Customer Reviews

Philosophies of India

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The book, of course, is a classic.

Heinrich Zimmer intended this book, and fortunately Joseph Campbell proved the midwife for what would otherwise have been an intellectual stillborn child, due to the former's untimely passing. My copy was a first edition hardcover - a lovely book to hold and touch.

To my thinking, this book is THE first (and perhaps final) reference for those interested in beginning to explore the depths and subtleties of the Hindu tradition. I have never found a more accessible and enjoyable introduction to the broad topic of Indian Spirituality.

The history of Hindu religious development, and the import of its symbols, are nicely embellished throughout with the relevant Sanskrit terminology, which adds a considerable pleasure in the course of the read - especially when Zimmer describes the rich philosophical texture of these terms. One is immediately reminded of the difficult translational passage on leaving the psychologically rich Greek language for our practical, utilitarian English. Zimmer nicely bridges this gap. Further, the reader is never at a loss to follow the scholarly exposition of ideas.

The presentation nicely dovetails with Campbell's own work in comparative religion and mythology, and for anyone that appreciates his clarity and articulate manner of presentation, or has unhappily fallen back from unsuccessful attempts to appreciate the broad outlines and import of the philosophies of India, this book is simply a gem. My only proviso is that the book does become mildly tedious toward the middle, as historical minutiae begin to proliferate. Nevertheless, if this topic interests you, be sure to consult Philosophies of India first; it is most certainly an excellent primer.

After reading both JN Mohanty's Classical Indian Philosophy and Zimmer's Philosophies of India, I definitely favor the later. He exposes the philosophy of India mainly through religion and history, which makes this massive book much more readable than one would expect... that he takes the questionable liberty of associating sankya/yoga, jainism, and buddhism as having a common pre-aryan origin, but it is not made without support, and ultimately has little effect on the quality of the work. Ample quotations from a range of origional documents are provided (vedas, upanisads, bhagavad-gita, buddhist and jain sutras, etc.) Definitely recommended.

Professor Zimmer composed most of this book during the last years of his life. He died in 1943 while teaching at Columbia University. Joseph Campbell, who was one of his students, took up the task of editing and completing the work some years later. This 687-page volume is the result, published by Pantheon Books as part of the distinguished Bollingen Series in 1951.

Zimmer goes beyond the six orthodox systems of Indian philosophy to include Buddhism, Tantra, and various minor philosophies which are identified as philosophies of e.g., "success," "pleasure," and "duty." These are practical philosophies in the Indian constellation aimed at advising kings and princes on how to maintain power and govern (much in the manner of Machiavelli's Prince, by the way), and laypersons on how to live within the caste system and conduct one's daily life. In the Arthasastra (the science of wealth) and the voluminous Mahabharata, for example, one learns how to approach a neighbor--that is, a neighboring tribe--safely and profitably. The seven ways are (1) saman, conciliation or negotiation; (2) danda, attack, assault; (3) dana, with presents; (4) bheda, divide and confuse; (5) maya, trick, deceive; (6) upeksa, pretending not to notice; and (7) indrajala, trickery in war, such as using a Trojan horse. What Zimmer has achieved here is something beyond the usual presentation of the ideas and tenets of the Indian philosophies. We are given a rich source of material for understanding the Indian mind and how it differs from the Western.

Unlike Western philosophy, Indian philosophy is intricately interwoven with religious ideas and practices. Unlike Western philosophy, Indian philosophy does not attempt a rigorous logical expression. Rather ideas are asserted and truths acknowledged symbolically and metaphorically. Analogy is a frequent device. Zimmer explains why this is so on pages 312-313:

"...[T]he ultimate and real task of philosophy, according to Indian thought, and to such classical Occidental philosophers as Plato, transcends the power and the task of reason. Access to truth demands a passage beyond the compass of ordered thought. And by the same token: the teaching of transcendent truth cannot be by logic, but only by pregnant paradox and by symbol and image."

