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Buddhism, Psychological System
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BUDDHISM AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL SYSTEM: THREE APPROACHES
Gerald Virtbauer ([email protected]), University of
Vienna*
Buddhism has become one of the main dialog partners for psychology
since the second part of the last century. The reception of Buddhist
psychological thought in the United States began primarily after the World
Parliament of Religions in Chicago, 1893, where writer and publisher Paul
Carus was especially attracted by presentations of Zen Patriarch Shaku
Sōen. His main student, Suzuki Daisetsu Teitaro (usually known in the
West as D. T. Suzuki), consequently moved to the United States to assist
Carus in promoting and developing Buddhist thought in the West. Suzuki‘s
approach to Buddhism was focused on the psychological part of the
religion. On the one hand, he portrayed Zen as a genuine Asian practice
*
Many thanks to my friends at Upaya Institute and Zen Center for fruitful
conversations—and especially to Beth Miller for proofreading and important suggestions.
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way for developing the hidden capacities of the mind. In this sense, he
wanted to show the gap between Asian and Western thinking and
challenge the self-centered Western psyche he detected. On the other
hand, he was very interested in fostering a dialog between Eastern and
Western psychologies and influenced by the main religious psychological
thinkers of his time (especially William James). This dialog led to cooperations with famous psychotherapists and psychoanalysts, followed by
the first classic works in this field (with Carl Gustav Jung and Erich
Fromm); and finally to the Zen boom in the 1960s.
Though many statements of these early beginnings have been widely
criticized in recent years, the importance of the dialog between Buddhism
and psychology is not in question, contrarily it is growing and expanding.
Critics mainly pointed to the interest based interpretations of the
respective counterpart. As a consequence of constructive elements in
exploring Buddhist and Western psychology—either through the eye of
the Western scientific methodology, or the Asian religious background—
interpretations tended to be orientalist or occidentalist.
The situation today is different, as Buddhism has become a subject of
intense study and research, in both Asian and Western countries, and an
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integrated element of many Western cultures itself. Through global
exchange, the presence of Asian teachers in the West has been rising and
many Western Buddhists have begun to create their own teaching style
and philosophy. Buddhism in the West nowadays is a mixture of attempts
to present a wide range of textual sources and Buddhist teachings in their
specific cultural contexts and original languages and attempts to create a
new Buddhism—centered on the basic teachings of the Buddha—which
can provide answers to contemporary pressing problems in a globalized
world mainly ruled by Western capitalistic systems. Of course, either
approach does not necessarily negate the other.
Bearing this situation in mind, I want to describe three different
approaches of how the relation between psychology / psychotherapy and
Buddhism can be observed and worked with in practice. These
approaches should not be understood as exclusive, rather as highly
overlapping. My aim is to provide a sort of helping tool for, and brief
overview of the current research in this interdisciplinary field.
The first approach is to present and explore parts of Buddhist
teachings as a psychology. As many teachers of different Buddhist
traditions point out, Buddhism is not primarily a religion based on faith
Buddhism, Psychological System
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and worship, but a system, or an art to inquire into the human mind. It is
difficult, or in many cases in fact impossible, to draw a clear line between
the more ‗religious‘ parts—as rituals and daily structures in Buddhist
settings—, and the more ‗psychological‘ parts—as meditation practice in
all its different variations, as well as the teacher-student relationship and
the direct transmission of insight and knowledge. But, considering the
common definition of modern psychology as a science of human
experience and behavior, Buddhism provides psychological methods of
analyzing human experience and inquiring into the potential and hidden
capacities of the human mind. In this sense, many Buddhist scriptures are
kinds of psychological instruction manuals which are pointing to the
practical realization of their contents. In modern translations this direct
connection and dependency between psychological method and practice is
sometimes stated straight in the titles: for example, Caroline Rhys Davids
depicts the Pali Dhammasaṅgaṇi (‗Enumeration of Phenomena‘, the first
book of the Abhidhammapiṭaka) as ‗A Buddhist Manual of Psychological
Ethics‘, and Stefan Anacker calls the Yogācāra philosopher Vasubandhu a
‗Buddhist Psychological Doctor‘.
The main characteristic of this approach is the close connection to
primary sources, and the hermeneutical work with these sources which
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are often also translated by the author itself. In this way, an insight into
the Buddhist understanding of basic human processes of perception and
apperception should become apprehensible. The Buddhist system provides
a rich psychological anthropology which contains a general view of the
human predicament. This is shared by all Buddhist traditions, in addition
to many more or less big differences depending on tradition and lineage.
