I was reading this book – The Positive Psychology of Buddhism and Yoga : Path to a Mature Happiness by Marvin Levine. Some of the illustrations in the following article are taken from this book. The theme of this article is to give an overview of cognitive approach Siddhartha took to formulate what was later called Buddhism. It was a unique experimentation by a creative man – trying to synthesize the esoteric philosophy of the then prevalent Hinduism – into a simple, practical and scientific approach towards living a peaceful and happy life. Interestingly the same thing has been the pursuit of the western approach of developing the science of Psychology.
Around 500BC northern India had certain religious and philosophical parallels to ancient Greece. This is probably no coincidence. Some 4000 years ago, the same people in the northern part of the globe drifted south, some towards Europe and Greece, and some towards India. Knowledge of the classical Greek language, is of great benefit in studying Sanskrit.
In Greece, religion functioned on two levels. There was the pantheon of Gods that was part of the popular religion, but there was also the abstract characterization of the world and of man’s place in it, which the philosophers were developing. The disparity between the two Greek views of the divine was made painfully clear by the death of Socrates. He, who taught the importance of contemplating the sublime essences, was executed for leading the young away from their (the popular) religion. The same duality of religious beliefs existed at the same time in India. There was a pantheon of Gods, with accompanying stories, symbols, rituals, and rules of worship. There was also, however, the more philosophical approach that saw deity in a more abstract form. It is this latter philosophical approach that gave rise to the movement we call Yoga and that influenced the Buddha. By first reviewing certain basic ideas in this philosophical context, we gain a better understanding of the Buddha’s teachings.
In the Hindu-philosophical view, the personalized gods are replaced by a universal spirit, referred to as Atman. Atman pervades everything – sun, planets, stones, trees, insects, monkeys, you and me. Our spiritual goal is to discover this Atman within ourselves and thus to connect with the all pervasive Atman. The Atman within is to be discovered in a deeper place than our cravings, fears, and agitations, deeper than such ordinary mind activity as brooding, daydreaming, and planning. The Atman could only be glimpsed when all this restless craving and mind activity is stilled. The mind is likened to a lake. When turbulent, it is opaque but, when calm, it is transparent. Yoga was founded on this conception of an all-pervasive, inner and outer Atman. The term Yoga means “linking”, and is usually interpreted to mean linking the inner Atman with the outer.
Drawing parallels from likes of Socrates from Greece, and proponents of Vedas and Upanishads from India, it appears that both these magnanimous civilizations of the world had their framework of civil psychology pretty robust. For people who were into day to day work, and had nothing much to do into the domain of contemplation, there was this easy story created of personalized Gods. There were thousands of Gods for both Greek, Romans and in Indian societies. And for the more contemplative class – people who had time to think and contemplate – there was this philosophical framework of an “Atman”.
The concept of Yoga – (literal meaning is addition or linking in Sanskrit)- was an interesting discipline created with all its ramifications – with the sole motive of establishing the connection with the Omnipresent, Omniscient – The Absolute. This abstract form of the Absolute was given various names – “Param-Atma”, “Param-Brahm”, etc. The sole objective of a spiritual journey was about establishing this connection. This was achieved through calming the mind, and detaching it from various stimuli of the external world. Having done that, there was a significant reduction of entropy in the human consciousness. No matter which path was followed – the general mass easy way of personal gods, or the selective high class philosophy of abstract power – the end goal of these civilizations was commendable – achieving peace of mind – reducing of entropy in the consciousness.
This pursuit of mankind was a threshold in the evolution of human thinking. Among many other factors [other memetic influences from other competing civilizations] this discipline of thought kept the human mind away from slipping down to the innate human tendencies of exploitation, authoritarianism, and self-aggrandizement.
Pain of the real world (Dukkha), Atman, re-incarnation, Karma – these formed the conceptual framework in the Buddha’s cognition of the world – as he was strongly influenced by this unique philosophy prevalent in India – around 500 BC. Synthesizing the abstract philosophical aspect of Hinduism, Siddhartha formulated a unique way of living based on Four Noble Truths. He called his way as the Middle Path – A path between being a selfish materialists and an ascetic. He laid out a unique framework which was mostly atheist – solely aimed at liberating humans from pains inherent in being a human.
The Four Noble Truth are outlined below –
1. The Truth of Dukkha (Suffering) – We are vulnerable to a multitude of suffering such as hunger, pain, fear, loneliness, hatred and so on.
