This website is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Luciana C. , born in Rome, Italy in 1938♰, and passed away in Rome, Italy in 2012♰. I am quite sure that, had she been still alive, she would have greatly enjoyed the effort.

The Hidden Ring : An Introduction to the Oriental Studies
and to Eastern philosophy

The basic idea behind the creation of this (unusual) website was to create a kind of framework or collection of the main schools of thought of the world's East, that is, that religious-doctrinal background ranging from Islam to Japanese Shintoism. A field of study commonly known as "Oriental Studies", which embraces the whole of these cultures other than the Western one which find their cultural roots in the Hebrew (the "Torah") and Christian Bible.

The reason, therefore, for this website is to provide only an introduction or a not even too in-depth overview of each of these doctrines, thus referring back to the links provided at the bottom of each page for more in-depth news and informations. It is necessary to point out here that the texts and videos introducing each school of thought have not been written by the author ot the website (G.E.R. Contino) but have been extracted from Encyclopedia Britannica and from YouTube (see the legal disclaimer at the bottom of the page) and serve only as an introduction and not as “indoctrination” , lecture or anything else.

The "traditions" or schools of thought discussed in The Hidden Ring therefore are :

1) Chinese philosophy, including Taoism, Confucianism and the Five Classics, QiGong, Tai Chi and Wu Shu, which is a whole set of martial arts whose philosophical background goes back to the former doctrines ;

2) Indian philosophy, which includes the Vedas (Vedanta), Yoga, Tantra ;

3) Buddhism, which can be subsequently divided into Mahayana (Indian) Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism , each with its own peculiarities ;

4) Islam, which includes Islamic philosophy as well as Islamic theology (Quran and Hadith) and Sufism which is Islam's mystical practice;

5) The Ancient Iran's tradition called Zoroastrianism which can be defined as a theology of light and darkness ;

6) The Japanese religion, Shinto together with the Bushido which is the Samurai code of conduct as well as a theoretical framework for the Japanese martial arts;

7) and lastly Shamanism, widespread in North and South America as well as in Siberia, which finds its place here for its eastern origins in the frozen plains of Russia .

The real purpose of this collection of texts and photographs freely taken from the web and presented here without any purpose for profit nor commercial interest is also to provide a number of links to detailed resources and specific sites. The Hidden Ring thus stands as an introductory portal to the world of Eastern philosophy.

It is good to point out, therefore, that even the choice of sections or topics is not random. It has been necessary to exclude everything that pertains to: 1) esotericism in the strict sense of the word, which nevertheless boasts a fair number of “serious topics” that would have been interesting to deal with as well as a certain literary tradition that includes authors such as Reneè Guenon or Elemire Zòlla; 2) Occultism and “magic” , as this is a diversion from the true meaning of Eastern philosophy as a whole; and 3) world-wide traditions such as Christianity and Hebraism as they cannot be considered truly “Eastern” in the sense in which this term also designates a diversity or an opposition to the Hebrew-Christian and Hellenic West , founded on other texts, other traditions and other languages like the Hebrew, Greek and Latin languages for example as opposed to the Arabic, Chinese and Sanskrit languages; or texts like the Bible and Plato's and Aristotle's philosophical works as opposed to Lao Tze's or Avicenna's works or the Pali canon of Buddha . And even though the Hebraic and Christian religions sprung up in Galilea , and thus in the "East" of the world, they soon spread to the West becoming the pillars of the Western world after the fall of the Roman empire and the eclipse of the Nordic and Celtic religions during the first millenium AD.

For the very same reasons the author has regretfully given up the idea of including many traditions born in Africa like Totemism and Animism ; and in South America like the Mayan and Aztec cults. The former ones because they pertain to anthropology ; the latter ones because the constitute a branch of comparative history of religions, but as of now they are no longer considered "live" traditions, being thus akin to the Egyptians cults and to the Germanic lores. The Hidden Ring is concerned with philosophies, cults and traditions that are somehow still alive in the world today. Only the page about Zoroastrianism (Persia's ancient pre-islamic religion) constitutes an exception to this, because Zoroastrianism - although no longer practised as a religion today like Buddhism or Zen somehow are - yet mantains many similarities to these last ones. The Hidden Ring doeasn't deal with exoterism either, a term encompassing sagas and lores like the Quest for the Holy Grail , the Knights of the Round Table, the Celtic druids or the Nordic runes, to name but a few of these charming arguments that would have changed or misled the global scope and meaning of the entire project.

And this is not by way of doctrinaire polemic as much as because the sense of the division of the world between East and West should also be reflected in the very structure of this website, the purpose of which is not to debate about that division , whether it is right or wrong; as much as to give voice also to the other side, hitherto perhaps kept in a minority status in relation to the Christian West. And also , as much as the origin of the philosophical thought is concerned, this website is meant to create a global framework in which the Western philosophy (in its two main branches called "continental philosophy" and "analytical philosophy") - born in Greece in the V century BC - finds its place next to all other systems of thought sprung to existence in that period of time in other parts of the world.

This site therefore wants to remedy that.

The Hidden Ring wishes its visitors a happy journey towards the most unknown parts of the (philosophical) world.

Note on the author:

G.E.R. Contino (23/11/1978) is a Canadian painter, writer & professional F/S web-developer. He is the creator of "The Hidden Ring - A website about Oriental Studies", a website meant to create a global framework for resources, links & imagery about Eastern philosophy . He cultivated a keen interest for all Eastern philosophies (especially the Chinese classics and Zen) since 2001, when he finally relinquished reading Western philosophy. He owns and runs "Glucksmann Digital.net", a multipurpose web agency. Please visit: www.guidoeliasrcontino.com. his professional website, for more infos and details on his work. Thanks.