Eastern Philosophy

Traditions outside the Greek line. Confucius and the Daoists, Buddhist philosophy and its schools, the Indian systems and the Upanishads, and the comparative work that reads them alongside the West.

Part of Philosophy

11 moments in this segment.

1. -500 - The Buddha (c. 563–483 BC). Siddhartha Gautama: suffering, its cause, its cessation, and the Eightfold Path.
2. -500 - Confucius (551–479 BC). The Chinese sage of ren (benevolence) and li (ritual propriety), the spine of East-Asian ethics.
3. -500 - Laozi (6th c. BC). The legendary author of the Tao Te Ching, the Way that cannot be named, wu wei, the soft over the hard.
4. -350 - Mencius (372–289 BC). Confucius' great successor, who argued human nature is innately good.
5. 0800 - Adi Shankara (c. 700–750). Advaita Vedanta: the non-dual reality of Brahman behind the world of appearances.
6. 2015-02-06 - Confucius (The School of Life). Ren, li, and the ethics that shaped East Asia.
7. 2015-03-30 - Buddhism's Four Noble Truths (BBC Radio 4). The core of the Buddha's teaching.
8. 2021-07-08 - Intro to Confucianism (ReligionForBreakfast). The Confucian tradition explained.
9. 2024-02-15 - The Butterfly Dream - the Zhuangzi. A deeper look, part of the history of philosophy.
10. 2024-04-06 - Nagarjuna and the philosophy of emptiness (Madhyamaka). A deeper look, part of the history of philosophy.
11. 2025-06-20 - Laozi and the Daodejing (Overly Sarcastic Productions). A deeper look, part of the history of philosophy.