Western readers of an analytical philosophic mind should not be put off by the Indian style (as I once was), but instead might profit from an open-minded approach that accepts things on a symbolic level and does not get bogged down in the quicksand of apparent contradiction, because there will be contradictions aplenty! It is useful, I think, to see, for example, how the ideas of Brahmanism and the Sankhya philosophy were incorporated into the Buddhist teachings, how the Upanishads anticipated the Bhagavad Gita, and how rite and ritual evolved into something close to rationalism. Also interesting is how the unquestioned authority of the Vedas on matters of belief have been maintained in the "orthodox" philosophies of modern Indian and how they have been augmented or transplanted by the "heterodox" systems such as Buddhism and Tantra.

In the final analysis, the Indian mind sees reality as paradox. "Indian philosophy insists that the sphere of logical thought is far exceeded by that of the mind's possible experiences of reality. To express and communicate knowledge gained in moments of grammar-transcending insight [compare Zen "enlightenments"] metaphors must be used, similes and allegories." Zimmer calls these "the very vehicles of meaning." He adds, "Indian philosophy, therefore, frankly avails itself of the symbols and images of myth, and is not finally at variance with the patterns and sense of mythological belief." (p. 25)

Zimmer's style is relatively easy to read and is without obvious cant or prejudice. He writes as a historian with the emphasis on what was and why, rather than as a critical philosopher who would critique and criticize--although he is not above guiding the reader's sensibilities. Campbell's editing is substantial of course, as it must be with an uncompleted work of this size, compiled some years after the fact of composition; but his famous voice is subdued in favor of his distinguished mentor.

There is both a general and a Sanskrit index, both substantial, and a bibliography by philosophic category (Jainism, Buddhism, etc.). An appendix on "The Six Systems," Sankhya, Yoga, Mimamsa, Vedanta, Vaisesika, and Nyaya, which Zimmer regards as "points of view" and "aspects of a single orthodox tradition" is given and there is a time line juxtaposing events in India with those in the West.

There is a reason this book is still in print, and that reason is simple: Zimmer's work is one of the best on Indian philosophy ever written and is a storehouse of insight into the mind set of India. It would make a fine addition to almost anyone's library.

A monumental work, Philosophies of India is divided into three main sections: The Highest Good, a discussion of Eastern and Western thought and their meeting, and of the foundations of Indian philsophy; The philosophies of Time, being the philosophies of success, of pleasure, and of duty; finally, and this forms the major portion of the work, The Philosophies of Eternity: Jainism, Sankhya and Yoga, Brahmanism, Buddhism, Tantra.

"Indian philosophy was at the heart of Zimmer's interest in oriental studies, and this volume therefore represents his major contribution to our understanding of Asia. It is both the most complete and most intelligent account of this extraordinarily rich and complex philosophical tradition yet written."-Alan Watts, New York Times Book Review

"Dr. Zimmer has introduced such order and coherence into the rich profustion of Indian thought that one wonders whether his services to Indian philosophy are not as great as his contribution to Western understanding of India."-R. J. K. Murray, The Philosophical Quarterly

"Unhesitatingly, we call this a great book, one which represents a definite advance in the treatment of the philosophical though of India."-Kurt F. Leidecker, The Personalist

This book deals with one of the most historically complex area, where many philosophies were born. The author presents the subject in very readable manner and his book can be used by many serious students of the subject. The book is one of the classics, because although written in 1951, all of its contents is still relevant

Notable is the fact that during the time that Heinrich Zimmer was working on this material - later pieced together into book form by Joseph Campbell - the world was consumed by the second World War. Zimmer makes reference to this cataclysmic state of affairs which gives special emphasis to the pessimistic world-view that predominated during the feudal days in India and was underscored in the "Arthasastra" by Kautilya, a compendium on the law of the fishes - how to survive in a world where the big fish eat the little fish. In a world of hopelessness, where the philosophies of time are full of brutal and evanescent elements, the philosophies of eternity grew into prominence. Zimmer traces the major lines of thought in India, and shows that the philosophies of eternity have not only led to renunciation but affirmation of life as well.

