Would religion of the ancient Egyptians (ex: Isis worship) count as "Eastern Philosophy"? Anyone know about it?
I'd say, no. Eastern is anything to the east of the Indus river. That means, Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism/Taoism, Shintoism... etc.
What , specifically, do you want to know about Isis? She was worshipped all throughout the ancient world under many names, for example: Isis-Egypt Astarte-Phoenicia Ishtar-Babylonia Inanna-Sumer Cybele-Phrygia Herodotus identifies her with Demeter(Greece) You may also want to look up Ashtoreth and Estera To gnostics she was known as Sophia.
Umm, Circe, how can you identify Isis as being worshipped the same nby all these different cultures? I can agree with them having similar deities, but not that they are all one and teh same.
I agree wiuth Guthrie, and would like to point out that while Isis was very inportant to Egyptian religion, the move to Ra worship, and subsequently to Sun worship are equally important parts of the Evolution of the Egyptian state religion. on topic, I agree with DJSupreme23.
Some good reading if you're interested in ancient egyptian religion. http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/index.htm Mike
How would you define 'Eastern Philosophy', and what are the parallels or differences you saw to make you wonder?
Good question. "Eastern" thought, at least to me, means an approach to life, not a location. While "Western" philosophy is build on logic and analysis, the"Eastern" concentrates on contadiction and paradox and offers questions that seemingly have no answer.
I'd say that Eastern Philosophy is mainly: Hinduism, [the paths of Raja Marga, Karma Marga, Jnana Marga or Bhakti Marga, mainly] Theravada, Mahayana and Tibetan Buddhism, as well as other Japanese schools of it [such as Zen] Confucianism Taoism Jainism Tantra Zoroastrianism Sikhism Shinto... I'm sure there are others I'm missing, but those are the religions that come to mind when you say 'Eastern Philosophy' to me.
I wouldn't call the Egyptian faith(s) Eastern Religion, and instead would lean toward "Ancient Religion". It doesn't seem to lend itself to a geographical classification.
I took archeology & anthropology several years ago, & I remember my professor saying that the Egyptian religion evolved as they evolved, but that they kept all the older parts too, such as animal-headed gods & goddesses, until they arrived at concepts, like the one god Atun.
