Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition

by Grant Hardy

Western philosophy is a vast intellectual tradition, the product of thousands of years of revolutionary thought built up by a rich collection of brilliant minds. But to understand the Western intellectual tradition is to get only half the story. The Eastern intellectual tradition has made just as important a contribution - and is also the product of thousands of years of cumulative thought by a distinct group of brilliant thinkers.
Their ideas demonstrate wholly different ways of approaching and solving the same fundamental issues that concerned the West's greatest thinkers, such as the existence of God, the meaning of life and the nature of truth and reality.

This epic and comprehensive 36-lecture examination of the East's most influential philosophers and thinkers - from a much-honored teacher and scholar - offers a thought-provoking look at the surprising connections and differences between East and West. By introducing you to the people-including The Buddha, Ashoka, Prince Shotoku, Confucius, and Gandhi - responsible for molding Asian philosophy and for giving birth to a wide variety of spiritual and ideological systems, it will strengthen your knowledge of cultures that play increasingly important roles in our globalized 21st-century world.

Genres: Philosophy, History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Religion, China, Asia

19 pages, Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Dr. Grant Hardy received a Ph.D. from Yale University in Chinese Language and Literature and a B.A. from Brigham Young University where he studied Ancient Greek.

He is Professor of History and Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Ashville. Below is a quote by Dr. Hardy taken from the "Faces of UNC" web page:

“I am interested in how people use literature to make sense of their experience, whether that be historical, personal or religious."

Reviews

[Madhuri · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great companion on my walks for the last several days. Grant Hardy has given a very comprehensive overview of eastern thinkers and made connections between India, China and Japan that I wasn’t aware of. The subject coverage is very broad, and I feel both overwhelmed and aware of many things I need to explore further.
The course gives a good vantage point on how different schools started and intermingled with each other - an additive rather than usurping build up of religion and tradition. Japan emerges as the conscious adopter of foreign models (first China than western states). The congruity between Indian Buddhism and Chinese Daoism becomes apparent. As does the contrast between Daoism and Confucian thinking. I can now better understand the influence of Confucian philosophy in Japan, Korea and even Singapore.

A great course indeed!

[Beauregard Bottomley · Rating 5 out of 5]

After all the chores of the everyday are taken care of and you’ve had a sufficient amount of relaxation to suffice, what remains is the discovery of what and how you know what you know in order to further discover the world around you, what and how to do good, and lastly, what is deserving of your time. Eastern thought has wrestled with those discoveries and the professor lays out how they thought about regarding those discoveries. The professor does muddle it a little bit with confounding those with the question ‘why is there evil?’ and a presumption that truth comes from outside of ourselves through an outsourcing of sorts. (as for the first muddle, I’ll just quote Tom Joad from the ‘Grapes of Wrath’: ‘there ain’t no virtues, there ain’t no sin [evil], there’s just people doing things’, and as for the second muddle, if it pleases you, go ahead and outsource your truths and get your certainty, as for me I’ll keep searching by listening to Great Courses like this one and reading those who I deem worthy of my time).

I listened to this in order to learn a bit about Eastern thought, but ended up learning a lot more about what I thought I understood about Western thinkers. Almost always it was possible to relate what I was learning to what I already knew from previous Western thinkers.

The more one learns about a tradition alien to one’s own, the more one realizes there is more left unlearned and worthy of one’s consideration and what one’s own tradition was trying to say but in slightly different ways.

There’s no easy way to understand another system of thought. The lecture does it in bite size pieces and time periods and countries and religions all the time moving around while covering a giant swath of ground. Don’t test me on the names or the dates I would fail, but overall, this is a necessary class in order for me to understand my own Western tradition just a little bit better and open my eyes to how much I still need to learn about the world before it’s too late.

[Zeke Chase · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve listened to a few of these Great Courses now, and I’m enjoying them more and more actually. They’re great introductions to vast and complex topics. This one deals with Eastern philosophy, predominantly centred around India, China and Japan, with the odd digression into Korea, Tibet or the Middle East.

These Great Courses are the entire syllabus of a given professor, presented as a series of lectures as though in the lecture hall itself. They’re between thirty and forty-five minutes a piece, and I progress through them with ease. I find it very helpful having it so rigidly structured – you know what the lecture’s about and how long it’ll last for. I started with these as research, actually, and went through a few courses by Prof. Robert Solomon on elements of philosophy. I’ll admit I probably missed a lot in those (I didn’t review them because they were kind of meh, I thought at the time) but now that I see the value of these courses, I almost want to peruse their entire catalogue. I’ll definitely continue with these courses; I’ve already got the next one set up: “The History of Ancient Egypt” with Prof. Bob Brier (this one strictly for fun).

