Article sent from The Hindu

[Guest guest]

The reviewed book contains plenty of vital information for the serious minded

students of comparative religion.

 

regards,

 

Ram Chandran

=============================================================

This article is emailed to you by Ram Chandran ( rchandran )

=============================================================

Source: The Hindu (http://www.hinduonnet.com)

 

Comparative religion

 

 

 

KEY CONCEPTS IN EASTERN PHILOSOPHY: Oliver Lennan; Pub. By Routledge, Indian

Distributor: T.R. Publications Pvt. Ltd., PMG Complex, Second Floor, 57, South

Usman Road, T.Nagar, Chennai-600017. Rs. 425.

 

THE KEY concepts covered in this excellent book are those that are fundamental

in the great Eastern religions Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and some minor

faiths which cannot be said to be fundamentally significant from a philosophical

point of view but which are nevertheless interesting as manifesting the variety

of activity of the mind disposed towards thinking philosophically rather than

practically.

 

The task is a daunting one. Even to cover the key concepts of Hinduism alone one

has to have a range of reading almost Macaulayan or Baconian and indeed even

better than that.

 

And even the most avid seeker of information on the doctrinal basis of every

faith, major or minor, will find in this book some important information not

merely on the basic texts but also on the books, which bear on the crucial

evaluation of the doctrines. These concepts have been covered competently in the

book under review.

 

In the section entitled "References and further reading," we find a procedure,

which makes it difficult for the general reader to distinguish between the basic

doctrinal sources and the commentaries and expositions of these texts. The

alphabetical arrangement of bibliographic data is good in its way but the more

critical general reader will ask for a classification of these materials, under

a scheme distinguishing the original texts, translated into English, critical

commentary and assessment.

 

This kind of classification of bibliographical material will help the

intelligent reader to pick out what is vital reading from what is not so vital.

Such discrimination is vital when one sets out to be a student of tradition,

religious, philosophical, ethical and practical. The index, however, will help

locate the particular item the reader is interested.

 

To take up the key concepts of Buddhism, one has to define for oneself the

variety of branches into which it has developed through the ages. There is also

the difficulty of determining what elements in Buddhism are derived from the

original source of its doctrines, the Vedas.

 

Although Buddhism is claimed especially by Western exponents and students to be

a revolt against the Vedas, this view is now not so widely accepted. Buddhism

knows no God or Ultimate Reality or Creator of the universe, of mankind and so

forth.

 

But Buddhists have, however, made a God of Gautama Buddha and a Buddhist

idolatry, religious ritual and priesthood have to be developed around the

Buddha.

 

Mrs. Rhys Davids, wife of the famous Buddhist scholar, Rhys Davids, in her says

that Buddha's gospel owes a great deal to the Upanishads.

 

Dr. Radhakrishnan, who made the Buddha the theme of his mastermind lecture under

Henriettee Hertz foundation at the British Academy, affirms that Buddha's

silence on the nature of Ultimate Reality should not be misunderstood as a

rejection of the Upanishadic or Vedantic ideal of Ultimate Reality. In a very

significant way, Buddha may be hailed justly as continuator of the Vedantic

ideal.

 

Indeed Dr. Jennings has a book entitled published decades ago by the Oxford

University Press.

 

The key concept of Buddhism is undoubtedly Nirvana (Nibbani in Pali), as Leaman

describes it, is a state of absolute freedom from the of life on earth. It is a

state when all cravings are dead. It is a joyous state of liberation, a word

used by Leaman.

 

This is hardly different from the idea of There is, however, one significant

fact to be borne in mind. But the of Buddha is little different from Samsaricof

the pre-realization life of the Advaitic Hindu. The freedom from cravings is

quite akin to the state of Nishkamya (desirelessness).

 

There is plenty of vital information in this book and all serious minded

students of comparative religion will find it almost indispensable as a book of

ready reference.

 

 

S.R.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyrights: 1995 - 2001 The Hindu

 

Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly

prohibited without the consent of The Hindu