Modern Orientalism is not a brainchild of nineteenth-century European imperialists and colonialists, but, as Urs App demonstrates, was born in the eighteenth century after a very long gestation period defined less by economic or political motives than by religious ideology. Based on sources from a dozen languages, many unavailable in English, The Birth of Orientalism presents a completely new picture of this protracted genesis, its underlying dynamics, and the Western discovery of Asian religions from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. App documents the immense influence of Japan and China and describes how the Near Eastern cradle of civilization moved toward mother India. Moreover, he shows that some of India's purportedly oldest texts were products of eighteenth-century European authors. Though Western engagement with non-Abrahamic Asian religions reaches back to antiquity and can without exaggeration be called the largest-scale religiocultural encounter in history, it has so far received surprisingly little attention-which is why some of its major features and their role in the birth of modern Orientalism are described here for the first time. The study of Asian documents had a profound impact on Europe's intellectual makeup. Suddenly the Bible had much older competitors from China and India, Sanskrit threatened to replace Hebrew as the world's oldest language, and Judeo-Christianity appeared as a local phenomenon on a dramatically expanded, worldwide canvas of religions and mythologies. Orientalists were called upon as arbiters in a clash that involved neither gold and spices nor colonialism and imperialism but, rather, such fundamental questions as where we come from and who we are: questions of identity that demanded new answers as biblical authority dramatically waned.

Whereas the discovery by Europeans of the continents of our earth has been the subject of countless studies and its protagonists (such as Columbus) are universally known, research on the European discovery of our globe's "spiritual continents" - its religions and philosophies - is still in its infancy. The Christian West's discovery of Asia's largest religion and fount of philosophies, Buddhism, is a case in point: though it triggered one of the most significant and influential spiritual and cultural encounters in world history, even the most basic questions remain unanswered. What did Europeans first learn about Buddhist thought? When and where did this discovery take place and who was involved in it? What kind of Buddhism did they study, how did they understand or misunderstand it, and what were the repercussions of such discoveries in Europe? Based on a wide range of sources in European and Asian languages, Urs App - the author of The Birth of Orientalism (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010) - identifies the protagonists of the first Western encounter with Buddhism and shows how their interpretation of Buddhist doctrines led to the invention of a single "Oriental philosophy" reigning from Egypt to Japan: an atheist philosophy anchored in "nothingness" and "emptiness" that was revealed by the Buddha to his closest disciples on his deathbed. Leading thinkers of the Enlightenment came to regard this philosophy as the most ancient form of atheism, the ancestor of Greek philosophy, the precursor of Spinoza, and the fount of mysticism as well as countless heresies including monism, pantheism, quietism, and gnosticism.

It is little known that Richard Wagner was among the very first Westerners to appreciate Buddhism and that he was the first major European artist to be inspired by this religion. In 1856, in the prime of his creativity, the 33-year-old artist read his first book about Buddhism. Madly in love with Mathilde Wesendonck, a beautiful but happily married woman, he conceived two deeply connected opera projects: Tristan und Isolde which he went on to compose and stage, and Die Sieger (The Victors), an opera scenario based on an Indian Buddha legend translated from Sanskrit. These two projects mirrored Wagner's burning desire for the consummation of his love and the necessity of renunciation.This Buddhist opera project occupied Wagner's mind for decades until his death in 1883. Indeed, the composer's last words were about the Buddha figure of his scenario and his relationship with women. Urs App, the author of The Birth of Orientalism (University of Pennsylvania Press) and the world's foremost authority on the early Western reception of Buddhism, tells the story of Richard Wagner's creative encounter with Buddhism and explains the composer's last words.

