Balanced Existence

The literal translation of the word Nirvana tends to cause, I feel, a certain amount of misunderstanding. The word Nirvana literally means extinction, such as of a flame. This does not mean extinction of self. Rather the extinction of afflictions. This is because the purpose of Buddhism is liberation from suffering. Transcendence.

Much like the subjects of diet and health there is a plethora of information available on the subject of meditation. Unfortunately the majority of the information available is written from the narrow point of view of just one particular religion or philosophy. To make matters worse this fact is not clearly pointed out by those who present the information.