/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.2755513]

Why is /lit/ so often openly against Eastern philosophy/religion? Is it because of people who turn to Buddhism and the like because they think it's exotic or want to dissociate themselves from their European heritage, rather than out of an actual interest in its ideas?

Just curious.

[Anonymous No.2755514]

>>2755513

>Why is /lit/ so often openly against Eastern philosophy/religion?

I don't think we are.

[Anonymous No.2755521]

>>2755514
Wait til you see someone start a "How do I learn more about Buddhism (or Shinto or Taoism or any other Eastern worldview)?" thread. Last time I saw one, fully half of the posts were "self-hating white college student detected," etc.

[Anonymous No.2755523]

Are you thinking of /sci/?
/lit/ are pretty chill.

[Anonymous No.2755522]

>>2755514
Nor do I.

[Anonymous No.2755526]

>>2755513

Basically, yes. Eastern religions are for chinks and nips and assorted towelheads; it is not for westerners. Same principle as with wiggers.

[Anonymous No.2755529]

>Is it because of people who turn to Buddhism and the like because they think it's exotic or want to dissociate themselves from their European heritage, rather than out of an actual interest in its ideas?

Partly. Those kind of people are obnoxious, always bringing up how the Western way is inferior and shifting arguments into a West vs. East thing when the threads could've been an actually interesting thread.

Buddhism is also mostly made up of thought-stoppers.

[Anonymous No.2755530]

>>2755526
But there are people who come to those religions through legitimate soul searching and research into different ideas, rather than through "ooh, it's foreign! I like it!"

And Buddhism is a religion that was intended to be spread across the world.

[Anonymous No.2755531]

[Anonymous No.2755534]

It's because there are so many teenlads who've read a tiny bit of buddhist or other eastern philosophy then start raving about it despite not really understanding what they're talking about. This has caused a major backlash against people who bring the topics up.

I'm interested in all comparative mythology but won't bring up the eastern ones simply because there are so many connotations of talking about it, either I'll be berated for being one of those I mentioned, or end up having to berate one. Either way, it's not conducive to conversation.

[Anonymous No.2755535]

yeah basically weeaboos and chinaboos ruining shit for people who legitimately just want to learn

[Anonymous No.2755536]

>>2755530

I'm not saying that wiggers don't actually like rap and shit. Doesn't make them any more acceptable.

[Anonymous No.2755542]

>>2755526
>comparing philosophy with rap music

[Anonymous No.2755537]

>>2755531

>a Empire

[Anonymous No.2755538]

I don't think /lit/ is fundamentally opposed to Eastern philo/religion, but every thread I've seen on the subject usually gets derailed by people accusing others of taking too Western an approach at even attempting to learn something about Eastern thought, or else question the sincerity in such an endeavor.

[Anonymous No.2755539]

>>2755536
>I'm not saying that wiggers don't actually like rap and shit. Doesn't make them any more acceptable.
I think the difference is that "wiggers" are just trying to be cool. The way Eminem became a success was in part that he didn't try to be black. But he still made rap.

[Anonymous No.2755548]

>>2755542
>not being aware of kids using philosophical stances as fashion accessories

lol

[Anonymous No.2755549]

>>2755539

What? He totally tried to be black. He talked with that phony accent and everything.

[Anonymous No.2755551]

You want to learn about Buddhism? HERE's how you learn about Buddhism.

1. Read some books about it.
2. Go to a local Buddhist temple. Don't mention the books. Say you're interested, then shut the fuck up and only speak when asked a question.
3. See if you like the people there.
4. If not, find another temple and repeat steps 2-3 until you find one where you're happy.
5. Get to know the people there, be aware you'll probably sound like an idiot at some point, and just shrug it off when that happens.
6. They'll help you from there.

[Anonymous No.2755553]

>>2755537

If I had a legitimate copy of the game, I'd submit a bug report to Paradox. But as it is, can't do much about it, even though it grates.

[Anonymous No.2755554]

>>2755548
>thinking everyone who has a philosophical stance uses it as a fashion accessory

[Anonymous No.2755562]

>>2755554
>thinking that what I think

reading, it's beyond you.

[Anonymous No.2755563]

>>2755536
So I can't claim to enjoy or have learned something from Native Son or Invisible Man because I'm not black? Get the fuck out of here.

[Anonymous No.2755565]

>>2755551
THIS

[Anonymous No.2755567]

>>2755562
Sorry.

