INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND THE GREAT EASTERN SUN: AN EXAMINATION OF THE PSYCHOLOGY OF USE AND THE BUDDHIST TEACHINGS

An Integrative Paper

Submitted

By

Lisa Havelin

To

Adler Graduate School

in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS in Adlerian Counseling and Psychotherapy

This integrative paper has been accepted for the faculty of Adler Graduate School by:

Herb Laube, Chair

Dan Zenga, Reader

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA

Abstract

The First Noble Truth is that the suffering of birth, old age, sickness and death is unavoidable. Suffering includes both physical and psychological pain. The Individual

Psychology of Alfred Adler and the Shambhala Buddhist Teachings cultivated in the west by Chogyam Trungpa are similar in that they aspire to alleviate suffering, and that fundamentally they seek to improve the situations of humankind.

This paper examines the beliefs and practices that form the foundation of both

Individual Psychology and the Tibetan Buddhist Teachings, and compares and contrasts them with one another.

ii INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 1

Acknowledgements

I offer my deepest gratitude to my grandmother, Edith Rodenkirchen (1916-2004)

who was the embodiment of social interest and Buddha activity, to my greatest friend (a

cat), Ms. Moppet (1968-1991) who was the embodiment of compassion and the gentle

warrior in the face of suffering, old age, sickness and death, and to the venerable

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Alfred Adler for their work in providing living

teachings to help people and all sentient beings be liberated from suffering.

Thank also to my husband Michael Havelin and my mother Karen Phelps for

providing the space, opportunity and friendship needed to do the work required for this

course of study, and to Herb Laube and Dan Zenga for their skillful counsel, humor,

insight, support and encouragement with manifesting my interests and ideas in the form of this paper. And finally to my sweet friends Mary Ludington, Lisa Ringer, Kim Smisek and Winnifred & Ida Havelin for being so nice to me and keeping me on track.

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 2

CONTENTS

Abstract ...... ii

Acknowledgements ...... 1

Alfred Adler and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche ...... 3

The Practices: Meditation and Encouragement ...... 7

Social Interest and Creating Enlightened Society ...... 12

Anything Can Also Be Different and Nowness ...... 27

Explanation of Appendix ...... 29

References ...... 30

Appendix: The Effects of Meditation on Anxiety Related Disorders …………...………33

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 3

Alfred Adler and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche

Alfred Adler was born in Vienna, Austria on February 7, 1870. When Adler was about

five years old he became deathly ill with pneumonia, from which, doctors thought he might not survive. It was out of that physical and emotional suffering that Adler made the decision to become a physician so that he might help others recover from disease. In 1895 he received his

Medical Doctor Degree from the University of Vienna.

As a medical doctor Adler was curious about the root causes of illnesses. He had a

tendency to look to people’s behavior to find answers as to the causes of individuals’ symptoms.

In 1898, Adler wrote his first book, which looked at the health conditions of tailors; in it he

describes what would later become one of the main theories of Individual Psychology. Holism refers to the importance, in Adler’s view, of looking at a person as a whole, rather than the sum of individual parts. His practice was to see a person as possessing and interacting with many different kinds of influences and energies which all worked together as a whole. This was in conflict with the more Freudian interpretation of people as a summation of parts related only to

instincts, drives, and other psychological manifestations.

Adler was also interested in his patients with physical handicaps and studied both their

organic and psychological reactions to them. In 1907 Adler published his book, which was

about organ inferiority and how people compensate both positively and negatively for those

inferiorities. In 1912 Adler published his book, The Neurotic Constitution, in which he described the main concepts, which would come to be known and comprise his psychological system titled, “Individual Psychology”. The term individual psychology refers to the practice of interpreting a person as indivisible or overall make-up.

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 4

Alfred Adler went on to found clinics designed to provide psychological services to

children and families first in Vienna and then later in other countries. Adler lectured and

practiced widely throughout his career and beginning in 1932 held the first chair of Visiting

Professor of Medical Psychology at Long Island College of Medicine. He died on May 28, 1937 in Aberdeen, Scotland after delivering a series of lectures.

The Venerable Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche was born in the province of Kham in eastern

Tibet in 1939. When he was thirteen months old, he was recognized as a major tulku, or incarnate teacher. According to Tibetan tradition, an enlightened teacher is capable of reincarnating in human form over a succession of generations in order to continue to help other

sentient beings. In this way, particular lineages of teaching are formed, in some cases extending

over many centuries. Chogyam Trungpa was the eleventh in the teaching known as the

Trungpa Tulkus. Chogyam Trungpa was enthroned as supreme abbot of Monastery

and governor of Surmang District. At the age of eight, he received ordination as a novice monk

and engaged in intensive study and practice of the traditional monastic disciplines. His primary

teachers were Jamgon Kongtrul of Sechen and Khenpo Gangshar—leading teachers in the

Nyingma and lineages. In 1958, at the age of eighteen, Trungpa Rinpoche completed his

studies, receiving the degrees of Kyorpon (doctor of divinity) and Khenpo (master of studies).

He also received full monastic ordination.

In 1959 Chogyam Trungpa escaped Chinese occupied Tibet through the Himalayas on

foot and by horseback to India. While in India Chogyam Trungpa was appointed to serve as

spiritual advisor to the Young Home School in Delhi, India until 1963. Chogyam

Trungpa then received a Spaulding sponsorship to attend Oxford University where he studied

comparative religion, philosophy, history, and fine arts. While in England he began to instruct

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 5

Western students in the , and in 1967 founded the Samye Ling Meditation Center in

Dumfrieshire, Scotland. During this period he published his first two books: Born in Tibet

(1966) and Meditation in Action (1969).

