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A Buddhist Inspiration for a Contemporary Psychotherapy

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A Buddhist Inspiration for a Contemporary Psychotherapy 1 A BUDDHIST INSPIRATION FOR A CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOTHERAPY Gay Watson Thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London. 1996 ProQuest Number: 10731695 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10731695 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT It is almost exactly one hundred years since the popular and not merely academic dissemination of Buddhism in the West began. During this time a dialogue has grown up between Buddhism and the Western discipline of psychotherapy. It is the contention of this work that Buddhist philosophy and praxis have much to offer a contemporary psychotherapy. Firstly, in general, for its long history of the experiential exploration of mind and for the practices of cultivation based thereon, and secondly, more specifically, for the relevance and resonance of specific Buddhist doctrines to contemporary problematics. Thus, this work attempts, on the basis of a three-way conversation between Buddhism, psychotherapy and various themes from contemporary discourse, to suggest a psychotherapy that may be helpful and relevant to the current horizons of thought and contemporary psychopathologies which are substantially different from those prevalent at the time of psychotherapy's early years. It is set out according to the traditional Tibetan Buddhist plan of Ground, Path and Fruition. "Ground" presents first a brief consideration of Western psychotherapies, followed by an introduction to Buddhist views with particular reference to those doctrines considered of most relevance to psychotherapy. This is followed by consideration of ideas of the subject or self in Buddhism and in contemporary discourse. "Path" reviews the two major branches of the Buddhist way, ethics and meditation, in the context of psychotherapy. "Fruition" compares and contrasts the goals of Buddhism and psychotherapy, suggesting that they may be similar in quality, the quality being that of liberation, but different in the quantity or extent of the liberation desired. Subsequently this section explores the implications of the Buddhist view in the light of contemporary discourse, and in the context of experience. Again according to a traditional pattern this is presented in terms of the dimensions of Body, Speech and Mind. Finally in the light of the foregoing some suggestions are made as to the possible general features of a contemporary Buddhist inspired psychotherapy. An appendix describes the individual details of two existing Buddhist based trainings for psychotherapists. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude firstly to my supervisors; from the side of Buddhist Studies, Dr. Tadeusz Skorupski, S.O.A.S., and from the side of psychology, Father Brendan Callaghan S.J., Principal, Heythrop College. Each has most generously given of their specialist knowledge in their own area and acted as non specialist intelligent reader in the other. I am truly grateful to them both. For my training as a psychotherapist I would like to thank Maura Sills of the Kanina Institute in Devon, and Karen Kissel Wegela and the staff of the Naropa Institute's Maitri Intensive training for a brief but invaluable introduction to Contemplative Psychology in the summer of 1993. For a bursary which enabled me to travel to Colorado to attend this, I am indebted to the Irwin Fund of the University of London. I would also like to thank Stephen Batchelor who, in the ostensible guise of teaching me Tibetan, has generously shared with me his deep and extensive knowledge of Buddhism over the past years. Without the many and varied discussions we have had, this work would be incomparably the poorer. I would also like to thank Dr. Maria Phyllactou for her constant encouragement, friendship and help. Finally my thanks to my husband David, for his constant support, and to him and my children my thanks for their patience during the time I have been engaged on this work. CONTENTS Abstract 2 Acknowledgements 3 Contents 4 Chapter One Introduction 7 Buddhism and Psychotherapy 7 Buddhism and the Contemporary Horizon 12 Buddhism as an Inspiration for a Contemporaiy Psychotherapy 14 Contentions and Intentions 17 Part One: GROUND: THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS^ Preamble: Experience and Meaning 28 Chapter Two Western Psychotherapies 33 A Brief Comparative Outline 34 Behaviourism 37 Psychoanalysis 38 Existential and Humanistic Psychotherapies 50 Transpersonal Psychotherapy 57 The Integrative Perspective 63 The Spectrum of Consciousness 64 Chapter Three The Buddhist Approach 69 The Four Noble Truths and Dependent Origination 70 Emptiness 74 Western Interpretations of Emptiness 83 Emptiness as a Way 85 Buddhist Epistemology 