#145 in Religion & spirituality books
Use arrows to jump to the previous/next product
Reddit mentions of A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy
Sentiment score: 4
Reddit mentions: 6
We found 6 Reddit mentions of A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Here are the top ones.
Buying options
View on Amazon.comor
Used Book in Good Condition
Specs:
Height | 5.25 Inches |
Length | 8.25 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | April 1969 |
Weight | 2.18698563904 Pounds |
Width | 1.5 Inches |
For "where to start" with books, see this FAQ post, from r/askphilosophyFAQ. There are Introductory anthologies, like these. Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy is something I read at about that age, and it was great (with some caveats).
There are also anthologies for Chinese & Indian Philosophy, or introductions to Chinese & Indian Philosophy; or an intro anthology to World Philosophy.
Read this man:
A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy my undergrad class was based on it.
Your question about Chinese Buddhism is a larger one. You are going to have to start to read about Buddhism first, then the differences between Theravada and Mahayana. Once you know the basic concepts, Mahayana is based on the Diamond Sutra, Heart Sutra, Lankavatara Sutra. You are also going to want to look at the foundations of Chan (Zen, 禅), books such as Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch Huineng. Chinese Buddhism is basically Pure Land+Chan.
Anyway, you could have read all this on Wikipedia. Start there.
It's hard to say, but this is probably your best bet:
http://www.amazon.com/Source-Book-Chinese-Philosophy/dp/0691019649
The guy is somewhat of a God in China, as he translated all of these texts into English himself. If nothing else, that is a major achievement, as it gives you a clean interpretation of the major Chinese writers where the translation of key terms remains the same.
That being said, his footnotes don't really fill you in on how to really understand the texts - they're helpful, but you might need other companion books. To get a full understanding, you'll certainly need to read other texts. But, having all major Chinese works in one place, all translated by the same author, AND for the translations to be pretty decent, makes it a must-by for someone serious about Chinese philosophy.
Might be able to torrent it too - I dono.
EDIT: companion texts that are good: A short history of Chinese philosophy (Feng You Lan), or A history of Asian thought (probably a bad title), by Bernard Schwartz (google the author to find it). Both good, i really like Schwartz, but Feng You Lan's is more introductory.
My favorite has been Wing-Tsit Chan's Sourcebook in Chinese Philosophy
Oriental is usually considered derogatory. Eastern philosophy, Chinese philosophy, Asian philosophy... This is the book I had in college, that I still think is pretty good. http://www.amazon.com/Source-Book-Chinese-Philosophy/dp/0691019649/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1416496265&sr=8-3&keywords=Chinese+philosophy
Here
They've gone through the effort of showing why it's worth paying attention to. It's on you to read it.