In 1968 Chogyam Trungpa traveled to Bhutan where he entered into extensive solitary retreat practice. At this time he created the Sadhana of , which is a text, and practice, which guided his teaching in the west. It documents the spiritual degeneration of modern times and provides the antidote. Soon after returning to England he became a layperson, putting aside his monastic robes he moved to North America. He believed that in order for the dharma to take root in the West it needed to be taught free from cultural trappings and religious fascination.

During the 1970’s Rinpoche drew many students who were seriously interested in the Buddhist teachings and the practice of meditation. He was critical of the materialistic approach to spirituality that was prevalent at the time. In the early to mid 1970’s he published Cutting

Through Spiritual Materialism, and The Myth of Freedom.

Chogyam Trungpa was fluent in the English language and so was one of the first Tibetan

Buddhist Teachers who could speak to Western students directly without an interpreter. He traveled extensively throughout North America and Europe and gave thousands of talks and hundreds of seminars. He established major land centers dedicated to the practice and study of

Buddhism in Vermont, Colorado, Nova Scotia and in 1974 founded the Institute (now

Naropa University), which became the first and only accredited Buddhist-inspired University in

North America. In addition to his teachings in the Buddhist tradition, Rinpoche also placed great emphasis on the Shambhala teachings, which stress the importance of meditation in action or training oneself to approach obstacles or challenges in everyday life with the courageous attitude of a warrior, without anger. His book, Shambhala Sacred Path of the Warrior, discusses these

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 6

teachings. He founded Shambhala International, which now comprises hundreds of Shambhala

Centers worldwide. The Shambhala Center of Minneapolis and is the first City Center to have

built its own building designed specifically as a meditation center.

Chogyam Trungpa died in 1987, at the age of 47. At the time of his death, he was known

not only as Rinpoche (“Precious Jewel”) but also as Vidyadhara (“Wisdom Holder”) for his role

as a master of the vajryana, or the tantric teachings of Buddhism. As a holder of the Shambhala

teachings, he had also received the titles of Dorje Dradul (“Indestructible Warrior”) and Sakyong

(“Earth Protector”).

The Growth Model and Basic Goodness

As a discipline Psychology originated out of a medical model. In this model people who face challenges both physical and psychological are seen as a problem to be cured or “fixed” by therapy, medicine, or surgery. In this way emotional problems are thought of as sickness or mental illness and so are often thought to be due to biological factors. Adlerian therapy does not see people as broken and in need of being fixed, but instead views the challenges that people face as an opportunity for growth and in this way Adlerian therapy engages a growth model as opposed to a medical model.

From his research with people who face physical inferiorities, Alfred Adler learned that people were able to compensate in creative and meaningful ways that allowed them to thrive and made them unique and valuable to their communities. He found that the purpose of therapy was to support people in a way that would increase the likelihood that they would face life challenges

successfully. He did not see obstacles as negative experiences that needed to be gotten rid of or

fixed but rather as a normal part of life every person encounters and experiences as resistance.

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 7

Resistance in Adlerian therapy is an indication that there are opportunities to grow and mature in

meaningful ways if one is encouraged and supported to do so.

Very similarly to this Adlerian perspective, Buddhist thought does not see obstacles as

particularly problematic. Buddhist belief teaches that all sentient beings experience suffering,

and that there exists in every sentient being pure, fully manifested basic goodness, which is often not experienced as accessible because of thought patterns or habitual ways of thinking which obscure it. No matter what the causes and conditions are that exist for a person in their lifetime they do not escape suffering. So in the same way that Adler views challenges as part of one’s life path and life style so Buddhists see suffering as part of what it means to be human and that it is the way that we relate or think about obstacles or challenges that creates suffering to a greater or lesser degree. In both views challenges are not seen as “bad” or a sign of illness but simply as a fact of life and further that if we are able to learn how to work with these obstacles effectively they present great opportunities for growth, and learning, and even happiness. By negating the belief that both suffering or physical or emotional manifestations are inherently a sign of sickness or illness both the Buddha and Alfred Adler open the door to the idea that individuals are basically healthy and that the manifestation of symptoms is ordinary.

The Practices: Meditation and Encouragement

From the perspective that people are basically good and that symptoms/suffering are completely ordinary, the Buddhist tradition sees the practice of meditation as a way to work with that human condition. The Buddha teaches that there exists in every sentient being pure, incorruptible, fully manifested basic goodness, which has been equated metaphorically in those teachings as “The Great Eastern Sun”. The way of the Great Eastern Sun is based on seeing that there is a natural source of radiance and brilliance in the world, which is also the innate

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 8

wakefulness of human beings. It is said that sentient beings suffer when they are not connected

to that sense of Basic Goodness, which is obscured, by habitual ways of thinking, or thinking

patterns which cloud it over. This obscured state of being could be equated with neurosis or

depression and those states of being are talked about in the Buddhist teachings metaphorically as a “Setting Sun Mentality”. Sitting meditation is a Buddhist practice by which an individual can engage in taming the mind thereby removing these obscurations and revealing inherent basic goodness. The Buddha is said to have removed every obscuration of mind thus achieving enlightenment. Having removed all obscurations of mind the Buddha manifested pure compassion, which is the antidote to suffering.

The practice of sitting meditation is a discipline for sitting with ones self, one’s mind, and one’s emotions both positive and negative. This particular way of paying attention in a nonjudgmental way creates awareness of how the mind works, and how thoughts are generated continuously, moment to moment.