From the point of view of cultural studies, the psychology in Buddhist
scriptures shows the dependency of systems of thought to the specific
cultural and societal circumstances they are developing in. Buddhism as a
psychological system is one example of how psychological knowledge is
shaped within certain cultural fundamentals. In intercultural dialog with
Western psychological approaches, this can be helpful in questioning
tendencies to universal claims of how to research human experience and
behavior. Both Western and Buddhist psychologies are entangled in their
specific histories and cultural backgrounds. Hence, they are among many
other indigenous systems of investigating and understanding human
experience and behavior.
The reception of foreign systems of thought can open new doors for
dialog and co-operation. This is what has been happening concerning
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Buddhism and psychology since Buddhist teachers have arrived in
Western societies. Currently, almost all streams of psychology and
psychotherapy have noticed and reflected Buddhist psychological theory
and many of them have integrated parts of the Buddhist teachings in their
own theoretical and practical work. The second approach, therefore, is the
integration of parts of the Buddhist teachings in already existing
psychological or psychotherapeutic lines of thought.
Within the last years, the integration of Buddhist mindfulness and
acceptance techniques has been one of the most flourishing innovations in
psychotherapy. A development worthy of note within the different schools
of psychotherapy is the fact that not only psychotherapies with a
traditionally close relation to eastern thought—as Gestalt therapy or
transpersonal psychology—engage in dialog with Buddhist traditions, but
also the most scientifically orientated behavior therapies have recently
been influenced by Buddhist thought. Some even speak of a ‗spiritual turn‘
in behavior therapy. ―Technologies of acceptance‖, as in Marsha Linehan‘s
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT; Linehan 1998, 23), mirror traditional
Buddhist values and are partly drawn directly from Buddhist meditation
techniques. Another emphasis, and core value in Buddhism and newer
behavior therapies, is mindfulness, based on a non-judging experience in
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the present moment—examples include Jon Kabat-Zinn‘s Mindfulness
Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy
for Depression (MBCT) by Segal, Williams, and Teasdale. A further
approach
within
newer
behavioral
and
cognitive
interventions
is
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which does not have a
direct connection to eastern philosophies (ACT is built on Relational Frame
Theory (RFT)), but arrives at comparable assumptions. As in Buddhist
mindfulness techniques, a non-judgmental acceptance of all parts of the
present experience—especially thoughts connected with inner language—
is emphasized. The intended shift should be a focus away from inner
conditioned language and behavior shaped as a result of thoughts, to a
commitment of following one‘s own personal values, also (and in many
situations especially) against inner thoughts and modes of reacting. As
Hayes (2004, 652) puts it: ―The larger message thus is validating (trust
your experience) and empowering (you can live a powerful life from here,
without first winning a war with your own history).‖
As in the case of ACT, sciences and Buddhism are meeting and
informing each other in creating an expanded field for understanding
reality. In the Mind and Life Conferences these topics are addressed in a
dialog of world renowned scientists and Buddhist authorities, according to
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the principle of ―a mutually respectful working collaboration and research
partnerships between modern science and Buddhism – two of the world's
most fruitful traditions for understanding the nature of reality and
promoting human well-being‖—Mind and Life XVIII directs to ―The Self,
Mental Causation and Free Will: Exchanges between Science and
Buddhism
on
the
Human
Mind‖
(Mind
&
Life
Institute,
http://www.mindandlife.org/, 2008/10/08). That there is a prolific dialog
for both sides can be observed by the statement of His Holiness the XIV.
Dalai Lama that Buddhism must be open for change, if there are scientific
results which clearly imply a modification of certain Buddhist attitudes.
While in the second approach Buddhism as a psychological system is
integrated in Western psychological systems, the third approach which I
will sketch briefly relates the other way around. This approach is
especially connected with newer developments in Western Buddhism and
the active integration of social science knowledge into the Buddhist
system. Terms as Engaged Buddhism or New Buddhism refer to these
innovative movements, even Post-Buddhism. In the words of Marilyn Evy
(2005, 328):
Buddhism, Psychological System
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When former Zen teacher Toni Packer asks her students to listen to birds
outside the practice hall and imitate their cries, where is Buddhism? When the
Dalai Lama says, ―My religion is kindness,‖ where is Buddhism then? Where is
Buddhism in the practice of radical attention proffered by contemporary
mindfulness meditation teachers? Perhaps we should talk about post-Buddhism
instead, an amalgam of therapy, breath awareness, and mindfulness techniques
suited for the inhabitants of postmodernity.
