APA Newsletters
Spring 2000
Volume 99, Number 2

Reviewed by Peter Bolland, Palomar College

Ray Billington’s Understanding Eastern Philosophy is a welcome addition to the growing number of texts whose aim it is to present the central ideas of Eastern philosophy to a general audience. Intended as a primer or core text in an undergraduate setting, Understanding Eastern Philosophy strikes an ideal balance between brevity and breadth. In a concise, direct and non-technical style, Billington manages to accurately survey a large number of concepts and themes within each of the major Asian traditions without sacrificing important depth or detail.

The book can be divided into two parts. The first twelve of its eighteen brief chapters take the reader through a guided examination of the most important and influential schools of thought in the Indian and East Asian arena while the final six chapters offer Billington’s own arguments regarding the strengths and weaknesses of those various philosophies as compared to one another and to Western ideas.

Assuming no background on the part of his readers, Billington begins with an elementary examination of the concept of religion itself. In only eight pages, chapter one explores the distinctions between philosophy and religion by, among other things, revisiting Ninian Smart’s respected and useful seven dimensions of religion and W. P. Alston’s characteristics of religion. This is followed in chapter two by a discussion of the concept of God. The reader is introduced to pantheism, animism, deism, theism, polytheism, monolatry, henotheism, atheism, and agnosticism. This chapter also contains a brief overview of the classic Western arguments for the existence of God, the cosmological, teleological, ontological, and moral arguments. These first two chapters are designed to prepare us for the rich complexities of Eastern thought by reminding us that the Western tradition is far from the unified, cohesive world-view many beginning students take it to be.

Billington tells us in the preface that he is going to spare us the details of the historical development of Asian philosophy and focus on the ideas and practices themselves. He keeps his word. Chapters three through eight turn our attention to the core issues of Indian philosophy, both Hindu and Buddhist. After a fairly detailed description of the Vedas and the Upanishads in chapter three, the author spells out the key distinctions between the six orthodox systems, namely, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Sankhya, Yoga, Purva-Mimamsa, and Uttara-Mimamsa (also known as Vedanta). The concepts of purusha, prakriti, and the three gunas are taken up during the examination of the Sankhya and Yoga schools. There is also a careful description of the eight stages of raja yoga as presented in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. Other major yogas are described as well such as hatha, karma, jnana, and bhakti yoga. The heart of the book’s explication of the Hindu world-view is found in chapter four. Using Shankara’s teachings as a focal point, Billington deftly guides the reader through a consideration both of the four goals of life, (kama, artha, dharma, and moksha) and of the veil of ignorance that prevents our true vision of reality, maya. Also under examination in this section are the crucial ideas of Brahman, atman, tat tvam asi, sat-chit-ananda, samadhi, Om, karma, and reincarnation.

Beginning with a brief chapter on the philosophy of Charvaka and Jainism, chapters five through eight offer students a thorough examination of Buddhist thought and other heterodox systems as they compare with the more orthodox Indian philosophies. Beginning with the life of the Buddha, chapter six offers a very good discussion of duhkha, nirvana, and the three marks of existence (anicca, anatman, and duhkha). The chapter ends with a discussion of Nagarjuna’s teachings regarding dependent arising and shunyata (emptiness or void). Chapter seven offers an excellent, detailed look at the Four Noble Truths including The Noble Eightfold Path. Also carefully considered in this chapter are the Three Jewels—the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. Chapter eight explores the distinctions that arise in various later schools of Buddhism. Mahayana is contrasted with Theravada and several East Asian movements are thoughtfully considered including Pure Land Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Zen in both its Rinzai and Soto forms.

There is one problem in this section: On page 74 Billington states that "Buddhism arrived in China in the sixth/seventh century" while on page 84 he claims that "Buddhism arrived in China only in the first century CE." This confusion no doubt arises because Bodhidharma, the First Patriarch of Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism, arrived in China in the sixth or seventh century whereupon his school eclipsed the other forms of Buddhism already in China since the first century CE. An instructor can easily straighten out this confusion, but the text should have been clearer.

Taoism and Confucianism, the indigenous philosophies of China, are covered in chapters nine through twelve. Sticking with the fading Wade-Giles transliterations of Chinese terms, Billington takes the reader through the central principles of these two major schools as well as several others. The section on Taoism, Lao Tzu, the Tao te Ching and Chuang Tzu is particularly insightful.

In chapter eleven, Billington does some of his finest work. Here a detailed and creative exploration of the Yin-Yang School gives us an opportunity to realize the richness and depth of Chinese thought. Billington’s affinity for Chinese philosophy shows through. He strikes a delicate balance between intellectual clarity and heartfelt warmth, a most welcome characteristic particularly in an introductory text that must count among its many aims the seduction of students into a field of study they might not have considered before. In two and a half pages, Billington manages to explain the detailed structure and purpose of the classic I Ching while conveying its deeply mysterious and perennial attraction.

Finally, Confucianism is taken up in chapter twelve. The extremely influential philosophy of Confucius and Mencius is illuminated in contrast with the teachings of their rivals Mo Tzu and Hsun Tzu as well as the later Neo-Confucians.

In the second part of the book, Billington offers his own analysis of Eastern thought as it applies to a wide range of philosophical concerns. This section, chapters thirteen through eighteen, provides provocative and insightful comparisons between the various Eastern schools on such issues as mysticism, dualism, monism, human nature and destiny, ethics, human behavior, nature, community, authority, and faith. These ruminations could be excluded from the required reading list in an Eastern Philosophy course, but they provide an excellent example of the exciting possibilities in cross-cultural studies. In his discussion of the differences and similarities between Eastern schools of thought, Billington continually draws on illustrative and analogous ideas from the Western tradition. His mastery of both Eastern and Western philosophy makes him a qualified guide to the fascinating and growing dialogue between East and West.

While the book is generally lucid, there are occasional run-on sentences. I realize this is a stylistic issue more than anything else, but one wonders how a beginning student of philosophy would learn much about karma without re-reading this sentence, which appears on page 37, many times over:

Ninety-one words, eleven commas, two colons and one semicolon later, the reader is sorely challenged to recall the initial subject and intention of the sentence. Surely there is a way to express this important idea more succinctly. As I said, this sentence is not typical. Most of the time, Billington communicates beautifully.

Another drawback of this book for American readers is its occasional use of fairly narrow cultural references. References to the minutiae of British culture and history no doubt work for British readers but fail utterly for anyone else. (Who is Billy Bunter?) These are indeed minor problems and do not detract from the overall quality of the book, but they do bear mentioning.

I plan on using this text in future Asian Philosophy courses. I think it is leaner, clearer, better organized, and ultimately more effective than other books of its kind. In only 129 pages, Billington manages to convey the rich and varied traditions of Eastern philosophy without getting bogged down in technical detail or historical development. By also requiring selected readings from a primary source anthology (there are a number of excellent choices available), an instructor could create an engaging yet thorough course. Understanding Eastern Philosophy also contains a two-page bibliography and an eight-page index.