The sitting practice itself is described by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche:

By meditation here we mean something very basic and simple that is not tied to any one

culture. We are talking about a very basic act: sitting on the ground, assuming a good

posture, and developing a sense of our spot, our place on this earth. This is the means of

rediscovering ourselves and our basic goodness, the means to tune ourselves in to

genuine reality, without any expectations or preconceptions…. In the Shambhala tradition

meditation is simply training our state of being so that our mind and body can be

synchronized…through this practice we can learn to be without deception, to be fully

genuine and alive. Meditation practice begins by sitting down and assuming your seat

cross-legged on the ground. You begin to feel that by simply being on the spot, your life

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 9

can become workable and even wonderful; you realize that you are capable of sitting like

a king or queen on a throne. In the practice of meditation, an upright posture is extremely

important. Having an upright back is not an artificial posture. It is natural to the human

body. When you slouch, that is unusual. You can’t breathe properly when you slouch,

and slouching also is a sing of giving in to neurosis. So when you sit erect, you are

proclaiming to yourself and to the rest of the world that you are going to be a warrior, a

fully human being.

To have a straight back you do not have to strain yourself by pulling up your

shoulders; the uprightness comes naturally from sitting simply but proudly on the ground

or on your meditation cushion. Then, because your back is upright, you feel no trace of

shyness or embarrassment, so you do not hold your head down. You are not bending to

anything. You can see this royal pose in some Egyptian and South American sculptures,

as well as in Oriental statues. It is a universal posture. In your daily life, you should

also be aware of your posture…even when you are not meditating, you can maintain a

dignified state of existence. You can transcend your embarrassment and take pride in

being a human being. (Trungpa, 1984, p. 36-39)

Psychological theory at the time that Alfred Adler was practicing was influenced by the work of Sigmund Freud. One of Freud’s main contributions to the field was a belief that psychological phenomena experienced by individuals who could not be explained in purely medical terms were manifestations caused by the individuals past, or childhood experiences. I believe this view to be very limited in terms of all the circumstances and conditions that are brought to bear when considering the vastness of all that a human being is and how the phenomenal world influences us. This Freudian view sees the individual largely as a victim of

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 10

past experiences, and in terms of Buddhist thought would be regarded as an extremely “setting sun” approach.

Alfred Adler on the other hand did not accept this strictly causal explanation of psychology and illness. Adler viewed people as having free will and an innate creative force at work. Further, he believed that we are born with an innate feeling of wanting to be connected with other people, an interest in being in community, and in sharing experiences, emotions and ideas with other people. I believe that it is these very same innate qualities that Buddhists describe as basic goodness.

“Adler supposes that there is a creative force inborn to the child, which increases with

activity; it enables people to make their own decisions and to develop their own

circumstances. This creative force works throughout the whole personality.” (Oberst &

Stewart, 2003, p. 12)

Alfred Adler thought that people experienced feelings of inferiority as a result of having been discouraged and/or from just being physically small as a child. He said that feelings of being discouraged can come from not being adequately loved or cared for, or from being pampered or neglected by one’s parents, or that those same feelings could come from a physical or health problem. When there exists some kind of shortcoming in the causes and conditions of one’s life as described above a person becomes aware of this by comparing self to others. When a person compares him/herself to others invariably one notices in what specific ways that other person exceeds our own skills or conditions. This comparison causes feelings of inferiority, which lead to a sense of discouragement. These flawed or fictional ways of thinking about self would be considered the same as what the Buddhists have described as “obscurations of mind”,

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 11 or that which covers over, or separates us from a sense of basic goodness, or sanity. Both would be considered instances in which a person suffers.

It is that very suffering which brings a person to want to sit with themselves on the meditation cushion, or to meet with a therapist. I believe that meeting with a therapist is very much like sitting in meditation. It is a manifestation of a willingness to learn more about oneself, and to understand the causes and conditions that have created suffering for them in their lives and they are brought to that interaction through suffering itself. Further, in the vast majority of circumstances one agrees to meditate or meet with a counselor because of our relationships with other people. Both practices include a notion of being intimately connected with other human beings. We essentially recognize that we are intimately linked with others, and that we want to know more about our suffering so that we can improve the situation not only for ourselves but also for other people.

When a person experiences suffering long enough, and intensely enough, and at the same time has enough of a connection with basic goodness or free will, or their innate creative force to want to sit down with themselves either in meditation or in the presence of a guide or counselor it is a fortunate situation. The practice and study of the Buddhist teachings and of Adlerian therapy are useful. Alfred Adler termed his - a psychology of use.

The psychologies of possession are concerned with showing what a person brings with

him into the world and retains as his/her possession. From his/her inheritance, they seek

to derive everything that is psychological. Seen from the standpoint of common sense,

this is an awkward position. In other matters in life, we are not inclined to draw all our

conclusions from a person’s possessions, but only from the use he/she makes of them.

We are much more interested in the use than in the possession. Individual

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 12

Psychology….considers the attitude of an individual to the problems of life in order to

understand him/her, and therefore considers the use he/she makes of his/her capacities.

The raw material with which the Individual Psychologist works is the relationship of the

individual to the problems of the outside world…This outside world includes the

individual’s own body, his/her own bodily functions, and the functions of his/her mind.

He does not relate himself to the outside world in a predetermined manner as is

often assumed. He relates himself always according to his own interpretation of himself

and of his present problem. His limits are not only the common human limits, but also

the limits which he has set himself….The interpretation he makes of these experiences –

are the bricks which he uses in his own “creative” way in building up his attitude toward

life. It is his individual way of using these bricks, or in other words his attitude towards

life, which determines this relationship to the outside world. (Oberst & Stewart, 2003, p.