This one starts right at the beginning with the Indian Vedas and moves through the Buddha, Confucius, Laozi... all the way up to Gandhi and Sun Yet-Sen. I mainly wanted this course for a little insight into Daoism. I already knew a fair amount about Buddhism and Confucianism, but Daoism was a mystery to me. Prof. Hardy covered the works of Laozi, and I learned some interesting stuff about the Chinese sage and his philosophy, though I feel like the Buddha got more attention. That works out well enough – I’m writing a novel with a Buddhist character and need to wrap my mind around some tough concepts to actualize that character. In that regard, I like what Prof. Hardy did with Nagarjuna – who, as far as I can tell, if Buddhism’s chief thinker (save perhaps the Buddha himself) – but, as Nagarjuna’s concepts are some of the most opaque I’ve ever approached, I wish there was a little more. For example, I’m currently reading (reading reading) a book by the professor of the last course, Malcolm David Eckel, on Buddhism and a commentator and refiner of Nagarjuna’s philosophy, Bhavaviveka, who Hardy didn’t mention in this course.

Nonetheless, if you’ve got a mind like a sponge and want to learn, these courses are invaluable. The opening mission statement of The Teaching Company says something to the effect of “By listening for just an hour a day, you can finish even the longest courses in just weeks. Imagine what you could learn in the next year in some of the greatest university classes in the world.” That’s not just a gimmick. You actually do learn a lot.

[Jasper Burns · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 3-stars has less to do with the excellent quality of the content and more to do with the inevitable nature of The Great Courses' content focusing too broadly. Breadth, of course, was the purpose of studying the entire eastern intellectual tradition, but it is truly hard to remember useful facts from traditions that span such a large amount of time and area. I'm writing this review a week after finishing it, and while I have a better general understanding of the culture and development of eastern traditions from India to Japan, it's really hard to recall specifics. I could count on one hand the number of takeaways that will stick.

The first thing that stood out to me was Hardy's discussion on Jainism since I had cursory familiarity with it and he was able to clarify some of my misunderstandings. I feel like having some knowledge about these topics prior makes this course more valuable. Conversely, maybe this breadth is useful if you plan on finding specific topics to focus on later.

The second thing was a quote from Zhuangzi they mentioned to cap off one of his chapters: "The fish trap exists because of the fish. Once you've gotten the fish you can forget the trap. The rabbit snare exists because of the rabbit. Once you've gotten the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words exist because of meaning. Once you've gotten the meaning, you can forget the words. Where can I find a man who has forgotten words so I can have a word with him?" This quote I found to illustrate well and wittily one of the topics I've been toying with recently, the interconnection between words and meaning.

Jainism and Zhuangzi were two topics of probably two dozen that Prof Hardy spoke to. He speaks Chinese and seems very literate and knowledgeable about all the topics in all the relevant countries, and the interconnected history between these philosophies. His performance speaking about them was also very good. If you have done or intend to do more thorough research on certain topics, this course might help contextualize that research. However, I think that for the casual reader depth on any specific philosophy might be more useful than such broad strokes.

View my best reviews and a collection of my mental models at jasperburns.blog.

[Victor N · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent course. Presumably you can answer the following if you study the course well (I will have to circle back to the course)

1. What is the nature of reality according to
A. Brahman
B. Dependent Origination
C. The Dao

2. What is the self according to:
A. Hinduism
B. Confucianism
C. Hindu-Vedanta

3. How are we connected to the natural world in the ideas of:
A. Samsara
B. 理
C. 氣
D. Buddha nature

4. Is there a shared human nature according to:
A. 孟子
B. 荀況

5. What is the potential for unity with God according to:
A. Ahmad Sirhindi (Sufi)
B. Shankara (Advaita Vedanta)
C. Madhvacharya (Hindu)

6. How do we know what we know according to:
A. 諸子百家 (essay on this)
B. Buddhist meditation
C. Yogic introspection of Upanishads
D. Patañjali’s Yoga
E. Zen’s wordless insight

7. What is the relationship of the individual to their community according to:
A. Confusion Filial Piety
B. Bhagavad Gita Karma Yoga
C. Jain monasticism
B. Buddhist monasticism

8. What is the role of religion in public life according to Ashoka

9. What is the role of government according to:
A. 孔子 vs. 韓非
B. Kauṭilya

10. What are women’s role in society according to:
A. 班昭
B. Murasaki Shikibu
C. Sei Shōnagon
D. Fukuzawa Yukichi
E. 康有為
F. 毛泽东

11. How open should society be to foreign influences according to:
A. 玄奘
B. Prince Shōtoku
C. Rabindranath Tagore

12. Why do people suffer according to:
A. Zoroastrianism
B. Buddhism
C. Daoism

13. What is the solution to suffering according to:
A. Jainism
B. Hinduism
C. 墨子

[Namrata · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a student of humanities, I thought I had a fair idea about the eastern intellectual traditions. Atleast about the Indian subcontinent. However, I learned a great deal about which I had no idea previously not only about the Indian subcontinent but also about China, Japan, Korea, Tibet and so on. Professor Hardy has a sense of humor and pushes readers to develop an empathetic understanding about cultures that might be new to them. This is a refresher course for those interested to delve deeper in the subject and worth every moment spent.

[Koit · Rating 4 out of 5]

We know the names of Western philosophy, but for many the comparable fellows of the east are unknown. This is the problem that Mr Hardy is trying to answer in this Great Courses volume which works rather well. The scope is huge, covering India, China, and Japan over the course of approximately three millennia. This inevitably means that the coverage of any one character is limited although in most cases it suffices. The other conclusion from this is that this is very much a work of history: to understand the context in which the specific thinker operated, Mr Hardy has to tell the listener about when and in what times the same person lived.

This being my first real foray into the topic at such a broad level, it was difficult to say whether someone else could or should have been included in the list. Any such list is naturally problematic and takes some bravery to come up with. I did enjoy the mentions for the more obscure people that I know about or have read about, while I waited for other names to pop up who never did. This only means that if you set two people working at the task, there would be two different solutions, even if large parts of the answers overlapped. I do think the author reasoned well why and how he chose people and where they fit into the bigger picture.

Alongside the “great minds”, Mr Hardy also describes history and peoples’ attitudes—as well as how these attitudes fit into the grand scheme, i.e., why a Chinese doing something this way harks back to Confucian ethics, etc. This is quite helpful as it allows to better understand why something is happening beyond the mere “they are doing it not like us”. This also gives the knowledge in this a fairly practical outlook, allowing a more comprehensive understanding of the lives of other people. This was supported by the few personal experiences the author included which helped maintain an accessible tone.

That said, this is not a book (“course”) to be trod lightly twice. While educating, the keywords are probably more important than the whole and if the topic did appeal, it would be more revealing to find another author writing on the same topic—and to read them next. Yet, for a once-over, this is definitely a title one should consider.

This review was originally posted on my blog.

[Nilesh Jasani · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are important topics on which thousands of books are written and there are some on which barely a handful. This lecture series picks a topic of the latter kind.

The lectures start with the most important question: is there truly any eastern philosophy or philosophical tradition? While he answers assertively in an affirmative, the content of the rest of book is more equivocal. Buddhism provides a good connection to the highly differing philosophical bent of India and China. It can be said that the other East Asian traditions are offshoots of the Buddhism and Confucian mix while Indian schools remained attached to the Vedic roots from where the Buddhism had emerged. Yet, the gap between the various philosophies is so vast that a common tag of "eastern intellectual" tradition simply cannot cover them all.

In a way, the Eastern philosophies are joined by what they are not than what they are - something not discussed adequately by the professor. Somehow almost all the theories that have emanated from the region are revealed as certifiably true, unquestionable and given. They are supposed to be immortal and are supposed to brook no modification with the societal evolution over time. Once spelt out, the theories do not have much space for corrections based on the observations of reality. If there was a conflict between the real life and theories (which were quite common after the scientific discoveries), most of them either blithely rejected the new discoveries or simply claimed that this was already known to their theories. Such important points were missed as the author focuses excessively on bringing about the "good" and the "useful" parts of the eastern traditions which not only turn condescending but also reduce the usefulness of the discussions.

That said, the book is full of great snippets of information. Almost every lecture has multiple new thought strands, so important that I am sure there are volumes written on every one of those topics. The breadth is exceptional and the style engaging. Like what happened with the ever-improving scholarly summary work on western philosophies, I hope the pioneering lecture series here encourages many others to cover the vast topics in more different ways.

[Xavier Patiño · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute gem.

Professor Grant Hardy masterfully covers philosophy and religion from ancient India to the shores of Japan and everything in between. The course navigates through thousands of years of thought that weary travelers spread through the Silk Roads.