What is new about New Buddhism, or Engaged Buddhism in the West is
that core Buddhist values as compassion, interdependency, and loving
kindness are taken in a literal way, without too close institutional
affiliations and historical cultural constraints which have partly taken place
in the development of Buddhism in Asian countries. One result of this
modern view within Western Zen Buddhism is a focus on gender equality
and critical reflections on a male-centered, traditionally grown hierarchical
structure.
Recently, also systems of Buddhist psychotherapies have arisen, for
instance David Brazier‘s Zen Therapy, which are integrations of Western
psychotherapeutic structures within a Buddhist method of assigning and
dealing with psychological problems. Other ground-breaking movements
in Western Buddhism are Buddhist chaplaincy programs which are
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intended to address current burning problems in the societal surroundings
and the interdependent global connection of harmful developments. Areas
as prison work, end of life care, or environmental protection are dealt with
from a Buddhist standpoint in connection with sciences.
In many cases, psychology is one of the most fitting Western systems
to build a frame for dialog with newer developments in Buddhism,
because Buddhism always sets off from individual experience which is in a
deeper way seen as non-divided, non-dualistic, and connected with all
phenomena. But only the individual itself can experience non-distinction—
the modern scientific definition of psychology, as a science of experience
and behavior of the individual, is therefore a link to Buddhism as a
psychological and ethical system.
The history of Buddhism is a history of reception in different cultures
and societies, with integration in already existing cultural prerequisites.
The transference from India to China, for example, was accompanied by
an incorporation of present Chinese religions. What is particularly
happening now in Western societies, is the active dialog and debate
between Buddhism and sciences. From a psychological point of view,
discussions might continue to open new ways of understanding the
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human mind and dealing with the individual potential to happiness and
wellbeing. Buddhism as a psychological, and at the same time, ethical
system can help to build a bridge to the collective, which, from a Buddhist
point of view, is not divided from the individual, but intertwined in
individual experience in the here and now.
Selected Bibliography
General
Austin, James H. 1998. Zen and the Brain. Toward an Understanding of Meditation and
Consciousness. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.
Coleman, James William. 2001. The New Buddhism. The Western Transformation of an
Ancient Tradition. New York: Oxford University Press.
Fromm, Erich, Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro, Martino, Richard de. 1960/1971. Zen-Buddhismus
und Psychoanalyse. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. (f p Zen Buddhism and
Psychoanalysis)
Gómez, Luiz O. 2004. Psychology. In Robert E Buswell, Jr (ed). Encyclopedia of
Buddhism. 2 Volumes (Volume 2: 678–92). New York: Macmillan Reference USA.
Buddhism, Psychological System
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Luisi, Pier Luigi. 2008. The Two Pillars of Buddhism — Consciousness and Ethics. From
the Proceedings of the meeting Mind and Life XII, ‗What is matter, what is life?‘, held
in Dharamsala, India, in 2002, in the presence of His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama.
Journal of Consciousness Studies, 15, No. 1, 2008, pp. 84–107.
Queen, Christopher S (ed). 2000. Engaged Buddhism in the West. Boston: Wisdom
Publications.
Revel, Jean-François, Ricard, Matthieu. 1997/2003. Der Mönch und der Philosoph.
Buddhismus und Abendland. Ein Dialog zwischen Vater und Sohn. Köln: Kiepenheuer
& Witsch. (f p Le moine et el philosophe)
Snodgrass, Judith. 2003. Presenting Japanese Buddhism to the West. Orientalism,
Occidentalism, and the Columbian Exposition. Chapel Hill: The University of North
Carolina Press.
Wallace, B Alan, Shapiro, Shauna L. 2006. Mental Balance and Well-Being. Building
Bridges Between Buddhism and Western Psychology. American Psychologist 61, 7,
690–701.
First Approach
Anacker, Stefan. 2005. Seven Works of Vasubandhu. The Buddhist Psychological Doktor.
Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
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Bodhi, Bhikkhu (ed). 1993/2007. A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma. The
Philosophical Psychology of Buddhism. The Abhidhammattḥa Saṅgaha of Ācariya
Anuruddha. Bhikkhu Bodhi, General Editor. Pali text originally edited and translated
by Mahāthera Nārada. Translation revised by Bhikkhu Bodhi. Introduction and
Introductory Guide by U Rewata Dhamma & Bhikkhu Bodhi. Abhidhamma tables by U
Sīlānanda. Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society.
De Silva, Padmal. 1990. Buddhist Psychology: A Review of Theory and Practice. Current
Psychology, 9, 3.
