4. VASHISHTA (Ancient India)
Vasishta was a great ascetic. He was the preceptor of great men like Sri Rama and Harischandra. He had conquered anger and desire. He was a great saint who humbled insolent men and became a guide to thousands of aspirants.
This is what Vashishta told Rama. Look here you are going to work to become king, and rule your subjects. You are going to administer and create law and order. You will have to do so many things, and there is no harm. But you must remember one thing; that everything is an idea. Gyana is an idea and karma is an idea; renunciation is an idea as well as desire and passion. Even spiritual experience is an idea. After all, the whole world is maya, the conglomeration of ideas.
Sage Vashishta closes his instructions to Rama by saying, 'Even if the world is unreal, participate, because even that participation is unreal. Even if everything that is happening is all stupidity, participate. Be stupid with the stupid, foolish with the fools. You can become an emperor, a general, a swami, an administrator, a housewife, a trader, a businessman, an artist, an engineer or even a prostitute. These are all an expression of your karma.’ 'Oh Rama, even though you will rule a kingdom, it does not stand in the way of spiritual life. Renunciation of objects and duties is not renunciation. It is renunciation of idea or identification that is important. One must fulfil obligations, the duties of nature. Then and only then, will they not come into direct confrontation
5. LAO-TZU (604-531 BC)
Nothing certain is known about Lao Tzu, whose name means 'the Ancient Master' and is a reverential title rather than a name. The Tao Te Ching isthe sole accessible work of Lao Tzu.
The life of the Sage embodies the highest standard of action, and it represents a condition metaphorically characterized as p'u, the uncarved block, the raw material of myriad uses before it has been put to use. Once it is carved – into a bowl, a pillar, a grinding stone – it is useful, but its pristine nature is confined. So it is with human beings: to the extent they set about tasks for one or another purpose or in fulfilment of one or another desire, they cease to live in their original nature. The carved object which is worn out or broken ceases to have any use at all, whilst the uncarved block remains potentially useful. Hence the Sage seems to do nothing, being neither utilitarian nor empirical, and yet is the relevant factor in every condition and at every moment. In the sense appropriate to the Tao, only the Sage ever accomplishes anything of lasting value. He is the unperceived ruler of the world.
As the Tao is eternal, consciousness which becomes fully consonant with the Tao experiences immortality. It is no longer subject to the play of opposites because it has transcended them by understanding and assimilating their operation and integrating them into the ceaseless, soundless hum of the Tao.
6. MAHAVIRA (599-527 BC)
Mahavira is the name most commonly used to refer to the Indian sage Vardhamāna who established what are today considered to be the central tenets of Jainism. His philosophy has eight cardinal principals – three metaphysical and five ethical. The objective is to elevate the quality of life. In a state of karmic delusion, the individual seeks temporary and illusory pleasure in material possessions, which are the root causes of self-centered violent thoughts and deeds as well as anger, hatred, greed, and other vices. These result in further accumulation of karma.
To liberate one's self, Mahavira taught the necessity of right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct. At the heart of right conduct for Jains lie the five great vows:
Nonviolence – to cause no harm to any living being; Truthfulness – to speak the harmless truth only; Non-stealing – to take nothing not properly given; Chastity – to indulge in no sensual pleasure; Non-possession/Non-attachment) – to detach completely from people, places, and material things.
Monks and nuns adhere strictly to these vows, while the laypeople observe them as best they can.
7. PYTHAGORAS (570-495 BC)
Pythagoras spent his early years on the island of Samos, off the coast of modern Turkey. At the age of forty, however, he emigrated to the city of Croton in southern Italy and most of his philosophical activity occurred there. Pythagoras was famous (1) as an expert on the fate of the soul after death, who thought that the soul was immortal and went through a series of reincarnations; (2) as an expert on religious ritual; (3) as a wonder-worker who had a thigh of gold and who could be two places at the same time; (4) as the founder of a strict way of life that emphasized dietary restrictions, religious ritual and rigorous self discipline
Pythagoras presented a cosmos that was structured according to moral principles and significant numerical relationships. In such a cosmos, the planets were seen as instruments of divine vengeance, the sun and moon are the isles of the blessed where we may go, if we live a good life, while thunder functioned to frighten the souls. The heavenly bodies also appear to have moved in accordance with the mathematical ratios that govern the concordant musical intervals in order to produce music of the heavens, which later developed into “the harmony of the spheres.”