It is interesting to compare philosophy in India after the Indo-Aryan invasions with the philosophy of the Greeks, who experienced related invasions. In both localities nomadic tribesman with a very similar pantheon of masculine gods overran or invaded an indigenous, settled populace. Comparisons between the two illuminate how the East took a different philosophical pathway from that of the West. At the time of Thales and the Ionian philosophers and extending through Plato and Aristotle, the Greeks dispensed with their gods in their study of science and philosophy and used analytical methods. In India, by contrast, there never was "a Twilight of the Gods"; that is, mythology continued to play an important role in metaphysics. These were two very different pathways. In addition, another telling difference becomes clear: the Greeks revered the human personality and its attributes, and this reverence for personality was extended throughout the Western world, certainly no less exemplified than in the resurrection of the body of Christ. In India, however, personality was understood as merely a mask, as the temporal trappings of an individual role that would be completely shed at the end of a lifetime.

Zimmer asserts that the world-view of the Indo-Aryans evident in the Vedas (particularly in the Rig-Veda) was absorbed and changed by indigenous influences. The Holy Power of the Vedas, which was focused on conquest and mastery of the outside world, became internalized over time and evolved into the Self (Atman) of Brahmanism and the Vedanta. What is more, Zimmer believed that the ascetic traditions of Jainism and Yoga were developed separately from Indo-Aryan influences and had aboriginal Dravidian sources. Archeological evidence does not tell us much at all in this regard, but the author makes his points by way of the surviving literature.

According to Zimmer, pre-Aryan or pre-Vedic heterodoxy can be traced back to Jainism, which represented a dualist system of spirit (jiva) and matter (a-jiva), in which the practitioner could not allow contamination by the impurities of the material world. In the same vein, Sankhya held to the dualism between spirit (parusa) and matter (prakrti), but a giant step was taken: ignorance was now recognized as the cause of bondage to the material world, and the concern shifted to knowledge and intent. But as much of an advance as Sankhya was, it was still a dualistic system that pointed the way to a total renunciation of this world. Brahmanism and the Vedanta - the orthodox line of thought according to the author - was less dualistic in its approach but still world-renouncing. Hinayana Buddhism was not that much different, but Mahayana Buddhism, especially in the concept of the Bodhisattva, or saviour, represented a direction away from renouncing the world.

The last part of the book is incomplete, as Campbell tells us, and Tantra is not discussed in much detail. The practice of Tantra does not avoid or shun nature, as the ancient ascetic traditions in India endeavor to do. Tantra views Maya not simply as the world illusion but as the divine manifestation of energy. The beliefs and practices do not take the objective, analytical route that western science takes, but make use of mythology to describe the world metaphorically, in terms of masks. Zimmer asserts that Tantra recalls the worship of the Goddess in pre-Aryan times.

Zimmer was a scholar with a great deal of first-hand knowledge of Indian philosophy and art history. Unfortunately, his interpretations were often marred by his romantic tendencies, tendencies inherited from a lineage that included Schopenhauer, Deussen, and Jung. The book was originally a series of lectures at Columbia University, and it suffers further from being edited by Joseph Campbell. One of Zimmer's most problematic claims in the book is that the renunciatory strain in Indian Philosophy, identified with Jainism and Samkhya, can be traced conclusively to the pre-Aryan Indians. This assertion, besides being completely unprovable, is simply an inversion of the kind of racialist theories that allowed earlier German indologists to champion the greatness of the Aryan race. (Zimmer was married to a Jewish woman, and because of this was forced to emigrate to the United States from Germany.) Avoid the introductory chapters, which presume to make generalizations about the character of the Indian people, and instead focus on his attention to textual and art-historical detail in the middle chapters. Then go read a more rigorous book on Indian philosophy, like Bimal Matilal's Perception or Wilhelm Halbfass's On Being and What There Is.

This should be mandatory reading in all U.S. high schools. Ignorance is not bliss (or ananda;), it is just ignorance.

No one surpasses Heinrich Zimmer in the clarity of Indian thought and philosophy for the Western mind. He is amazingly able to swim through the thick sea of Indian imagery and symbolism and give to the reader a heartful understanding of it.

Since the day I watched Joseph Campbell's Power of Myth (1988) the interest for knowing more and more about the fathomless mysteries about their approaches about the world enhanced notably.

And finally, Heinrich Robert Zimmer wrote a very compressive, erudite and intelligent account of this complex philosophical tradition that became instantaneously an obligated reference.

Don' t miss it.