205-206)

I believe that Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche would wholeheartedly agree with this statement of a psychology of use. In his teachings and lectures he would state frequently that there were no right or wrong answers. He always encouraged his students to bring the Buddhist teachings to bear on their own personal experience, their own lives. The practice of sitting meditation is a practice of use in the sense that we bring our understanding of ourselves and our world to the cushion and we sit down with it, we get to know it better, and we see for ourselves how what we are is useful, and learn to recognize that which is no longer useful and let it go.

To work with oneself in this way is considered fearless warriorship and the act of doing so is cause for celebration in the Buddhist tradition.

Social Interest and Creating Enlightened Society

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 13

Both Individual Psychology and the Shambhala Buddhist Teachings have at their core a

sense of people as interrelated, a sense that to be human is to have an awareness that we are

fundamentally connected with others and to also feel a need to improve our situation not only for

ourselves but more importantly for others.

Alfred Adler (Adler, 1931) named this “Social Interest”, or “Community Feeling”, and

the Shambhala Teachings refer to this sense as “Enlightened Society.”

Social Interest

When Alfred Adler talked about Social Interest he was referring to a fundamental notion of a human being as a social being and the importance of our relationships with other people. He

saw this as of primary importance, so much so, that he equated a person’s overall well-being or

relative neuroticism as directly linked to the degree of Social Interest they manifested.

Some Adlerian authors have argued that it means even feeling a part of the universe. It

means to participate, to contribute, to share, to feel accepted, appreciated, and loved, as

well as to accept, appreciate and love other people. But this social embeddedness also

means being able to cope with the obstacles and misfortunes of life in a socially adaptive

way; not by seeking one’s self-interest and personal advancement, but by pursuing, at the

same time, the benefit of – theoretically—the whole of humankind. In this sense, Social

Interest is a humanistic concept that stems from the idea of a progressive improvement—

physically, mentally, and psychologically—should go along with the improvement of

humankind. In searching for a cure for my illness I may invent a cure for all people who

are affected by it. In a more global sense, people who pursue their life tasks well will

develop a heightened sense of Social Interest. (Oberst & Stewart, 2003, p. 17)

Enlightened Society

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 14

Buddhist belief teaches that all sentient beings experience suffering; that there exists in

every sentient being pure, fully manifested basic goodness, which is often not experienced as

accessible because of ways of thinking which obscure it. Sitting meditation is a Buddhist

practice by which an individual can engage in taming the mind thereby removing these

obscurations and revealing inherent basic goodness. The Buddha is said to have removed every

obscuration of mind thus achieving enlightenment. Having removed all obscurations the Buddha

manifested pure compassion, which is the antidote to suffering. The Buddhist teachings also

reveal a belief in reincarnation or a repeating cycle of birth and death. This cycle is called

samsara, and is characterized by the first noble truth that is the experience of suffering. It is this

very suffering which teaches compassion, and embodying compassion is what liberates sentient

beings from samsara. Achieving enlightenment means being liberated from samsara. So the

Buddha essentially models the way in which an individual might work with the experience of

suffering, thus working with ones’ own suffering provides a way for others to do so.

The Buddha brought his teachings into the world 2,500 years ago. At that time these

teachings were studied and practiced largely as a monastic tradition and exclusively by men.

Large monasteries were built to house great numbers of Buddhist monks who studied and debated the teachings of the Buddha. Monks were required to spend extended lengths of time, often years, and in some cases the great majority of the span of an individual life, meditating.

This meditation practice would often take place in a cave. Monks who renounced material wealth did not have families or contact with cultural centers, the monastic life was a solitary endeavor.

According to the legends Shambhala was a legendary kingdom which was a place of peace, prosperity, and compassion among its people and rulers. As previously explained the

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 15

teachings of the Buddha were practiced as a monastic tradition. Dawa Sangpo was the King of

Shambhala who, it is said, asked the Buddha for a version of the Teachings which could be

practiced as a secular tradition. The Shambhala teachings are therefore extremely unique in the

sense that they are meant to be practiced in everyday life as part of life in a community. This

version of the Buddhist Teachings is for people who have families and jobs. The Shambhala

community practices meditation and the teachings of loving kindness and concern for all beings.

In this way it is said that the Kingdom of Shambhala attained enlightenment as an entire

community, ‘Enlightened Society.’

The Shambhala teachings are founded on the premise that there is basic human wisdom

that can help to solve the world’s problems. This wisdom des not belong to any one

culture or religion, nor does it come only from the West or the East. Rather, it is a

tradition of human warriorship that has existed in many cultures at many times

throughout history. (Trungpa, 1984, p. 25)

Life Tasks and the Practice of Sitting Meditation

Within the context of the assertion that in both Individual Psychology and the Shambhala

Teachings there exists fundamental agreement between the two that people exist, survive and

thrive essentially in community. That is, people’s lives, their sanity and neurosis are inexorably

linked with other people. There also exist primary practices put forth by both Individual

Psychology and the Shambhala Buddhist Teachings, which help people to work within the

situation of having relationships with themselves, and others, and the world. How is it that we

can effectively work with ourselves? The main practice suggested by Alfred Adler is meeting

and working with the Five Life Tasks, and the primary practice suggested in the Shambhala

Teachings is meditation.

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 16

The Five Life Tasks

Alfred Adler believed that all problems arise from the work and demand of being in

relationship with others. “The satisfaction of all conceivable human needs depends on a sense of

community and collaboration to fulfill the tasks of work, love, and friendship (or community

life).” (Oberst & Stewart, 2003, p. 18) Two of Adler’s colleagues Rudolph Dreikurs, and Harold

Mosak later added two more tasks, which are the task of spirituality, and the task of coping with oneself. So, according to Individual Psychology all fundamental problems/neurosis/suffering and also well-being/happiness/health arise from an individual’s ability or lack thereof to work

with each of these five Life Tasks successfully. It is a combination of, on the one hand, an

inability to meet with the life tasks successfully which creates pain, and on the other hand a sense

of heart which inspires us to create a better situation for ourselves and for others which brings

people to want to work more effectively with themselves, with others, and with the world.