2. The Truth of Tanha (Craving) – We are vulnerable because of the way human nature is constituted. Specifically, we are a bundle of urges that push and pull from within. Urges for example, to obtain food, drink, sexuality, companionship; to escape boredom, pain, irritation.
3. The Truth of Nirvana (Liberation from Dukkha) – Our vulnerability can be ended. We can attain freedom from Dukkha. We do this by changing ourselves, by transforming our cravings. We can subdue those overpowering urges that push us now one way, and then another.
4. The Truth of Magga (Eight fold path) – Liberation from Dukkha is attained by practice of eight disciplines. These disciplines entail the cultivation of
a. Right Understanding
b. Right Thought
c. Right Speech
d. Right Action
e. Right Livelihood
f. Right Mindfulness
g. Right Effort
h. Right Meditation
It looks amazing that how scientifically Siddhartha laid out a framework for humans to achieve a state free from suffering – he called Nirvana. It was about re-designing one’s understanding of the world, to make the forces of circumstances irrelevant in deciding the state of mind for a person.
Now, inherent in this 8 fold path is the ambiguity of what is “Right” in all these points. I see it this way. As Buddha followed the Hindu way of the goal of spiritual journey is to establish ones connection to that “Param-Atma”, which resides deep inside one’s self. Having this as the primary goal of life, everything else looks of secondary importance. This stance creates lots of freedom. This is because now, for the seeker, all the humane vulnerabilities are secondary to her existence. This stoicism creates a launch pad for the seeker to create something big, difficult, huge and unique – in defiance of the real limitations and inherent failure modes. There is a gradual elevation of human psyche – from the feeble self oriented fearful existence, to a robust, creative and fearless expression of humanity. When the primary goal is something non-cognitive (knowing the Param-Atma), any cognitive dilemma of life does not shake the seeker.
This formula helps in reducing entropy of human consciousness thereby bringing to ones disposal and extra psychic energy, which otherwise would have been wasted in dealing with human sufferings. This increases the probability of the seeker to enter to FLOW, getting into a domain of her choice, and thereby creating artifacts of creativity – which leaves a legacy for humanity.
To be able to continue the evolution of mankind towards an optimal direction, such a homework looks like a smart option. It is certainly a reasonable way to orient the mind and transcend the weaknesses inherent in being human. At the same time, it transmutes these weaknesses to absolute unique human faculties which play a vital role in beautifying further the evolution of human civilizations.
______________________________________________
Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar
Around 500BC northern India had certain religious and philosophical parallels to ancient Greece. This is probably no coincidence. Some 4000 years ago, the same people in the northern part of the globe drifted south, some towards Europe and Greece, and some towards India. Knowledge of the classical Greek language, is of great benefit in studying Sanskrit.
In Greece, religion functioned on two levels. There was the pantheon of Gods that was part of the popular religion, but there was also the abstract characterization of the world and of man’s place in it, which the philosophers were developing. The disparity between the two Greek views of the divine was made painfully clear by the death of Socrates. He, who taught the importance of contemplating the sublime essences, was executed for leading the young away from their (the popular) religion. The same duality of religious beliefs existed at the same time in India. There was a pantheon of Gods, with accompanying stories, symbols, rituals, and rules of worship. There was also, however, the more philosophical approach that saw deity in a more abstract form. It is this latter philosophical approach that gave rise to the movement we call Yoga and that influenced the Buddha. By first reviewing certain basic ideas in this philosophical context, we gain a better understanding of the Buddha’s teachings.
In the Hindu-philosophical view, the personalized gods are replaced by a universal spirit, referred to as Atman. Atman pervades everything – sun, planets, stones, trees, insects, monkeys, you and me. Our spiritual goal is to discover this Atman within ourselves and thus to connect with the all pervasive Atman. The Atman within is to be discovered in a deeper place than our cravings, fears, and agitations, deeper than such ordinary mind activity as brooding, daydreaming, and planning. The Atman could only be glimpsed when all this restless craving and mind activity is stilled. The mind is likened to a lake. When turbulent, it is opaque but, when calm, it is transparent. Yoga was founded on this conception of an all-pervasive, inner and outer Atman. The term Yoga means “linking”, and is usually interpreted to mean linking the inner Atman with the outer.
Drawing parallels from likes of Socrates from Greece, and proponents of Vedas and Upanishads from India, it appears that both these magnanimous civilizations of the world had their framework of civil psychology pretty robust. For people who were into day to day work, and had nothing much to do into the domain of contemplation, there was this easy story created of personalized Gods. There were thousands of Gods for both Greek, Romans and in Indian societies. And for the more contemplative class – people who had time to think and contemplate – there was this philosophical framework of an “Atman”.