I have listened to other audiobooks that mention Eastern philosophy but this course was on another level. Each lecture is about 45 minutes long and Professor Hardy explains the intricacies of Buddhism, Daosim, and Legalism; he covers Hinduism and the ancient texts the Vedas and the Upanishads; we're introduced to Confucius and Laozi and we meet Sima Qian and Ban Zhao -- great Chinese thinkers and historians, respectively -- and Hardy walks us through all of this material marvelously.

I began to read The Analects by Confucius and plan on picking up other works mentioned in this course because of how much I enjoyed it. I also plan on reading more deeply about Buddhism and look forward to reading the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore. I will continue to read on Eastern intellect before heading into Western thought. I like it here.

[Jermaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me forever to get through, but it was well worth the effort. It is a systematic march through the historical, political, and philosophical developments of the ancient societies of great Asian societies, particularly in India, China, Japan, and the pacific. There is extensive treatment on religion and its effect on cultural development. This is not a work that you will want to skim or listen to on 1.5 speed. The author/lecturer is evidently very deep in the subject and added tremendously to the material.

[Brett Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

highly recommended. fair, impartial, sweeping, and even manages a narrative. prof hardy's enthusiasm for the material holds it all together.

[Antonio Villalpando · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best introduction to Eastern Thought in existence.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great overview and excellent presentation by Dr. Hardy.

[Carlos Xavier · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a lot of information but it was eye opening to learn the origin about the thought in the eastern world

[Tyson Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Study extensively, inquire carefully, ponder thoroughly, sift clearly, and practice earnestly." Zhu Xi

The Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition is a 36 lecture course covering the influential philosophers and thinkers of India, China, Korea, and Japan. Much like the Western version of this series, the aim is to give a brief overview and insight into a range of people and intellectual schools stretching from the ancient times to the modern-day.

When I finished the Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition, I tried to find an equivalent version covering the Eastern Intellectual Tradition. It appears Grant Hardy had been thinking the same thing and put this course together. There is so much material to cover here that you can't help but be impressed by the endeavour.

Unlike the western version, Hardy is the sole lecturer for this course. That is both a strength and a weakness. Where the other course had some ups and downs in the quality of lectures, Hardy was consistent and maintained a throughline for the series. But it also meant you weren't presented with a singular expert on any of the topics to offer a range of perspectives and insights. In this way, the material felt a little more shallow.

The strength of this series is the general overview of the Eastern philosophical, religious, and intellectual history. Hardy also recommended some texts (aside from the included course notes) to help with further study. This course is well worth undertaking as a general overview.

From the course overview:
When compared with the West, Eastern philosophical thought is much more inextricably linked with spiritual concepts and beliefs. To help you make sense of the unfamiliar nature of Eastern philosophy and its strong ties with spirituality, Professor Hardy has organized this course into four basic parts.

Part One traces the origins of Eastern philosophy in the cosmological and theological views that arose in India and China beginning around 1200 B.C., including Buddhism, Jainism, Confucianism, and Daoism.

Part Two explores the famous developers of legalism, Mahayana and Chinese Buddhism, yoga, and other intellectual schools that emerged during the age of early Eastern empires and built on the foundations of the past.

Part Three focuses on the great thinkers who flourished starting in the early 12th century, many of whose schools of thought—including Sikhism, Vedanta Hinduism, and Neo-Confucianism—revolutionized cultural notions of society, aesthetics, and faith.

Part Four delves into the modern era, when the convergence of East and West spurred the development of philosophical beliefs that became even more politicized and blended with independence movements and that reacted to ideologies such as Communism and capitalism.

Throughout your chronological journey, you'll spend a majority of time among the three major countries that form the core of the Eastern intellectual tradition, exploring their unique philosophical themes and spiritual paths.

India: The concepts of reincarnation, cosmic justice, and liberation; a focus on logical analysis and direct insight (often achieved through yoga or meditation); the union of religion and politics; and more.

China: A constant appeal to the past in guiding the present; practical views that highlight harmony, balance, and social order; a keen appreciation of the cycles of nature; a form of politics that balances legal constraints with personal ethics; and more.