Dhs – Dhammasaṅgaṇi. Translated with Introductory Essay and Notes by Caroline A F
Rhys Davids. 1900/2004. A Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics. Oxford: Pali
Text Society.
Ghose, Lynken. 2004. A study in Buddhist psychology: is Buddhism truly pro-detachment
and antiattachment? Contemporary Buddhism, 5:2, 105 — 120.
Kalupahana, David J. 1987. The Principles of Buddhist Psychology. Albany: State
University of New York Press.
Virtbauer, Gerald. 2008. Psychologie im Erkenntnishorizont des Mahāyāna-Buddhismus.
Interdependenz und Intersubjektivität im Beziehungserleben. Frankfurt am Main:
Peter Lang.
Wallace, Alan B. 2001. Intersubjectivity in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. Journal of
Consciousness Studies 8, 5-7, 209-230.
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Second Approach
Budman, Simon H. 1985. Psychotherapeutic Services in the HMO: Zen and the Art of
Mental Health Maintenance. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 16, 6,
798-809.
Davidson, Richard J, Kabat-Zinn, Jon, Schumacher, Jessica, Rosenkranz, Melissa, Muller,
Daniel, Santorelli, Saki F, Urbanowski, Ferris, Harrington, Anne, Bonus, Katherine,
Sheridan, John F. 2003. Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by
Mindfulness Meditation. Psychosomatic Medicine 65:564–570.
Daya, Roshni. 2000. Buddhist psychology, a theory of change processes: Implications for
counsellors. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling 22: 257-271.
Hayes, Steven C. 2004. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Relational Frame Theory,
and the Third Wave of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. Behavior Therapy 35,
639–665.
Heidenreich, Thomas, Michalak, Johannes (hg). 2004. Achtsamkeit und Akzeptanz in der
Psychotherapie. Ein Handbuch. Tübingen: dgvt-Verlag.
Kabat-Zinn, Jon. 1990. Full Catastrophe Living. Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind
to Face Stress, Pain and Illness. New York: Delta.
Linehan, Marsha M. 1998. An Illustration of Dialectical Behavior Therapy. In Session:
Psychotherapy in Practice, 4, 2, 21–44.
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Magid, Barry. 2002. Ordinary Mind. Exploring the Common Ground of Zen and
Psychotherapy. Boston: Wisdom.
Pickering, John (ed). 1997. The Authority of Experience. Essays on Buddhism and
Psychology. Richmond: Curzon Press.
Rubin, Jeffrey B. 1996. Psychotherapy and Buddhism. Toward an Integration. New York:
Plenum Press.
Ryan, Richard M, Brown, Kirk Warren. 2003. Why We Don't Need Self-Esteem: On
Fundamental Needs, Contingent Love, and Mindfulness. Psychological-Inquiry 14(1),
71-76.
Safran, Jeremy D (ed). 2003. Psychoanalysis and Buddhism. An Unfolding Dialogue.
Boston: Wisdom Publications.
Segal, Z V, Williams, J M G, Teasdale, J D. 2002. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for
depression: a new approach to preventing relapse. New York: Guilford Press.
Young-Eisendrath, Polly, Muramoto, Shoji (ed). 2002. Awakening and Insight. Zen
Buddhism and Psychotherapy. Hove: Brunner-Routledge.
Third Approach
Brazier, David. 1995. Zen Therapy. Transcending the Sorrows of the Human Mind. New
York: Wiley.
Brazier, David. 2001. The New Buddhism. New York: Palgrave.
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Cho, Sungtaek. 2000. Selflessness: Toward a Buddhist Vision of Social Justice. Journal of
Buddhist Ethics 7 (2000): 76-85.
Halifax,
Joan.
1999.
Radical
Optimism.
Online
Document
http://www.upaya.org/roshi/dox/Optimism.pdf, 2008/08/16.
Halifax, Joan. 2008. Being with Dying. Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the
Presence of Death. Foreword by Ira Byock. Boston: Shambhala.
Ivy, Marilyn. 2005. Modernity. In Donald S Lopez Jr (ed). Critical Terms for the Study of
Buddhism. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Kraft, Kenneth. 1995. Practicing Peace: Social Engagement in Western Buddhism. Journal
of Buddhist Ethics 2 (1995): 152-172.
Loy, David R. 2000. How to Reform a Serial Killer: The Buddhist Approach to Restorative
Justice. Journal of Buddhist Ethics 7 (2000): 145-168.
Loy, David R. 2008. Money, Sex, War, Karma. Notes for a Buddhist Revolution.
Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications.