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Pierre Bayle

 


Pierre Bayle, one of those stellar French philosophers of the late 17th century, had a great reputation in his own day and for some time thereafter, though he has somewhat faded from attention of late.

Nonetheless, when he WAS a rock star, another philosophical rock star, Voltaire, called Bayle "the greatest dialectician who has ever written." 

I mention that only to introduce something fascinating that Bayle wrote about Spinoza.  Bayle found in Spinoza's writing "echoes of various religious teachings: Persian 'sufism' and 'cabalism'; some ancient Indian doctrines; [and] the contemplative practices of a Chinese sect named Foe Kiao, founded around the same time as Christianity." 

I interrupt at this point to let you know that Bayle almost certainly got the notions of this Chinese sect from a source that used a corruption of the Chinese term for Buddhism. Bayle clearly underestimates the age of Buddhism here and believes apparently that it originated in China rather than arriving by the efforts of Himalayas-crossing missionaries.

At any rate, Bayle continues on about how Spinoza's thought is related to Buddhism. The scholars of Foe Kiao, he says, pursue an ideal of "quietude," and hold: "after a man has arrived at the state of quietude, he may follow the ordinary course of life outwardly, and teach others the commonly received doctrine. It is only privately and inwardly that he ought to practice the contemplative exercise of Beatitude." 

Leaving Budhism aside for the moment, I ask you my readers because at least some of you likely have some acquaintance of Spinoza's work: is that what he was doing? Offering an esoteric meaning on how to advance quietude/Beatitude while offering an exoteric meaning that taught more commonlyreceived doctrines? 



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