The Practice of Sitting Meditation

The Buddha experienced suffering in his own life and found that suffering was universal,

that every sentient being experienced suffering. He observed that people avoid suffering and try to hold on to pleasure, they move away from pain, and toward pleasure. Further he observed that it was this act of constant movement toward and away from that continually engendered more

suffering because it is the nature of phenomena that it is constantly changing, constantly being

created and constantly falling apart – it is impermanent. It is not possible to permanently protect

self or others from pain, and it is also not possible to permanently remain in a situation, which is

comfortable. The Buddha therefore realized that the only thing we have control over is how we

think about suffering, what we believe about it. He resolved to sit down with himself and

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 17 contemplate the true nature of his own thoughts. Essentially he found that when one resolves to fully be with pain, to look into the exact nature of pain one finds that pain is an illusion and that it is our thoughts themselves, which create suffering.

The Teachings which, emerged from the Buddha’s own practice are the Four Noble

Truths, they are:

1. Suffering. Every sentient being experiences suffering at the very least in the sense that we all experience sickness, old age, and death. Union with what is displeasing and separation from what is pleasing creates suffering.

2. Source of Suffering is clinging or grasping for pleasure.

3. The Cessation of Suffering is relinquishing grasping for pleasure.

4. The Way Leading to the Cessation of Suffering is the : right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right , and right concentration.

It is this sense of the Eightfold Path, which is most directly related to Alfred Adler’s five

Life Tasks. These are practices by which one might successfully work with being a human being in the world. Alfred Adler believed that when a person became willing to actively engage in their lives (the five tasks), was encouraged to do so, and was supported with skills with which to do so that, that person would find some basic sanity, some basic satisfaction in life, and might even to a greater or lesser extent experience less confusion, neuroticism and pain. The act of facing life as opposed to avoiding it in itself alleviates suffering even though the circumstances that previously created suffering still exist. A person who engages is life will connect with some basic sanity and will also increase their resilience in terms of being able to weather difficult life

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 18

challenges and circumstances. This fundamental belief is also true in the Shambhala Teachings and is referred to as Basic Goodness.

By simply being on the spot, your life can become workable and even wonderful. You

realize that you are capable of sitting like a king or queen on a throne. The regalness of

that situation shows you the dignity that comes from being still and simple……As human

beings, we have a working basis within ourselves that allows us to uplift our state of

existence and cheer up fully. That working basis is always available to us. We have a

mind and a body, which are very precious to us. Because we have a mind and body, we

can comprehend this world. Existence is wonderful and precious. We don’t know how

long we will live, so while we have our life, why not make use of it? Before we even

make use of it, why don’t we appreciate it? How do we discover this kind of

appreciation?...In the Shambhala tradition, the discipline for developing both gentleness

towards ourselves and appreciation of our world is the sitting practice of meditation.

(Trungpa, 1984, p. 36)

Individual Psychology and the Shambhala Teachings similarly suggest that when a

person endeavors to engage fully in life by becoming willing to understand themselves and the

world more fully then they also engage the potential to connect with basic goodness,

courageousness, and a sense of inherent dignity which is part of every sentient being. When we

engage in life this way and learn to work with our minds then we not only improve the basic

situation for ourselves but we learn intimately what is involved and how to practice working with

life that is the only way we can authentically offer it to others.

Courage and the Heart of Warriorship

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 19

With Adler’s sense of the necessity of encouragement and Shambhala’s sense of the

presence of basic goodness we find that it is possible to connect with a feeling of inspiration

when we actively engage in life. Alfred Adler often taught, and spoke about the concept of life

as being constantly in motion, very much like the Buddha revealed the idea of , life is not static, but is fundamentally and continually moving and therefore, in order to engage in life human beings must also move. Alfred Adler referred to this principle as Teleology.

The science of Individual Psychology developed out of the effort to understand that

mysterious creative power of life which expresses itself in the desire to develop, to strive,

to achieve, and even to compensate for defeats in one direction by striving for success in

another. This power is teleological; it expresses itself in the striving after a goal, and, in

this striving, every bodily and psychological movement is made to cooperate. It is thus

absurd to study bodily movements and mental conditions abstractly without relation to an

individual whole. It is absurd, for instance, that in criminal psychology we should pay so

much more attention to the crime than to the criminal. The same outward act may be

criminal in one case and not criminal in another. The important thing is to understand the

individual context, the goal of an individual’s life, which marks the line of direction for

all his acts and movements. This goal enables us to understand the hidden meaning

behind the various separate acts and to see them as parts of a whole. Vice versa when we

study the parts provided we study them as parts of a whole, we get a better sense of the

whole. (Ansbacher & Ansbacher, 1956, p. 92)

Both Alfred Adler’s and the Buddha’s idea that life in constantly in motion and that to

truly engage with it people must also move, establishes a sense of having to continually strive, a

sense of work. What it also suggests is that this is good, profitable, valuable work. The

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 20

Shambhala teachings describe this situation in terms of the necessity of manifesting effort in order to continue to engage, in order to work with laziness, a sense of discipline in terms of doing what you have found needs to be done. In order to engage in life at this level it is inevitable that a person encounters fear. Previous to making a decision to meet with an Adlerian

Counselor or actually deciding to take one’s seat with oneself on a meditation cushion a person was engaging with life on a level which represents less awareness, sleepwalking you could say, engaging with life on a survival level. Simply moving away from pain and towards pleasure. It is fearsome to recognize that operating that way is no longer useful and to decide that a change is necessary, that life and our own minds must be looked into as opposed to run away from. So to decide to be more fully with one’s own life, one’s own mind, oneself may have been up to this point exactly what we were trying to avoid doing and to decide finally to do that is fearsome and requires courage, daring, fearlessness.

