Understand Eastern Philosophy question

This is a book I have been reading as a member of U3A (University of the Third Age, run by retired people for retired people and divided into groups of like-minded members). I have long been interested in philosophy though have not had the opportunity to study it in my younger years. I've been a member of this group for two or three years and, when I first joined, we were discussing chapters concerning various topics from the Western point of view. When we came to the end of it and were thinking of our next book, I gently suggested that we were perhaps being a little parochial and it might give new insights to read about eastern philosophy. So we have been for about a year.
The contrast is fascinating, not only because of the differences but because of the similarities. And perhaps, above all, because we are continuing to re-invent the wheel. Having spent a lot of time on Buddhism in its various forms, I have been struck by the way we are returning in the 21st century AD to forms of meditation (including mindfulness) practiced several thousand years BC.
It has further helped me in completing my own latest book, a memoir covering a fair chunk of the 20th century with all the new developments (good and bad) it has engendered.
Because the book is an introduction, it inevitably raised a good many questions it does not answer - but that is the nature of introduction and I shall certainly pursue the questions in other publications. Thank you Mr. Thompson.