Schopenhauer's favorite book was a particular version of the Indian Upanishads. He encountered it just before he found the centerpiece of his philosophical system: his concept of will. Though he named it as the first of three main philosophical influences and kept calling it the most excellent book in the world, 150 years of Schopenhauer research have failed to explain the role of these Latin Upanishads. Based on Schopenhauer's extant copy of the work, his notebooks and many additional sources, Urs App's study (in German) offers a completely new picture of the genesis of Schopenhauer's philosophy. It explains for the first time the role of Indian, Persian (Sufi), Neoplatonic, and mystical ideas in the birth of his philosophy and describes the central dynamic that gave direction to all of his work: Schopenhauer's Compass. Schopenhauer war der erste gro e Philosoph Europas, der schon in seiner Jugend tiefes Interesse an asiatischen Philosophien und Religionen zeigte. Vor der Niederschrift seines Hauptwerkes Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung bezeichnete er in seinem Notizbuch die Upanischaden, Plato und Kant als Haupteinfl sse. Immer wieder betonte der Philosoph, diese Upanischaden seien das lesenswerteste Werk der Welt und nannte es den Trost seines Lebens und Sterbens. In seiner Frankfurter Wohnung lag es immer offen da - zur t glichen Abendandacht, wie ein Besucher berichtete. Doch die Schopenhauerforschung hat es hundertf nfzig Jahre lang vers umt, das Lieblingsbuch des Denkers zu lesen und seine so zahlreichen wie interessanten handschriftlichen Eintr ge zu studieren. Der Schopenhauer-Experte und Orientalismus-Spezialist Urs App erkl rt erstmals, was es mit dieser Hauptquelle Schopenhauers auf sich hat und zeichnet ein komplett neues Bild der Entstehung von Schopenhauers Philosophie, in dem auch sein fr hes Interesse an west- stlicher Mystik und meditativen Zust nden ( besseres Bewusstsein ) beleuchtet wird. Nicht nur die Urspr nge dieser Philosophie erscheinen so in neuem Licht: Schopenhauers Kompass weist auch die Richtung zum Verst ndnis seines gesamten Denkweges.

Schopenhauer's favorite book was a particular version of the Indian Upanishads. He encountered it just before he found the centerpiece of his philosophical system: his concept of will. Though he named it as the first of three main philosophical influences and kept calling it the most excellent book in the world, 150 years of Schopenhauer research have failed to explain the role of these Latin Upanishads. Based on Schopenhauer's extant copy of the work, his notebooks and many additional sources, Urs App's study (in German) offers a completely new picture of the genesis of Schopenhauer's philosophy. It explains for the first time the role of Indian, Persian (Sufi), Neoplatonic, and mystical ideas in the birth of his philosophy and describes the central dynamic that gave direction to all of his work: Schopenhauer's Compass. Schopenhauer war der erste gro e Philosoph Europas, der schon in seiner Jugend tiefes Interesse an asiatischen Philosophien und Religionen zeigte. Vor der Niederschrift seines Hauptwerkes Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung bezeichnete er in seinem Notizbuch die Upanischaden, Plato und Kant als Haupteinfl sse. Immer wieder betonte der Philosoph, diese Upanischaden seien das lesenswerteste Werk der Welt und nannte es den Trost seines Lebens und Sterbens. In seiner Frankfurter Wohnung lag es immer offen da - zur t glichen Abendandacht, wie ein Besucher berichtete. Doch die Schopenhauerforschung hat es hundertf nfzig Jahre lang vers umt, das Lieblingsbuch des Denkers zu lesen und seine so zahlreichen wie interessanten handschriftlichen Eintr ge zu studieren. Der Schopenhauer-Experte und Orientalismus-Spezialist Urs App erkl rt erstmals, was es mit dieser Hauptquelle Schopenhauers auf sich hat und zeichnet ein komplett neues Bild der Entstehung von Schopenhauers Philosophie, in dem auch sein fr hes Interesse an west- stlicher Mystik und meditativen Zust nden ( besseres Bewusstsein ) beleuchtet wird. Nicht nur die Urspr nge dieser Philosophie erscheinen so in neuem Licht: Schopenhauers Kompass weist auch die Richtung zum Verst ndnis seines gesamten Denkweges.

Richard Wagner war einer der ersten Europ er, der den Buddhismus sch tzte und darf als der erste gro e K nstler des Westens gelten, der sich von dieser Religion inspirieren lie .Im Jahre 1856, auf dem Gipfel seiner k nstlerischen Kreativit t, las der 33-j hrige K nstler in Z rich sein erstes Buch ber den Buddhismus. Er war damals v llig verliebt in die gl cklich verheiratete Mathilde Wesendonck und ersann zwei zutiefst verbundene Opernprojekte, die den Zwiespalt in seinem Herzen widerspiegelten: Tristan und Isolde, wo zur Befriedigung des Begehrens alle Konventionen gebrochen werden, und Die Sieger, ein von einer indischen Buddhalegende inspiriertes Opernszenario wo Entsagung als h chster Ausdruck der Liebe dargestellt wird.Dieses buddhistische Opernprojekt besch ftigte Wagner jahrzehntelang bis zu seinem Tod im Jahre 1883. In der Tat galten seine letzten Worte der Buddhafigur in seinem Szenario und deren Bezug zu den Frauen.Urs App, der weltbekannte Historiker der westlichen Rezeption des Buddhismus, erz hlt die Geschichte von Richard Wagners kreativer Begegnung mit dieser Religion und erl utert die letzten Worte des Komponisten.