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Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual TraditionTaught By Professor Grant Hardy, Ph.D., Yale University,University of North Carolina at AshevilleWestern philosophy is a vast intellectual tradition, the product of thousands of years of revolutionary thought built up by a rich collection of brilliant minds. When most of us study philosophy, we’re focusing only on the Western intellectual tradition brought about by people such as Aristotle, Descartes, and Nietzsche. But to understand the Western intellectual tradition is to only get half of the story.Just as important, and just as valid a contribution to philosophy, is the Eastern intellectual tradition. Eastern philosophy is also the product of thousands of years of thought and was also built up by a distinct group of brilliant thinkers. Among these are   the Buddha,   Confucius,   Gandhi, and   Zarathustra.Their ideas demonstrate fascinating, wholly different ways of approaching, understanding, and solving the same fundamental questions that concerned the West’s greatest thinkers, such as   the existence of God,   the meaning of life,   the nature of truth and reality,   the organization of government and society,   the significance of suffering, and   the roots of a well-lived life.To explore Eastern perspectives on these issues is to embark on an illuminating journey into the heart of grand, but often unfamiliar, civilizations. It’s also a thought-provoking way to understand the surprising connections and differences between East and West, and to strengthen your knowledge of cultures that play increasingly important roles in our globalized 21st-century world.Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition is an epic, comprehensive survey of the East’s most influential philosophers and thinkers. In 36 lectures, award-winning Professor Grant Hardy of the University of North Carolina at Asheville introduces you to the men and women responsible for molding Asian philosophy and for giving birth to a wide variety of spiritual and ideological systems, including Hinduism, Daoism, Confucianism, Sufism, and Buddhism. By focusing on these key thinkers in their historical contexts, you’ll witness the development of these rich traditions as they shaped and defined Eastern cultures through the rise and fall of empires, the friendly and hostile encounters with each other and with the Western world, and the rapid advancements of the modern age.Eastern Philosophy Made ClearWhen 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.In most lectures, Professor Hardy focuses on two key individuals, often taking a comparative approach to their lives, their views, and their legacies on various schools of thought. The result is a learning experience that makes a seemingly intimidating stretch of time and a diverse cast of characters approachable and understandable.Course Lecture Titles – 30 minutes per lecture01 – Life’s Great Questions – Asian Perspectives02 – The Vedas and Upanishads-The Beginning03 – Mahavira and Jainism – Extreme Nonviolence04 – The Buddha – The Middle Way05 – The Bhagavad Gita – The Way of Action06 – Confucius – In Praise of Sage-Kings07 – Laozi and Daoism – The Way of Nature08 – The Hundred Schools of Pre-imperial China09 – Mencius and Xunzi – Confucius’s Successors10 – Sunzi and Han Feizi – Strategy and Legalism11 – Zarathustra and Mani – Dualistic Religion12 – Kautilya and Ashoka – Buddhism and Empire13 – Ishvarakrishna and Patanjali – Yoga14 – Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu – Buddhist Theories15 – Sima Qian and Ban Zhao – History and Women16 – Dong Zhongshu and Ge Hong – Eclecticism17 – Xuanzang and Chinese Buddhism18 – Prince Shotoku, Lady Murasaki, Sei Shonagon19 – Saicho to Nichiren – Japanese Buddhism20 – Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva – Hindu Vedanta21 – Al-Biruni – Islam in India22 – Nanak and Sirhindi – Sikhism and Sufism23 – Han Yu to Zhu Xi – Neo-Confucianism24 – Wang Yangming – The Study of Heart-Mind25 – Dogen and Hakuin – Zen Buddhism26 – Zeami and Sen no Rikyu – Japanese Aesthetics27 – Wonhyo to King Sejong – Korean Philosophy28 – Padmasambhava to Tsongkhapa – Tibetan Ideas29 – Science and Technology in Premodern Asia30 – Muhammad Iqbal and Rabindranath Tagore31 – Mohandas Gandhi – Satyagraha, or Soul-Force32 – Fukuzawa Yukichi and Han Yongun33 – Kang Youwei and Hu Shi34 – Sun Yat-sen and Mao Zedong35 – Modern Legacies36 – East and WestAbout Your ProfessorDr. Grant Hardy is Professor of History and Religious Studies and Director of the Humanities Program at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. He earned his B.A. in Ancient Greek from Brigham Young University and his Ph.D. in Chinese Language and Literature from Yale University.