eastern philosophies

[chado]

ok so according to many eastern philosophies true happyness comes when one drops his ego.
ok the idea here they claim is that all problems all miseries in life is due to the mind and ego,
we have a soul which is eternal,
so they say if you drop your ego you will find yourself and all joy forver,to drop the ego means thoughts,they say one should live in this moment,one should just become a witness to all the thoughts that arises but never interact with them,and soon a gab will arise between yo and the thoughts,then you will become the soul and not the mind,now,so it simply means you move about life thoughtless,just a witness to everything.
..
..
ok my view is how can this be ultimate happyness?,first off,if someone has dropped there ego,eg ekhart tolle,buddha,osho or any other so called enlightened person then why are they teaching if there ego has been droped then who is there to teach how is it possible to teach
secondly to drop your ego is alot like saying im going to sleep so now no more problems will touch me??
any one els?

 

[sprinkles]

You're basing this on the assumption that the ego is the only way to be aware or the only way to think. It isn't. The "soul" is able to think too but it thinks differently.

Think of it as the difference between a pilot and an aircraft controller. Both of them know what an aircraft is doing, yet the pilot has the pressure of actually being there and flying, while the controller has a detached perspective of the same information.

When you drop the ego there is a higher level of awareness to go to, where you have an awareness of yourself from almost an outside perspective. You have awareness of the feelings but the feelings do not define or force you. In a way you're the pilot and the aircraft controller both at the same time.

Look into the concepts of metacognition and meta-awareness. In metacognition for example you are aware of your own thought process and are therefore kind of outside of your own thought process. For example you might know what conditions let you think more efficiently and which conditions distract you, and therefore you can devise a strategy for optimal thinking and learning.

 

[Firebird 8118]

[MENTION=23960]chado[/MENTION] As someone who grew up learning about Hinduism as a spiritual philosophy rather than a religion, I can say this much:

It's not that you move about like a solemn hermit, no no it's simply impractical in today's world to go about life without engaging the senses in our interactions with everything and everyone around us. When eastern philosophies talk about the ego, they're referring to the illusion we hold that we are the bodies that walk around and act upon various stimuli within our environment. However, the point these philosophies make is that we are not the body, but the soul. And the soul is an entity that is neither born nor dies, but has always existed. In this way, we were created "in the image and likeness of God".

Understanding the following point fully is the key to bliss: every living thing that exists in the universe each has a soul, which is composed of the exact same energy that God (or the source, or whatever you want to call it) is made of. Like drops of water in an ocean, each and every soul is connected to God while being its own entity at the same time. And the source that most of us call God is an omnipresent, omnipotent energy that we can call out to directly through prayer/meditation.

There's so much I can explain on this, if you want to know more (it's one of the topics I'm most passionate about).

 

[chado]

[MENTION=23960]chado[/MENTION] As someone who grew up learning about Hinduism as a spiritual philosophy rather than a religion, I can say this much:

It's not that you move about like a solemn hermit, no no it's simply impractical in today's world to go about life without engaging the senses in our interactions with everything and everyone around us. When eastern philosophies talk about the ego, they're referring to the illusion we hold that we are the bodies that walk around and act upon various stimuli within our environment. However, the point these philosophies make is that we are not the body, but the soul. And the soul is an entity that is neither born nor dies, but has always existed. In this way, we were created "in the image and likeness of God".

Understanding the following point fully is the key to bliss: every living thing that exists in the universe each has a soul, which is composed of the exact same energy that God (or the source, or whatever you want to call it) is made of. Like drops of water in an ocean, each and every soul is connected to God while being its own entity at the same time. And the source that most of us call God is an omnipresent, omnipotent energy that we can call out to directly through prayer/meditation.

There's so much I can explain on this, if you want to know more (it's one of the topics I'm most passionate about).

but buddhism,they dont believe in a soul?

 

[Firebird 8118]

but buddhism,they dont believe in a soul?

Haha well, I don't know a whole lot about Buddhism so I wouldn't be able to answer for that, unfortunately. But I can definitely look into it to see if I can find the parallels and differences there.

 

[S16M4]

[MENTION=23960]chado[/MENTION],

It's somewhat similar to Epicureanism and Stoicism combined = Buddhism. The ideas are fairly close. In Buddhism, the idea is to rid yourself of desire. Desire for external things. Anything external to you can be taken away by life, so why invest your ego in that?

A crude example: If you build your ego around having a Ferrari 458 Italia, and you crash it there goes your ego. (not really, but you get the point). The Buddhist idea is that external "things" could never bring you happiness, and that happiness is already within you to find on your own. In order to reach this, there is the Noble Eight-fold Path, and a bunch of other mumbo jumbo that I don't feel like going into at the moment.

It's not really getting rid of the ego altogether. It's more about taming the ego.

 

[sprinkles]

but buddhism,they dont believe in a soul?

Buddhists don't believe in an eternal soul. Instead they believe that you are a flow of ever changing states, an aggregate. They don't believe that you have a magical central core which is the eternal god created essence of your entire being.

In other words you're made of stuff and experiences and not one of those bits of stuff or experience on its own is a soul.

 

[chado]

Buddhists don't believe in an eternal soul. Instead they believe that you are a flow of ever changing states, an aggregate. They don't believe that you have a magical central core which is the eternal god created essence of your entire being.

In other words you're made of stuff and experiences and not one of those bits of stuff or experience on its own is a soul.

but once you attain nirvana in buddhism then your exsistence ends,..the buddha attained nirvana and now no longer exsists why should i want to attain enlightenment id rather exsist than you very much.

 

[sprinkles]

but once you attain nirvana in buddhism then your exsistence ends,..the buddha attained nirvana and now no longer exsists why should i want to attain enlightenment id rather exsist than you very much.