Activity must not be confused with courage, although there is no courage without

activity. But only the activity of an individual who plays the game, cooperates, and

shares in life can be designated as courage. There are many variations of courage, as well

as mixed cases and cases where courage appears only conditionally, for example, in the

event of extreme emergency or with the assistance of others. Anyone who has become

convinced of the constancy of the degree of activity, corresponding entirely to the

constancy of the individual law of movement, that is, the style of life, will observe very

attentively that individual degree of activity. (Ansbacher & Ansbacher, 1956, p. 166)

In this writing by Alfred Adler, he is acknowledging that fear is present as a human condition and that courage is needed, and should be cultivated, but he is pointing also to the need to be able to distinguish authentic courage from other types of movement. The Shambhala

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 21

teachings also recognize this and refer to it as developing right intention. In the writings of

Chogyam Trungpa, he also refers to the idea that engaging in activity for activity’s sake or as a

strategy of avoidance as “speed”. A person needs to be vigilant when attempting to engage in

life with more wakefulness not to turn that situation into just another way to go back to sleep.

Chogyam Trungpa used to like to say that then it had become, “just another trip”.

The Shambhala Teachings do, however, talk at length about the qualities of fearlessness

and courage and warriorship. The archetype of the Warrior is used often in the Shambhala

teachings and in other ancient cultures as a person who had learned to master the challenges of

life both on and off the battlefield. The Shambhala Warrior is a person who has acquired a sense

of dignity, power, and freedom not through violence or aggression but through gentleness,

compassion, courage, and self-awareness. Chogyam Trungpa used to say often that fear never

arises without fearlessness that the two always arise together, but that the feeling of fear is so scary and powerful that we instinctively flee. His teaching was about having confidence in that fearlessness and courage are our heritage and that we need to learn how to cultivate those.

Fear has to be acknowledged. We have to realize our fear and reconcile ourselves with

fear. We should look at how we move, how we talk, how we conduct ourselves, how we

chew our nails, how we sometimes put our hands in our pockets uselessly. Then we will

find something out about how fear is expressed in the form of restlessness. We must fact

the fact that fear is lurking in our lives, always, in everything we do. On the other hand,

acknowledging fear is not a cause for depression or discouragement. Because we possess

such fear we also are potentially entitled to experience fearlessness. True fearlessness is

not the reduction of fear, but going beyond fear. Unfortunately, in the English language,

we don’t have one word that means that. Fearlessness is the closest term, but by fearless

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 22

we don’t mean “less fear”, but “beyond fear”. Going beyond fear begins when we

examine our fear: our anxiety, nervousness, concern, and restlessness. If we look into

our fear, if we look beneath its veneer, the first thing we find is sadness, beneath the

nervousness. When we slow down, when we relax with our fear, we find sadness, which

is calm and gentle. Sadness hits you in your heart, and your body produces a tear.

Before you cry, there is a feeling in your chest and then, after that, you produce tears in

your eyes. You are about to produce rain or a waterfall in your eyes and you feel sad and

lonely, and perhaps romantic at the same time. That is the first tip of fearlessness, and

the first sign of real warriorship. In the Shambhala tradition, discovering fearlessness

comes from working with the softness of the human heart. When tenderness evolves in

that direction, then you can truly appreciate the world around you. (Trungpa, 1984, p. 48-

49)

Discouragement

Adlerian therapy views individuals as discouraged rather than mentally ill and tries to

identify in what ways people have feelings of inferiority in order to help decrease those feelings

so that people may engage in life tasks more successfully.

The causes and conditions, which lead to feelings of inferiority in terms of Individual

Psychology begin with the concept of striving. Striving is described as an instinctual drive. A baby instinctually strives to be recognized because he/she is completely dependent on others for survival. A person comes into the world completely vulnerable with no power in and of themselves to survive, they must rely on others. An infant’s first experiences are of the necessity of communicating with others in order to be fed; therefore their first movements are attempts to be recognized by others. So, immediately from birth there is a sense of vulnerability related to

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 23 survival and also a relationship with others in which there is inherently a sense of “me”, and

“others”. There is thus a sense of striving for significance, striving to be recognized, striving to belong. There is also, therefore, a sense that there are certain conditions or rules related to being worthy of belonging.

So, from the beginning there is a polarity at work which demands that we endeavor to figure out how the world works, how people are, and who we are in relationship to that. The engagement of this thought process requires that we use logic, to think, make judgments and label things accordingly: “these types of things are good…and those types of things are bad.”

When we begin to label the world and it’s phenomena that way we also begin to compare ourselves to others and in making that comparison inevitably find that we do not measure up in one way or another. This is one of the ways that inferiority feelings are engendered. Further when we identify a way in which we are inferior we then try to compensate for it. The ways in which one could potentially find that they are inferior are endless; a person would have to be perfect in order not to find something wrong.