87 Buddha Nature 90 Chapter Four The "Consciousness that Views”: Some Ideas on the Self 93 The Buddhist View of the Self 96 Some Western Views on the Development of Self Consciousness 104 The Self in Psychotherapy 109 Views of the Self in Contemporary Discourse 116 Conclusions 121 Part Two: PATH: METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS 125 Preamble: Path 126 Chapter Five The Value and Place of Ethics in Psychotherapy8 Buddhist Ethics 129 Ethics and Psychotherapy 134 Some Contemporary Western Views of Ethics 137 Conclusions 141 Chapter Six Meditational Methods as Tools in Psychotherapy^ Buddhist Meditation 145 Lessons for Psychotherapy: The Therapist's Perspective 149 Meditation and the Client 152 Meditation in the Therapeutic Encounter 156 Conclusions 159 Part Three: FRUITION: GOALS AND IMPLICATIONS 161 Chapter Seven Theoretical and Practical Goals 162 The Buddhist Goal 164 Goals in Psychotherapy 168 Contrasts 171 Chapter Eight Implications 175 Embodiment 178 Embodiment in Buddhism 179 Body in Contemporary Western Thought 184 Conclusion 190 Speech 192 Speech in Buddhism 193 Contemporary Ideas of Speech in the West 196 Imagination and Metaphor 203 The Feminine Voice 206 Conclusion 211 Mind 212 Interrelationship 213 Non-Egocentrism 216 Answer to Nihilism 221 Part Four CONCLUSIONS 227 Chapter Nine Towards an Empty Fullness 228 Appendices: Two Buddhist-inspired Psychotherapy TrainingS9 A. Contemplative Psychotherapy. The Naropa Institute, Boulder, Colorado. 240 Philosophy 240 Outline of Training 245 B. Core Process Psychotherapy. The Karuna Institute, Devon. 247 Philosophy 247 Outline of Training 249 Bibliography 255 Chapter One INTRODUCTION "Our life is a faint tracing on the surface o f mystery. BUDDHISM AND PSYCHOTHERAPY One hundred years ago in 1893 the World's Parliament of Religions was held. during the Exposition in Chicago. This was, perhaps, the starting point for the popular and not merely scholastic dissemination of Buddhism and Hinduism in the West. Following this conference a disciple of the Rinzai Zen Buddhist representative Shaku Soen came to America to work as an assistant to the scholar and publisher Paul Carus. This disciple was D.T. Suzuki, whose work was not only influential in introducing Zen to the West, but who may be said to have forged the first of many strong links between Buddhism and psychology by his interest in and openness to this then new field.2 Since that time, not only Zen, but many different forms of Buddhism have, at some stage in their reception in the West, been associated with aspects of psychology. "Many different forms of Buddhism" associated with "aspects of psychology"; thus the first step in this work needs to be definition. For there are, indeed, many forms of psychology, more of psychotherapy, and also many "Buddhisms". Overall my emphasis is general rather than specific. According to the Oxford Dictionary, psychology is "(a) the science of the nature, function, and phenomenon of the human soul or mind; (b) A treatise on, or system of psychology." Psychotherapeutic is "of or 1 A. Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, p. 131. 2 In particular the works of William James who was a friend of Carus. pertaining to the treatment of mental or psychic disease." In this study I shall generally usepsychology to denote the theory of mind, and psychotherapy, praxis relating to healing of disease or to healthful expansion of the potential of the mind of the individual. However, I am aware that at times there is some overlap. When speaking of Buddhism, I am attempting, as far as possible, to give an overall view, explicating those doctrines which are central to Buddhism in general, rather than restricted to any particular school. Views from specific schools and outlooks will be credited as such. However, I acknowledge that the balance is weighted towards the views of Mahayana in general and Tibetan Buddhism in particular. I would also agree with David Loy, one of the most interesting participants in the dialogue between Buddhism and contemporary thought, in his suggestion that we should distinguish between Buddhism as a path of liberation and Buddhism as an institution. My concern is pre-eminently with the former. While I hope to show that the philosophy and praxis of Buddhism as a path of liberation may be interpreted as almost uncannily in tune with the contemporary horizon of ideas, this is not the interpretation of any of the more culturally crystallised forms of institutional Buddhism as religion, though partaking of aspects of all of them. Let us now return to history. In 1923 Mrs. Rhys Davids entitled her translation of one of the books of the Theravada Abhidharma, A Buddhist Manual o f Psychological Ethics, and wrote: "Buddhism from a quite early stage of its development set itself to analyse and classify mental processes with remarkable insight and sagacity.
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