Japan: The adaptation and transformation of Confucianism; a distinct philosophy of aesthetics; a focus on group identity and consensus; an openness to adaptation from the Western world; and more.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an engaging and informative lecture series. For me it was perhaps a bit less of an eye-opener than it may be for others since I have already delved so deeply into non-European history and understood that other civilizations were/are often more impressive than what we are more familiar with. But there was a lot of specific information that was new and interesting for me, and I kind of want to listen to the whole thing again sometime since I don't think I managed to retain nearly enough of it. The main problem for me is how it felt so weirdly familiar, at times wondering if I hadn't listened to this series before, especially early on; indeed, I had previously listened to this professor's Sacred Texts of the World and I'm certain there was a lot of overlap (many of the great minds featured here founded religions; also, when you look far enough back in history, it can be hard to tell a person apart from the writings they are famous for).

[Lance · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled greatly with this course. It's natural that new thought and names would be hard, but the lectures themselves just seem less than ideally designed.

The speaker is ok, but it's not an orator. Smattered through are 'um' and 'like' that drive be to distraction. Pacing of his speech also makes it a little difficult to segment one idea from another.

I don't envy him there job of trying to organize the massive volume of material, and he does a fair job calling back to previous lectures. Ok the whole though, it's just difficult to keep them straight. Not sure how that could have been addressed. Be prepared to review.

[Mark Lawry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another one of those big picture courses. Covering thinkers from an area that spreads from Iraq to Japan over 1,000s of years. Asian names came fast and furious. Don't ask me to write a paper on any one of them, or spell them. Yet I found this course much easier and enjoyable to listen to than the Western Intellectual Tradition. Hardy does a great job with it. You can tell he'd go for hours on each figure discussed if the Teaching Company would have let him. Having spent a little bit of time in Korea with the US military the entire thought of Asia fascinates me. This course is just yet another reminder that I wish I had a few lifetimes to explore this part of the world.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This lecture series throws a lot of material at you. I feel like most Great Courses lectures are fairly basic and give a general overview of the subject matter. And while that may still be true of this course, the subject is so broad and so many people, time periods, and intellectual traditions are covered that even a broad overview is a bit daunting. If you want the most out of this course then sit down with a pen and paper and be prepared to take some notes.
So a good course with a good lecturer but be prepared for a lot of information to be thrown your way.

[Biblioworm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Очень люблю лекции от The great courses.
Они отбирают лучшее, гарантированно научное.

Конкретно эта, конечно же "галопом по европам" с одной стороны, а с другой, это колоссальный объем и море информации, которую непросто осознать, не то что запомнить.

Но безусловно интересно, чтобы иметь в голове общее представление хотя что там было на Востоке.
У многих из нас тут провал и полезен такой общий обзор.

[Paul Marchand · Rating 4 out of 5]

At last, an organized approach to the intellectual traditions of the East. I'll admit, I was pretty clueless about the basic concepts of many Eastern Philosophies and Religions. This is a solid framework. Narrated by the author, with amusing commentary to make it organized and complete while keeping just enough entertainment to make it survivable. I now consider myself introduced to Eastern thought. Grant Hardy is the type of professor I wished for but seldom got while I was a student.

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of 36 lectures on the intellectual contributions of Eastern civilizations. Philosophy and religion are the emphasis but the lecturer doesn’t overlook scientific, political, or military contributions. I appreciate that India is included in the definition of Eastern civilization - overlooking Gandhi would have been a serious omission.

[Sean Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things got a little bogged down in the middle with a lot of names, dates, and details, but I loved the summaries of the many different philosophies of different thinkers and the development of intellectual frameworks. This is a great intro for someone who doesn't know much about the history of eastern thought (like me).

[AP · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very helpful, clear survey lecture series on the major religions, philosophers of the east, spanning from India to Japan. I plan to listen to this again since so much material was covered. I especially enjoyed the lecture on Mao Zedong and Sun Yat-Sen.

[Persis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this lecture series. Having very little prior knowledge of Asian History let alone its thinkers, the material was informative and interesting. This is something I would go back to in the future. I liked how the instructor wrapped up the course by giving ideas for application.

[Sandeep Sudhakaran · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is a meticulously crafted journey through the influential thoughts and thinkers of China, India, and Japan, with its insightful deep-dive into cultural intricacies making it a compelling read that invites revisitation.

[Charles Reed · Rating 3 out of 5]

61%

This book does a very okay overview of some very important topics through the Eastern philosophy and geographical locations but it's just such a general overview that I could never say that it's a valuable book

[Martina Su · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learn a lot how the various Asian philosophies and religions are intertwined. It is quite long but I made a commitment to finish the lectures

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating and diverse, this was a joy to learn and Professor Hardy is fairly neutral and provides insightful perspectives. Something I'll enjoy over and over again.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This lecturer was fantastic and while all of the "thinkers" names probably won't stick I have definitely gained some insight from this series.