In the struggle for perfection, man is always in a state of psychic agitation and feels

unsettled before the goal of perfection. It is only when he feels that he has reached a

satisfying stage in his upward struggle that he has the feeling of rest, of value, and of

happiness. In the next moment his goal draws him farther on. Thus it becomes clear that

to be a human being means to possess a feeling of inferiority, which constantly presses

toward its own conquest. The paths to victory are as different in a thousand ways as the

chosen goals of perfection. The greater the feeling of inferiority that has been

experienced, the more powerful is the urge to conquest and the more violent the

emotional agitation. …Difficult questions in life, dangers, emergencies, disappointments,

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 24

worries, losses, especially those of loved persons, social pressures of all kinds, may

always be seen as included within the framework of the inferiority feeling, mostly in the

form of the universally recognizable emotions and states of mind which we know as

anxiety, sorrow, despair, shame, shyness, embarrassment, and disgust. (Ansbacher &

Ansbacher, 1956, p. 116-117)

This Adlerian characterization of how it is human to struggle is very much in agreement

with the Buddhist perspective of the causes and conditions that are at work, which create suffering in human beings. There is an existential pain we feel as we proceed to endeavor to avoid pain and grasp pleasure. It is what we do with this fundamental human experience that allows us to successfully proceed along the path or alternately create more confusion, suffering, and neurosis.

According to Alfred Adler it is normal for a person to want to compensate for a perceived inferiority, “The kind of efforts that lead to an adequate compensation are those which respect

Social Interest and which were called ‘useful efforts’ by Adler, because they are not only useful

for the individual but also for other people (the community). (Oberst & Stewart, 2003, p. 26)

Adler referred to this as striving for perfection, and it is considered normal and useful, a positive way of compensating in that its goal is to strive for a feeling of equality. A person striving for perfection wants to be equally as valuable as other people and takes into consideration also the value of others. It is when a person strives for superiority, or to be better than others, more valuable, more powerful than others that we begin to see neurosis.

Any symptom or any psychological problem is, in the Adlerian view, a particular

manifestation of (over)compensating for inferiority feeling with striving for power. Even

when the individual suffers from his problems (which is usually the case, as in anxiety,

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 25

depression, etc.) neurosis is an attempt to reduce inferiority feelings; in this sense, the

neurosis is an excuse, a pretext, for not complying with one’s human duty: that of Social

Interest.” (Oberst & Stewart, 2003, p. 26-27)

The Shambhala teachings view the causes and conditions that are at the root of neurotic

behavior in much the same way that Individual Psychology does. The Shambhala teachings

teach us to reflect and realize that we have divided the world into “us” and “them”, friend and foe as a result of a lack of confidence in our basic goodness, and a lack of skillfulness with being

a warrior. According to Shambhala a person has not successfully engaged with life, and that in

combination with an experience of suffering creates a situation of depression, and more precisely discouragement and begins to engage life with a setting sun mentality. Someone who has given up, given up on themselves, on the world, and others, characterizes the setting sun mentality. To continue a version of living life they make up projects that create the appearance or the feeling of living life on some level. Adler calls this phenomenon a sideshow, a way of tricking yourself and others into believing that you are doing the hard work of living. In the Shambhala vision this setting sun mentality seeks to bypass an authentic personal experience of the world and life

because a person is defeated, discouraged, and does not have a sense of how to go forward in a

useful productive way. Setting sun is depression, anxiety. Bypassing an authentic experience of

and instead creating grandiose ‘other’ projects to work on is a version of overcompensating; it is

a mechanism by which a person becomes more powerful than other ordinary people.

Too often, people think that solving the world’s problems is based on conquering the

earth, rather than on touching the earth, touching the ground. That is one definition of the

setting-sun mentality: trying to conquer the earth so that you can ward off reality.

(Trungpa, 1984, p. 97)

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 26

The dawn of the Great Eastern Sun is based on actual, individual, personal experience.

That is where we have access to the energy of the Great Eastern Sun vision according to the

Shambhala Teachings. These teachings also fully acknowledge the fact that as human beings we are much more accustomed to the setting-sun mentality because that is the reality of our world.

The teachings address darkness metaphorically in terms of placing ourselves in a cocoon, a dark, warm, protected familiar place where we can sleep. The cocoon is the mind which is engaged in manifesting habitual patterns, habitual ways of thinking and of behaving.

When we are afraid of waking up and afraid of experiencing our own fear, we create a

cocoon to shield ourselves from the vision of the Great Eastern Sun. We prefer to hide in

our personal jungles and caves. When we hide from the world in this way, we feel

secure. We may think that we have quieted our fear, but we are actually making

ourselves numb with fear. We surround ourselves with our own familiar thoughts, so that

nothing sharp or painful can touch us. We are so afraid of our own fear that we deaden

our hearts. The way of cowardice is to embed ourselves in this cocoon, in which we

perpetuate our habitual patterns. When we are constantly recreating our basic patterns of

behavior and thought, we never have to leap into fresh air or onto fresh ground.

(Trungpa, 1984, p. 60)

The cocoon is another way of describing the tendency to avoid the life tasks and the qualities of what that feels like. The Shambhala teachings specifically detail what being in this cocoon eventually comes to feel like. In general after a person is in this cocoon for a while they begin to feel repulsed by it. Really, there is nothing else in there but ourselves so we begin to contact the reality of a physical body which has not been washed, exercised, or seen the light.

Chogyam Trungpa said that the cocoon has never gone through anything like a spring cleaning,

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 27 because in the cocoon we are lazy, lulled to sleep and cleaning is too much work. After being in there for a while it begins to feel claustrophobic. After being in that claustrophobic environment for a long time we begin to crave some fresh air, and some light, we realize that there is exists a place other than the cocoon and we want to experience that, once we have a sense that there is an alternative we become aware of how restricting it has been to be in the cocoon and we are inspired to move again, and as soon as we take even the smallest step out of the cocoon we breathe some fresh air, or we see some light, the cocoon begins to deteriorate from the action of our leaving it.

