a huge tent with so much to offer. I have a ton of respect for Schopenhauer's work but remember, his understanding of Buddhism is very antiquated... AYK, it's well known that each generation of scholars produces better interpretations of Buddhist teachings and thought. Even interpretations of post-war scholars such as T.R.V. Murti ("The Central Philosophy of Buddhism") have been superseded by recent scholars and authors. And now there are literally thousands of books in English on every aspect of Buddhism you can imagine so you have much to choose from. If interested, you can look at my Buddhism bookshelf on Goodreads.com (https://tinyurl.com/43rryfrk) for the many volumes that have inspired me. Thanks Iza for engaging!
In defense of Hegel: The German poet Heinrich Heine reports that Hegel himself had orally re-phrased his famous dictum like this: "Whatever is rational, ought to be made real." That sounds rather less reactionary.
You are totally right that Hegel probably didn’t mean what that line came to mean in contemporary discourse. PS: Heinrich Heine is another Chinese favorite—his poetry collection sits on the other side of the display shelf in Exhibit A.
Happy to hear that - Heine is my favourite, the very proof that German prose can be light, concise and witty. I imagine he could be hard to translate in Chinese though!
Love “the very proof that German prose can be light, concise and witty.” To be honest I’ve only read him in Chinese. But now my German is high-school level, I will try to read him in German, and report back re: translation.
Try the "Reisebilder" (Travel Pictures). E.g. the "Harzreise" is hilarious. Enjoy!
Hegelians take note: there's a fresh, new interpretation of Hegel by the philosopher Richard Brandom, entitled "A Spirit of Trust: A Reading of Hegel's Phenomenology" (https://a.co/d/7Sn5jX1) so Hegel's definitely not forgotten.