Pythagoras succeeded in promulgating a new more optimistic view of the fate of the soul after death and in founding a way of life that was attractive for its rigor and discipline and that drew to him numerous devoted followers
8. GAUTAM BUDDHA (India 563-483 BC)
Buddha gave out the experiences of his Samadhi: "I thus behold my mind released from the defilement of earthly existence, released from the defilement of sensual pleasures, released from the defilement of heresy, released from the defilement of ignorance."
In the emancipated state arose the knowledge: "I am emancipated, rebirth is extinct, the religious walk is accomplished, what had to be done is done, and there is no need for the present existence. I have overcome all foes; I am all-wise; I am free from stains in every way; I have left everything and have obtained emancipation by the destruction of desire. Myself having gained knowledge, whom should I call my Master? I have no teacher; no one is equal to me. I am the holy one in this world; I am the highest teacher. I alone am the absolute omniscient one. I have gained coolness by the extinction of all passion and have obtained Nirvana".
Lord Buddha preached: "We will have to find out the cause of sorrow and the way to escape from it. The desire for sensual enjoyment and clinging to earthly life is the cause of sorrow. If we can eradicate desire, all sorrows and pains will come to an end. We will enjoy Nirvana or eternal peace. Those who follow the Noble Eightfold Path strictly, viz., right opinion, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right employment, right exertion, right thought and right self-concentration will be free from sorrow.
9. CONFUCIUS (China 551-479 BC)
His moral teachings emphasized self-cultivation, emulation of moral exemplars, and the attainment of skilled judgment rather than knowledge of rules.
Virtuous action towards others begins with virtuous and sincere thought, which begins with knowledge. A virtuous disposition without knowledge is susceptible to corruption and virtuous action without sincerity is not true righteousness. Cultivating knowledge and sincerity is also important for one's own sake; the superior person loves learning for the sake of learning and righteousness for the sake of righteousness
The Confucian theory of ethics as exemplified in Lǐ (禮) is based on three important conceptual aspects of life: ceremonies associated with sacrifice to ancestors and deities of various types, social and political institutions, and the etiquette of daily behavior.
In Confucianism, the concept of li is closely related to yì (義). Yì can be translated as righteousness, though it may simply mean what is ethically best to do in a certain context. The term contrasts with action done out of self-interest. While pursuing one's own self-interest is not necessarily bad, one would be a better, more righteous person if one's life was based upon following a path designed to enhance the greater good. Thus an outcome of yì is doing the right thing for the right reason.
10.
PARMENIDES OF ELIA (Born 545 BC)
Parmenides of Elia was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Italy. He was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy. The single known work of Parmenides is a poem, On Nature, which has survived only in fragmentary form. Parmenides was a young man when he wrote it, for the goddess who reveals the truth to him addresses him as “youth.”
In this poem, Parmenides describes two views of reality. In "the way of truth", he explains how reality (coined as "what-is") is one, change is impossible, and existence is timeless, uniform, necessary, and unchanging. In "the way of opinion," he explains the world of appearances, in which one's sensory faculties lead to conceptions which are false and deceitful. These ideas strongly influenced the whole of Western philosophy, perhaps most notably through its effect on Plato.
His work thus has two divisions. The first discusses the truth, and the second the world of illusion — that is, the world of the senses and the erroneous opinions of mankind founded upon them. In his opinion truth lies in the perception that existence is, and error in the idea that non-existence also can be.