Then we are standing in the light and we notice more and more how distasteful the cocoon is and we desire more and more light in order to investigate it fully and we feel the ecstasy of the Great Eastern Sun. The Shambhala teachings offer practices, which help us maintain the inspiration of the Great Eastern Sun and reflect on the darkness of the cocoon in order to continue on the path and to practice being a warrior in the world.

At this point it is clear that our health is dependent on our learning to be warriors in the face of a profound and unsettling human experience of inertia in the face of overwhelming obstacles. Adler describes this forward movement as the only thing that can be trusted, and to cultivate said a person must manifest a sense of courage, encouragement. The Shambhala teachings describe ways of connecting with a sense of encouragement and that daily effort must be engaged in order to do so, in order to continue along the path.

Anything Can Also Be Different and Nowness

At a certain point in both of these systems after having analyzed what has happened to us, to a person and why, under what circumstances did we come to arrive at this place and what

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 28

must be done to move forward and to create health not only for ourselves but for others that it is

necessary to look forward and to move forward.

Adler comments on the fact that in order to understand a person, it is not only necessary

to know why certain circumstances have occurred and what were the individuals’ reactions to

them but also where life’s pathway is leading. He say’s “we regard man as if nothing in his life

were causally determined and as if every phenomenon could have been different.” This suggests

that much effort has been used to understand the causes and conditions of a persons’ suffering

and what can be gained from that has been applied to the situation in the interest of creating

health. However, we cannot know all, we are not privy to absolute truth and therefore:

“anything can also be different”.

The Shambhala teachings teach similarly and describe this phenomenon as “nowness”.

“We need to find the link between our traditions and our present experience of life. Nowness, or

the magic of the present moment, is what joins the wisdom of the past with the present.”

(Trungpa, 1984, p. 99)

At a certain point it is necessary to let go of what has happened (the past), and also on

what might yet happen (the future) and have confidence in all that has been gained through great

effort, to trust in courage, to have confidence in the path and to be in the present moment. To

quiet the mind, to perceive what is authentically happening in the moment is to be encouraged in

by the possibilities.

A human being is born into a mysterious, powerful, beautiful, and painful world and is to

a certain extent called upon to investigate the situation further in order to alleviate personal pain.

There are some specific causes and conditions they find. One is that they are in a primary way part of a community of other people, other living things, and because of this they meet with a

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 29 sense of genuine obligation to others. They realize that there is no way to alleviate personal suffering without striving also to extend that to others. The person also finds that when they endeavor to work with the challenge of life that they are able to connect with the feeling that things are basically good, and not only that but that they themselves are basically good, there is reason to be encouraged.

When we draw down the power and depth of vastness into a single perception then we

are discovering and evoking magic. By magic we do not mean unnatural power over the

phenomenal world, but rather the discovery of innate or primordial wisdom of the world

as it is. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. (Trungpa, 1984)

Explanation of Appendix

The appendix titled Effects of Meditation on Anxiety and Related Disorders found at the end of this integrative paper is a literature review which examines current research on the effects of mediation on anxiety related disorders. It is included to provide information regarding the application of the practice of meditation as a recommended treatment option for anxiety related disorders.

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 30

References

Adler, Alfred. (1992). Alfred Adler, What Life Could Mean to You. Chatham, NY: One World

Publications.

Ansbacher, & Ansbacher, Rowena R. (Eds.). (1956). The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler,

A Systematic Presentation in Selections From His Writings. New York: Basic Books, Inc.

Hayward, Jeremy., & Hayward, Karen. (1998). Sacred World. Boston: ,

Inc.

Oberst, U. E. & Stewart, Alan E. (2003). Adlerian Psychotherapy An Advanced Approach to

Individual Psychology. New York: Brunner-Routledge.

Rinpoche, . (2004). Turning the Mind into an Ally. Boston: Shambhala

Publications, Inc.

Trungpa, Chogyam. (1980). Born in Tibet. Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Trungpa, Chogyam. (1984). Shambhala Sacred Path of the Warrior. Boston: Shambhala

Publications, Inc.

Waelde, L., Thompson, L., Gallagher-Thomson, D., (2004). A pilot study of a

and meditation intervention for dementia caregiver stress. Journal of

Clinical Psychology, 60(6), 677-678.

Effects of Meditation on Anxiety Related Disorders 31

Appendix

The Effects of Meditation on Anxiety Related Disorders

The Effects of Meditation on Anxiety Related Disorders

Lisa J. Havelin

Alfred Adler Graduate School

Effects of Meditation on Anxiety Related Disorders 32

Abstract

The essence of the Buddhist teachings presents some fundamental beliefs relevant to this literature review. Buddhist belief states that all sentient beings experience suffering and that there exists in every sentient being pure, manifested basic goodness which is often not experienced because of thoughts which obscure it. Sitting meditation is a Buddhist practice by which an individual can engage in taming the mind thereby removing these obscurations and revealing inherent basic goodness. The practice helps to increase awareness of thinking patterns as neutral rather than positive or negative, which is thought to have positive influence on suffering. This literature review examines current research on the effects of meditation on anxiety related disorders.

Abnormal behaviors examined include state anxiety, trait anxiety, and depression. Ten

Studies are reviewed and all demonstrate degrees of positive correlation. In general terms meditation has a positive effect on anxiety in varying degrees, but overall has not been found to have a negative effect.

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 33

Introduction

Buddhist belief teaches that all sentient beings experience suffering and that there exists in every sentient being pure, fully manifested basic goodness, which is often not experienced as accessible because of ways of thinking which obscure it. