Schopenhauer’s philosophy of life compared with Taoism

John Vespasian explains that Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) was deeply familiar with Eastern philosophy, in particular Buddhism and Hinduism. He held in high regard the Eastern approach to stress reduction by reducing one’s emotional engagement. In Schopenhauer’s books, you won’t find a call for “nirvana” and other Eastern philosophical concepts. Nonetheless, he put forward recommendations that are similar to “nirvana.” There’s no doubt that Schopenhauer deployed great efforts to draw the best ideas from Buddhism and Hinduism, and turned them into practical advice. In contrast to Buddhism and Hinduism, Schopenhauer didn’t recommend the suppression of desires. He came up with mild, soft advice that everybody can implement without giving up all his dreams and daily comforts. Schopenhauer presented his advice primarily in “The world as will and representation” (1818) and in his essays collection “Parerga and Paralipomena” (1851). Amongst other strategies, he favoured self-awareness, prudence and foresight, keeping a margin of safety, self-reliance and risk diversification. In this context, we must ask why he focused on Buddhism and Hinduism instead of Taoism. What made him prefer the ideas from Indian philosophers to those developed by Chinese Taoists? Here is the link to the original article: https://johnvespasian.com/schopenhauers-philosophy-of-life-compared-with-taoism/