Nobody is stopping you. If you think that makes you happy then it is your choice.

 

[erm]

but buddhism,they dont believe in a soul?

The lack of a soul is pretty essential to Buddhism. I think for Westerners there's generally three core ideas they need to understand Buddhism.

The lack of a self/soul is one. That you are not the same person as you were when you started reading this sentence, and that there is no observer behind the experience of this post (or rather that sense of an observer is just another experience). This is often considered the main realization needed for enlightenment.

Interdependence/emptiness is two. That nothing has existence outside of its relationship to everything else. When you (arbitrarily) perceive an object, that object is the same thing as its relationship to everything else. There is no 'thing' separate from that relationship, and something is brought into existence by it's interaction with everything else.

Three is that these ideas are supposed to be realized in the moment to moment experience of your life, rather than intellectually.

With those three core ideas as a lens, Buddhist ideas about desire, reincarnation and karma are very different from how the West usually perceives those concepts, since even the most secular of Westerners generally think like they have a soul, even if they believe that soul can die (i.e. atheists).

 

[LovecraftianMonstrosity]

A man was driving down the road one rainy day when his car suddenly broke down in front of a small monastery. To escape the rain he walked up to the monastery and knocked on the door.

The head monk answers the door and says "Ah, hello. How may I help you?"

"Um, hello." the man replies, "My car broke down and I was wondering if you had a phone or something for me to call for help."

"Well," the head monk says, "We do not have any phones here, however, we can send one of our monks to the city and get you help. In the meantime, you are allowed to stay here in the monastery."

The man thanked the head monk and went inside. The other monks graciously accepted him as one of their own. They fed him, provided him with a bath, and gave him his own little bed. Then, later that night, the man heard a beautiful sound reminiscent of music. Music unlike anything he had ever heard before. He stayed up all night, tossing and turning, trying to think of what it could be.

The next morning, he walked up to the head monk and said "Hello, I was wondering if I could ask you a question..."

"Yes," the head monk said, "what is it you would like to know?"

"well, you see," the man said, "Yesterday I heard a strange and beautiful sound... and I was wondering if you knew what it was..."

"Oh, I'm sorry," the head monk said in reply "I can not tell you for you are not a monk."

"Well, then how do I become a monk?" The man said, desperate to find out what the beautiful noise was.

"There is a test you must take." the head monk answered, "You must go all around the world and count all the blades of grass, and all the grains of sand, then come back here."

The man spent many years traveling the world, seeking out the answer to the monks test of faith, endurance, and bravery. The yearning to find out the noise pushing him forward.

Finally, ten years later, the man returned to the monastery. The head monk greeted him, and led him to a small room, filled with other monks. "Now," the head monk said, "How many blades of grass, and grains of sand are there?"

The man replied "By design, the world is in a state of perpetual change. Only God knows what you ask. All a man can know is himself, and only then if he is honest and reflective and willing to strip away self deception."

The monks shouted with glee. They congratulated him, they gave him gifts, and then the head monk handed him a small golden key.

"Take this." he said, "There is a small golden door on the other side of the monastery... This is the key to that door..."

The man went and unlocked the door. Behind it was a silver door, with a silver key in it. Behind that door was a ruby door, and behind that, a diamond door. The man stepped through many doors. Through platinum, sapphire, iron, steel, and finally, he came to a plain, wooden door, with a plain wooden key.

He turned the key, and upon opening the door, he heard the sound again... "How beautiful..." he thought to himself. He then thrust the door open and saw what it was that had made the noise. He falls to his knees in awe of what it was that had produced the amazing, seductive sound...

....

....

....

....

....

....

....

....

....

....

...

But, of course, I can not tell you what it was for you are not a monk.

 

[S16M4]

In the Bhagavad Gita, there is a story of Arjuna and Krishna. Arjuna is a warrior who is reluctant to take the lives of his enemy.

The god Krishna, possessing the body of Arjuna's charioteer converses with him regarding his compassion for life. Krishna explains that there was never a time when he or Arjuna hasn't existed, nor anyone else. Nor is there a future in which they wouldn't exist.

Every thing passes through childhood, youth, adulthood, and old age, culminating in death. Every thing simply passes into another kind of body depending on your deeds throughout the past life.

Every feeling you sense comes and goes. It never lasts long. Bodies are made to die, but That which animates the body is eternal. It cannot be extinguished.

Therefore, Krishna explains to Arjuna that he must fight. He shouldn't hesitate because as is his warrior caste, there is nothing nobler than to fight, and/or die. If he dies, he wins Heaven. If he wins, he enjoys the Earth.

Doing that which is within your caste does not cause any sin.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Buddhism is about recognizing the impermanence of EVERYTHING.

That's the one constant, the impermanence of the ALL as a big swirling, ever changing amalgamation of the sum of the parts.

There's something quite beautiful about that. We all star shit, yo. Lol

The realization or awareness of the eternal process of impermanence by us is just the universe experiencing itself through a particular part of the whole.

Look up voidness and sunyatta

 

[S16M4]

Impermanence. That's right. Limit your desire, because what you desire is impermanent.

 

[S16M4]

Buddhism is about recognizing the impermanence of EVERYTHING.

That's the one constant, the impermanence of the ALL as a big swirling, ever changing amalgamation of the sum of the parts.

There's something quite beautiful about that. We all star shit, yo. Lol

The realization or awareness of the eternal process of impermanence by us is just the universe experiencing itself through a particular part of the whole.

Look up voidness and sunyatta

The bolded explains my idea of theism. Each of us are gods in our own right, experiencing the universe, and creating within it. Each one of us are the gods of our own morality.

Reminds me of how Wu-Tang call each other "God."