>thinking every Westerner with a philosophical stance influenced by Eastern thought uses it as a fashion accessory

[Anonymous No.2755571]

>>2755567

Anonymous 06/26/12(Tue)09:24 No.2755562
>>2755554
>thinking that what I think

nouns, they're beyond you.

[Anonymous No.2755575]

The Tao te Ching is one of the best books I have ever read.

The Tao of Jeet Kun Do combines basic Eastern Philosphy with Western Philosphy to creat an amalgam martial art, and is a fantastic read.

"Taoism" (and I fret to even use that term, so I do for lack of a better one) taught me so much about proper diet and exercise and spirituality and meditation.

As for art and entertainment, I basically love Western culture. I haven't watched anime since I was a young teen, and back then it was called Japanimation, so yeah.

I have found that Westerners hate the non-confrontational aspect of Eastern philosophy, as argument is the foundation of Western philosophy. Most of them don't like the concept of a belief system that actually requires tangible work to attain higher thought processes.

Nice pic, OP

[Anonymous No.2755580]

>>2755563

You can claim that. But then you'll just have to deal with the ostracism, because such tastes are unbefitting a white person.

[Anonymous No.2755584]

>>2755571
Assuming you're the same anon who said that "wiggers" are terrible, and it doesn't matter if you legitimately like rap music because if you're white it's just a fashion accessory, and then compared philosophical stances TO rap music, sounds like you're saying every Westerner with a philosophical stance influenced by Eastern thought uses it as a fashion accessory.

How about you say what you mean instead of dancing around like an idiot and implying things you don't mean?

[Anonymous No.2755587]

>>2755548
>implying I am young enough to give a shit what kids do
>implying I was ever immature enough to pay heed to what kids do to seem cool

[Anonymous No.2755591]

>>2755584
>Assuming you're the same anon who said that "wiggers" are terrible

I'm not.

>How about you say what you mean instead of dancing around like an idiot and implying things you don't mean?

I said what I meant, you people just can't read:

>>>not being aware of kids using philosophical stances as fashion accessories

[Anonymous No.2755594]

>>2755591
I thought you were the same anon as before. Just a misunderstanding.

[Anonymous No.2755599]

Ethiopian philosophy is where it's at.

[Anonymous No.2755602]

>>2755587
>being too old to participate in a discussion about why /lit/ hates summer buddhists
>wanting to stay relevant by continue to post

[Anonymous No.2755609]

>>2755602
You are right, my friend. Carry on hating, I'll carry on living.

[Anonymous No.2755610]

Well, I'm not against Eastern spirituality, however the vast majority of the reception in the West is utterly uncritical. For example, I myself thought the Dalai Lama was a good person (in a relatively fuzzy, non-descript way, I didn't have a clear mental image of his views), until I saw a speech about how he is just a theocratic leader of a small caste of monks that used to brutally oppress the vast majority of Tibetan population and generally be evil until they got ousted by the Chinese (who are also evil, but that doesn't mean the Lama isn't). So the Dalai Lama got the Nobel Peace Prize only because it was a way of pissing off the Chinese without endangering trade relations, and ever since he has been living off U.S. money (look it up) and spouting fortune-cookie-tier inanities.

[Anonymous No.2755611]

So you assume anyone interested in Buddhism is some college freshman who hates him/herself and wants to be "different?"

Wouldn't actually helping the person learn more be beneficial, since getting rid of such longings is what it's actually ABOUT?

[Anonymous No.2755614]

>>2755610
I thought that was the previous Dalai Lama, and the current one has been spouting the fortune-cookie inanities his entire career. No?

[Anonymous No.2755619]

>>2755587
Oh, you slay me. Either you were an absolute recluse, or you're lying. Whether you conformed or not, saying you didn't care what seems cool is an absolute lie. This whole post is an attempt to seem "cool" by condescending. Good try. Have fun alone in the dark tonight.

[Anonymous No.2755616]

>The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism.
>Yellow Hat
Is there a Red Hat Linux branch of Tibetan Buddhism?

[Anonymous No.2755622]

>>2755614
could be, don't know. Since it doesn't really change the whole thing about theocracy, I think it doesn't matter much for my point. Also, apparently most monasteries had their own torture chambers and the dalai lama proclaimed a dude a distinguished teacher of buddhism who went on to be the head of Aum Shinryo, the Japanese subway-gassers.

[Anonymous No.2755628]

Somewhat. A lot of the people are very superficially into eastern philosophy, and read books like Siddhartha or Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. This superficial understanding is taken by the haters to represent Eastern philosophy. Think of the Religious retard/Antitheist retard/nonretarded atheis/religious person relationship. Religious retards are stupid, then Antitheists understand the retarded type as religion and are trapped into the same level of retardation.

[Anonymous No.2755656]

>>2755628
having only read the tao of pooh and the tao te ching, what do you suggest I read to delve deeper into the philosophy of the tao

[Anonymous No.2755700]

It's liberals who hate their own race, their culture, and their history, and like to believe in the noble savage myth in regards to easterners

[Anonymous No.2755712]

>>2755656
You should read Richard Yates of the Tao

[Anonymous No.2755726]

>>2755700
The noble savage idea is offensive as it still implies the superiority of the West in many ways and romanticizes the everyday lives of everyday people, while implying that Asians were all naive and childlike. That doesn't change the fact that they did have some good ideas.

[Anonymous No.2755754]

>>2755619
Thanks, I will.

You fail to understand that a person can travel through a place without being influenced by it.

[Anonymous No.2755765]

>>2755513
>/lit/ so often openly against Eastern philosophy/religion

We are not. I am against threads that assume stupid shit as it's first premise.

[Anonymous No.2755784]

>>2755656
"The Tao is Silent" is wonderful. It touches on comparisons with several religions and philosophies, even debunking Christian ideas of Jesus.

There are the classics, like the I Ching, the Chuang Tzu, and the Te of Piglet.

It would also be good to seek related material, like Tai Chi, Qi Gong and Meditation.

The 365 Tao is a great little book for morning meditations.

If you intend on practicing any of this, remember, diet and exercise are very important in Tao.

[Anonymous No.2755810]

>>2755616

[Anonymous No.2755928]

The onl philosophy i need is Christian, because in my opinion most philosophies are mutually exclusive. Having said that, i have read eastern-influenced philosophy like (im not looking the spelling up) schoppenhaur. I disagree with a lot of his shit, but it's very interesting

[Anonymous No.2756393]

>>2755538
I think this is the mostly true statement. Hardly anyone has a complete understanding of any eastern system. I say system instead of philosophy because Eastern philosophy must be taken via knowledge of its system. And yet there are those who'se only knowledge of eastern views are from their christian families/western philosopher's negative/uninformed view. Every westerners's view of Eastern system is almost universally a Mystical one. Not because they know the system, but because they read 1-2 books on it and couldnt understand the contradictions and therefore label it as mystical. I'm getting pretty tired of the term mystic.

[Anonymous No.2756400]

>>2755526
>Eastern religions are for chinks and nips and assorted towelheads; it is not for westerners. Same principle as with wiggers.

I'm out /lit/

[Anonymous No.2756417]

Western world is way too materialistic and bound to money and belongings to really get a hold of, say, Buddhism. All those movies and books and games and shit we do are distractions so we don't have to think about our state of impermanence and they're happy that way.

[Anonymous No.2756461]

>>2756393
Out of all of the retardation in this thread, you emerged as the King of Tards.

[Anonymous No.2756466]

>>2756393
My apologies, patrician, I meant that for >>2755928.

I'm excited to see your response to my mistake though.

[Anonymous No.2756465]

>>2755521
Yeah I tried to make a "Rec me buddhist books" topic and after about two suggestions it went down the toilet.

[Anonymous No.2756540]

>http://plato.stanford.edu/search/searcher.py?query=buddhist

Probably a better indepth (somewhat) version of buddhist system

[Anonymous No.2756585]

>>2755656
Read Chuang Tzu and Lie-Tzu, although the latter is mixed a bit with Buddhism these are traditionally considered the main Taoist canon.
>>2755784
Not necessarily. I always say to each their own, but the interpritations of the Tao and the ways to practice Taoism are very broad. Due to it's age and the number of different sects and interpretations by different philosophers it's very open to interpretation. Maybe that's not what you want to hear, but that's what comes with ancient religion. If you see it as living healthily, then more power to you. If you see it a a search for immortality, good luck. At it's base, Taoism is about being a decent person and being happy while trying to help others without over exerting yourself to exhaustion doing it.

That being said, I am a Taoist myself. I see a lot of people buying Buddhist prayer flags and such and reading about how 'eastern mysticism' can lead to eternal happiness, but just like any religion/philosophy it is filed with nut, literal interpretations instead of literalist interpretations, and people who just want to stand out. Practicing any lifestyle call for some kind of sacrifice and Taoism is no exception, and I'm sure Buddhism and Hinduism are similar. If you choose to believe something, for the love of what you believe in, just be true to yourself.