Happy New Year from Eastern Philosophy and Meditation!

For those that follow the secular calendar, I'd like to wish you a Happy New Year from The Eastern Philosophy Blog and Eastern Philosophy And Meditation!

It's my sincere hope that whatever calendar you follow, the coming year will bring you peace, prosperity, and good fortune.

Writing about Eastern Philosophy has the great benefit of providing a wide range of perspectives. Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism, Zen and Zazen, Confucius, Chinese religion - they all offer insight and lessons on finding meaning from life.

As William Blake said:

To see the world in a grain of sand, and heaven in a wild flower, to hold infinity in the palm of the hand, and eternity in an hour.

Eastern Philosophy and Meditation will help you to free yourself of mental noise, of disturbing and negative feeling and emotions and all limitations imposed by the false self.

In the coming months, I hope to expand the website and blog significantly. I will be actively soliciting guest writers & bloggers, and look to add voices to these pages.

If you are interested in contributing, please feel free to comment here on the blog and leave your email address.

Buddhist Philosophy

Buddhist philosophy, or Buddhism, or Buddhist philosophy is a set of religious beliefs that are based primarily on the teachings of Siddhartha Guatama. As one of the non-theistic religions, Buddhist tenets aren't terribly concerned with the question of whether a God or Gods exist. In fact, the Buddha himself specifically disavowed any kind of divine inspiration or status, saying rather that anyone, anywhere could achieve the same degree of insight as he himself had.

Though certain sects, such as that of Tibetan Buddhism, actually do worship Gods drawn from local indigenous beliefs, Buddhism in general doesn't concern itself with the question of God.

One of the chief concepts Buddhist sects believe in is karma, something akin to a cause-and-effect relationship between all that has been done and all that will be done.

Events that occur are thought to be the direct result of previous events. One resulting effect of karma is the idea of rebirth. At death, the karma from a given life determines the nature of the next life's existence. The ultimate goal of a Buddhist practitioner is to eliminate karma (both good and bad), end the cycle of rebirth and suffering, and attain Nirvana, usually translated as awakening or enlightenment.

You can read all about Bhuddism and Bhuddist philosophy on the Eastern Philosophy and Meditation website.

Eastern Meditiation Techniques And Psychology

Eastern meditation techniques and psychology can help you to overcome these "social" obstacles. These social obstacles might include isolating, difficulty relating with others, and aving a hard time "fitting in".

For myself, the reason why I had poor relations with others in
my social group was that I had a very poor relation with myself. I
could not accept any negative feelings in myself - feelings of anger,
hatred, fear and depression - and would refuse to accept them into my
consciousness. I would criticize and beat up on myself whenever I felt
these emotions. Naturally since I could not accept these feelings within
me I could not accept them in others. I would criticize others - often
to their faces - when they behaved in ways that I did not like, and I
did not like a lot of things. Such behavior would clearly be unacceptable
in any country or culture, from someone as young as I was then and who
was also financially dependent on his parents.

There was another consequence of my excessive criticism of myself. I
would simply refuse to accept certain feelings into my consciousness.
Hence I could not understand it when people around me felt those or
similar emotions. Think of it this way. A person who has never felt
anger will be unable to understand or empathize when people around
him feel angry. He will not be able to co-relate this with his own
internal experience because he has never felt it. What is required is
that the person should experience anger, re-claim his angry feelings,
and accept these feelings as his own. Only by dealing appropriately
with yourself can you have good relations with others.

Eastern psychology - particularly Buddhist psychology - insists that a
person should welcome all thought and feelings, as they arise, into
his consciousness. Just accept it into your consciousness and leave
it there - no need to verbalize or think or debate with yourself
whether the feeling is appropriate or not. Simply accept. The feeling
will pass of its own accord because it is impermanent. And you will be
free of this feeling yourself and better able to deal with it in others.

There is a technique called the Sedona method that teaches how to
release negative feelings as they arise. Check it out if you like. I
have purchased the program and found that it did not live up to all
the claims that were being made for it. But the basic concepts - that
of welcoming your feelings as they arise so hat they dissolve of themselves
- are valid and find support in Buddhist psychology.

You may want to purchase the Sedona method program but it is expensive.
And indeed meditation will give you the same benefits. Simply practice
focusing on your in breath and out breath for 30 minutes daily. Remember
to welcome and thus dissolve all thoughts and feelings as they arise in
your meditation. You can sit on a chair to meditate. Thus for 30 minutes you
will be in meditation, free from the clutches of the ego, and you will
arise completely refreshed.