Most Practical Philosophies You Have Found?

[electroBeam]

What philosophies have you found to be the most practical for increasing your awareness?

Examples of practical philosophies:

- advaita vedanta (my favorite)

- Zen buddhism

- Taoism

Examples of impractical philosophies:

- Christianity, Islam, Judaism 

- stoicism (it's practical for having a good life, but not for increasing your critical thinking skills)

Also add any egoic pitfalls that you fell into while embodying the philosophy, if any. And if you would like, highlight any particular reason why you think its a good philosophy(like for example, Taoism has the golden flower meditation technique which is amazing).

 

I made this question because there are millions of philosophies out there, and it would be more efficient to use the knowledge of more experienced guys on here to narrow that search down, rather than spend an entire lifetime seriously trialing each one out. Please no debates on this thread, just add a philosophy that you think practically helped you.

[Joseph Maynor]

Stoicism -- Seneca.  Epictetus.  Marcus Aurelius.  Epictetus is probably the best of the three, in my opinion.

Buddhism -- The Four Noble Truths.  Chan/Zen.  Nagarjuna.  Theravada.  Mahayana.  The Heart Sutra.  The Dhammapada.

Hinduism -- Advaita Vedanta.  Maharshi.  Shankara.  Openness to eclecticism unlike most other "religions".

Taoism/ Neo-Taoism -- Tao Te Ching.  Chuang Tsu.

Mohism -- The Mozi.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozi

Confucianism/ Neo-Confucianism --  The Analects.  The Mencius.  The Zunxi by Xun Kuang .  The The concept of Li.  The concept of Qi (or "chi" as we usually call it).   Zhu Xi.  Wang yangming.  "Instructions for Practical Living" by Wang Yangming.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhu_Xi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Yangming

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_(Confucianism)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_(Neo-Confucianism)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qi

The theory of Yin/Yang -- This goes back to the I Ching,  way before Tao Tsu (Ying/Yang really isn't mentioned in the Tao Te Ching).

Chinese Folk Religion (Until you travel to China and Taiwan you will not be able to appreciate this fully).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_folk_religion

Pyrrho.

Aristotle's concept of Eudaimonia.

Ralpf Waldo Emerson -- advanced an individualist transcendental vision.

Thoreau -- You haven't really read a book until you read Walden.

The Beat Poets -- Took the ideas of Emerson and Thoreau and lived them.  Transformed world culture.  The invention of hipster mindset.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_Generation

Wittgenstein -- Read Ray Monk's book The Duty of Genius.  His life is worth study.

Unitarian Universalism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitarian_Universalism

John Dewey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dewey

William James

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_James

 

 

Edited July 9, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[Shanmugam]

@electroBeam Advaita and Zen helped me a lot in my overall progress.. My whole spiritual sadhana was the theory of advaita, practice of zen and self-inquiry. Concepts like surrendering the sense of doer, accepting the reality as it is without resistance, seeing myself as a witness but not as the contents of consciousness etc helped me a lot.

Shikantaza is the zen version of mindfulness, though I practiced it not mainly as sitting meditations but  in everyday life while doing any activity. In addition to that, Oshos' book 'Empty boat' about Taoism helped me initially when I started out as a seeker. I didn't learn much Taoism though. 

I went through inner engineering program by Isha which teaches a Yoga practice but I didn't do much of it. I didn't have the discipline required for Yoga. 

 I came to know about christian mysticism and sufism; they helped me to see how those traditions also have the same concepts and lead to realization. But they go together with their religions; so they can be helpful for people who were brought up in Christianity and Islam respectively. (recommended only for those who can't seem to accept any teaching except their own religion). Also, these two traditions are path of love, similar to Bhakthi yoga in India. An intense longing for union and willingness to surrender oneself is a prerequisite. It seems that nobody can teach Bhakti yoga, it has to present as an inbuilt trait for people.

Recently, I studied Buddhist concepts deeply and was amazed by the wisdom in Buddhism, especially Theraveda. That gave me an idea how a lot of Buddhist concepts can be taught along with Advaita to make the teachings suitable for all kinds of people. Both of them can be combined without any conflict.  In addition to that, teaching people some psychological concepts like defense mechanisms and cognitive biases using a simplified version can help.

Edited July 9, 2017 by Shanmugam

[Toby]

For me I like Advaita and Zen also the best. Zen also has a lot of Taoistic influence obviously. But there are gems in every tradition. Tantra as taught by Osho has it's moments, but there are also Christian Mystic (e.g. Bernadette Roberts) and Sufi (e.g. Irina Tweedie) approaches that I like.

[ajasatya]

• buddha's 4 noble truths
  • to free myself from the attachment to the relative
• the teachings of a brazilian enlightened being called mestre gabriel
  • to free myself from the attachment to the absolute

Edited July 10, 2017 by ajasatya

[Mastral]

Determinism. Every time I think about no free-will it makes me realise that there is no doer which would have free will and my thoughts and actions are a function of the environment and the past.

[krazzer]

@Wormon Blatburm Stoicism is basically living like someone who is enlightened. Not suffering, being virtuous, doing what's right, being indifferent about your situation. They talk about how you can prefer something to change, and then work towards it, but being indifferent about the outcome.

I have studied stoicism early in my self-development journey and I find it to be extremely helpful and practical. 

This is a good book to start:
https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Good-Life-Ancient-Stoic/dp/0195374614/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=86796SK5924DGSCPHDCJ

And this one goes deeper:
https://www.amazon.com/Stoicism-Art-Happiness-Teach-Yourself/dp/1444187104 

[krazzer]

@Wormon Blatburm you cannot control your emotions, but you have full control over how you react to them. That is basic stoicism.

This man was imprisoned during the Vietnam war for 7 years and tortured and isolated, stoicism helped him stay sane:
https://allthatcase.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/does-stoicism-work-the-case-of-james-stockdale/