The concept of Yoga – (literal meaning is addition or linking in Sanskrit)- was an interesting discipline created with all its ramifications – with the sole motive of establishing the connection with the Omnipresent, Omniscient – The Absolute. This abstract form of the Absolute was given various names – “Param-Atma”, “Param-Brahm”, etc. The sole objective of a spiritual journey was about establishing this connection. This was achieved through calming the mind, and detaching it from various stimuli of the external world. Having done that, there was a significant reduction of entropy in the human consciousness. No matter which path was followed – the general mass easy way of personal gods, or the selective high class philosophy of abstract power – the end goal of these civilizations was commendable – achieving peace of mind – reducing of entropy in the consciousness.
This pursuit of mankind was a threshold in the evolution of human thinking. Among many other factors [other memetic influences from other competing civilizations] this discipline of thought kept the human mind away from slipping down to the innate human tendencies of exploitation, authoritarianism, and self-aggrandizement.
Pain of the real world (Dukkha), Atman, re-incarnation, Karma – these formed the conceptual framework in the Buddha’s cognition of the world – as he was strongly influenced by this unique philosophy prevalent in India – around 500 BC. Synthesizing the abstract philosophical aspect of Hinduism, Siddhartha formulated a unique way of living based on Four Noble Truths. He called his way as the Middle Path – A path between being a selfish materialists and an ascetic. He laid out a unique framework which was mostly atheist – solely aimed at liberating humans from pains inherent in being a human.
The Four Noble Truth are outlined below –
1. The Truth of Dukkha (Suffering) – We are vulnerable to a multitude of suffering such as hunger, pain, fear, loneliness, hatred and so on.
2. The Truth of Tanha (Craving) – We are vulnerable because of the way human nature is constituted. Specifically, we are a bundle of urges that push and pull from within. Urges for example, to obtain food, drink, sexuality, companionship; to escape boredom, pain, irritation.
3. The Truth of Nirvana (Liberation from Dukkha) – Our vulnerability can be ended. We can attain freedom from Dukkha. We do this by changing ourselves, by transforming our cravings. We can subdue those overpowering urges that push us now one way, and then another.
4. The Truth of Magga (Eight fold path) – Liberation from Dukkha is attained by practice of eight disciplines. These disciplines entail the cultivation of
a. Right Understanding
b. Right Thought
c. Right Speech
d. Right Action
e. Right Livelihood
f. Right Mindfulness
g. Right Effort
h. Right Meditation
It looks amazing that how scientifically Siddhartha laid out a framework for humans to achieve a state free from suffering – he called Nirvana. It was about re-designing one’s understanding of the world, to make the forces of circumstances irrelevant in deciding the state of mind for a person.
Now, inherent in this 8 fold path is the ambiguity of what is “Right” in all these points. I see it this way. As Buddha followed the Hindu way of the goal of spiritual journey is to establish ones connection to that “Param-Atma”, which resides deep inside one’s self. Having this as the primary goal of life, everything else looks of secondary importance. This stance creates lots of freedom. This is because now, for the seeker, all the humane vulnerabilities are secondary to her existence. This stoicism creates a launch pad for the seeker to create something big, difficult, huge and unique – in defiance of the real limitations and inherent failure modes. There is a gradual elevation of human psyche – from the feeble self oriented fearful existence, to a robust, creative and fearless expression of humanity. When the primary goal is something non-cognitive (knowing the Param-Atma), any cognitive dilemma of life does not shake the seeker.
This formula helps in reducing entropy of human consciousness thereby bringing to ones disposal and extra psychic energy, which otherwise would have been wasted in dealing with human sufferings. This increases the probability of the seeker to enter to FLOW, getting into a domain of her choice, and thereby creating artifacts of creativity – which leaves a legacy for humanity.
To be able to continue the evolution of mankind towards an optimal direction, such a homework looks like a smart option. It is certainly a reasonable way to orient the mind and transcend the weaknesses inherent in being human. At the same time, it transmutes these weaknesses to absolute unique human faculties which play a vital role in beautifying further the evolution of human civilizations.
______________________________________________
Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar
"The mind is likened to a lake. When turbulent, it is opaque but, when calm, it is transparent." This one line reflects the necessity of silence and meditation in LIFE. I feel many Buddhist think Nirvana was something that, only Buddha can achieve not everyone.
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