Oriental Psychology

by: Jennibeth D. Baculna (Development of Psychological Thoughts)

 Consists of the psychologically relevant materials taken from ancient writings in the Orient. As a rule, the practice of Oriental Psychology is called meditation (dhyana).
Meditation was changed to REALIZATION the process of making certain principles real to oneself.

 Oriental Psychologists distinguish between realization and action as means of attaining the experience of spiritual freedom which they term as bodhi (enlightenment) or kaivalya (liberation).

Indian Psychology
Encompasses the vast body of Indias wisdom that concerns the human being the sources could be Vedas, Upanishads, Yoga, Bhagavad Gita, Buddhism and its various schools.
Indian philosophy and Indian psychology share a framework and believe the human has enormous potential hidden in its being. It also has an endless array of techniques to raise human consciousness.

 Studies in the West on psychology of consciousness, parapsychology, psychology of religion and transpersonal psychology in the last few decades borrow from the ideas of Indian psychology.

Personality development consists of growth toward unity.

Six personality types recognized in Buddhism:
-Ragacharith (attached) -Doscharith (envy) -Mohacharith (dull, idle) -Buddhicharith (rational) -Vithakkacharith (imaginative) -Sadvacharith (disciplined)

Buddhism
The most scientific religion. It does not speak of God, there is no soul, but only the contribution of experiences or karma or personality through different incarnations. The ultimate reality is described as vacuum or sunyata.

Mindfulness (Vipassana)
A major technique in Buddhism being mindful of even mundane activities

Four noble truths:

Pain
Cause of Pain (passion and lust) Annihilation of Pain (the possibility of ending pain) The eight folds path leading to cessation of pain *In the Buddhist doctrine, mind is the starting point, the focal point, and also, as the liberated and purified mind of the arhat or enlightened being, the culminating point.

Doctrine of Interdependent Origination of Buddhism

Explains how the present mind moment is influenced by the preceding mental state, and how the present state conditions the succeeding moments of experience. One of the practical skills taught by the Buddha for bringing about psychological transformation is the ability to discern the two different sorts of mental states that arises in the mind: healthy and unhealthy.

Four processes of the mind:

Consciousness (vinnana) Perception (sanna) Sensation (vedana) Reaction (sankhara)

*Consciousness is nonjudgmental awareness, until perception interprets the stimuli either negatively or positively. This interpretation produces a sensation within us, which is either pleasant or unpleasant, depending upon our perception. And finally comes reaction, which is the action the sensation provokes.

Desirelessness
Key to nirvana, emphasized moderation (not total indulgence or complete self-denial)

Jainism
Jain philosophy differentiates cognitive, knowledge and intuitive understanding. The path to realization: -Right faith -Right knowledge -Right conduct

Jainism
Characterized by its typical soul-psychology. The doctrine hypothesizes four-fold infinities of the soul: infinite apprehension, infinite comprehension, infinite power and infinite bliss.
The Jain religion teaches salvation by perfection through successive lives, and noninjury to living creatures, and is noted for its ascetics.

They believe that the soul is the possessor of material karmaan aggregate of particles of very fine matter imperceptible to our senses. The soul is inherently pure and perfect. But just as the shining sun is often obscured by either a cloud or mist or a veil of dust, so the soul is clouded by karma.

 Jainism has its own yoga called caritra. Bondage is due to the inflow of karmic matter that is due to the actions of body, mind and speech. Hence the process of emancipation will naturally start with the stoppage of this inflow and liquidation of the already accumulated karmaparticles.

Jain typology called lesya or colour type theory grades people according to the coloration of soul by karmic passions: black, blue, grey, pink, red and white. Six types of colour-indexes have been suggested to fit in with all the moral and immoral kinds of beings: (black)-wickedness and cruelty (blue)-anger and envy (grey)-dishonesty and meanness (pink)-discipline (yellow)-subduing of passions (white)-meditation of virtue and truth (the favoured colour of Jain monks).

The Psychology of Zen

Variety of Buddhism which evolved in Japan. The zen derived from Dhyan which means meditation.

The focus in Zen is not to free oneself from negative outside influences, but to change oneself on the inside. Moreover, Zen deals with an examination of the self, recognizing that if we understand ourselves we'll be better able to control our senses and emotions rather than being controlled by them.

 Zen asserts that it is important for a person to be situated without holding back. Really be who you are. Rather than a removed or dissociated approach to life, Zen encourages full involvement and participation in life. The more a person becomes their situatedness, the more their natural or inherent self appears in their experience.

 Zen meditation is a centering practice, allowing practitioners to achieve an increased sense of alertness and presence in their lives.

Taoism
A religion flourished in China.
Tao = Way or How It can be known by becoming aware of what is happening through meditation. Tao does not behave, does nothing at all yet everything gets done. It is the law of things, the common ground of all creation.

The Taoist way of life involves living in harmony with nature.