An exploration of Eastern mythology as it developed into the distinctive religions of Egypt, India, China, and Japan.

"It is impossible to read this startling and entertaining book without an enlarged sense of total human possibility and an increased receptivity 'open-endedness' as Thomas Mann called it to the still living past."
Robert Gorham Davis

Joseph Campbell was interested in mythology since his childhood in New York, when he read books about American Indians, frequently visited the American Museum of Natural History, and was fascinated by the museum's collection of totem poles. He earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees at Columbia in 1925 and 1927 and went on to study medieval French and Sanskrit at the universities of Paris and Munich. After a period in California, where he encountered John Steinbeck and the biologist Ed Ricketts, he taught at the Canterbury School, then, in 1934, joined the literature department at Sarah Lawrence College, a post he retained for many years. During the 1940s and '50s, he helped Swami Nikhilananda to translate the Upanishads and The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. The many books by Professor Campbell include The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Myths to Live By, The Flight of the Wild Gander, and The Mythic Image. He edited The Portable Arabian Nights, The Portable Jung, and other works. He died in 1987.

Oriental MythologyPART ONE: THE SEPARATION OF EAST AND WEST

Chapter 1. The Signatures of the Four Great Domains
I. The Dialogue in Myth of East and West
II. The Shared Myth of the One That Became Two
III. The Two Views of Ego
IV. The Two Ways of India and the Far East
V. The Two Loyalties of Europe and the Levant
VI. The Age of Comparison

Chapter 2. The Cities of God
I. The Age of Wonder
II. Mythogenesis
III. Culture Stage and Culture Style
IV. The Hieratic State
V. Mythic Identification
VI. Mythic Inflation
VII. The Immanent Transcendent God
VIII. The Priestcraft of Art
IX. Mythic Subordination

Chapter 3. The Cities of Men
I. Mythic Dissocation
II. Mythic Virtue
III. Mythic Time
IV. The Mythic Flood
V. Mythic Guilt
VI. The Knowledge of Sorrow

PART TWO: THE MYTHOLOGIES OF INDIA

Chapter 4. Ancient India
I. The Invisible Counterplayer
II. The Indus Civilization: c. 2500-1500 B.C.
III. The Vedic Age: c. 1500-500 B.C.
IV. Mythic Power
V. Forest Philosophy
VI. The Immanent Transcendent Divinity
VII. The Great Reversal
VIII. The Road of Smoke
IX. The Road of Flame

Chapter 5. Buddhist India
I. The Occidental and the Oriental Hero
II. The New City States: c. 800-500 B.C.
III. The Legend of the World Savior
IV. Mythic Eternalization
V. The Middle Way
VI. Nirvana
VII. The Age of the Great Classics: c. 500 B.C.-c. 500 A.D.
VIII. Three Buddhist Kings
IX. The Way of Vision
X. The World Regained - as Dream

Chapter 6. The Indian Golden Age
I. The Heritage of Rome
II. The Mythic Past
III. The Age of the Great Beliefs: c. 500-1500 A.D.
IV. The Way of Delight
V. The Blow of Islam

PART THREE: THE MYTHOLOGIES OF THE FAR EAST

Chapter 7. Chinese Mythology
I. The Antiquity of Chinese Civilization
II. The Mythic Past
III. The Chinese Feudal Age: c. 1500-500 B.C.
IV. The Age of the Great Classics: c. 500 B.C.-500 A.D.
V. The Age of the Great Beliefs: c. 500-1500 A.D.

Chapter 8. Japanese Mythology
I. Prehistoric Origins
II. The Mythic Past
III. The Way of Spirits
IV. The Ways of the Buddha
V. The Way of Heroes
VI. The Way of Tea

Chapter 9. Tibet: The Buddha and the New Happiness

Reference Notes
Index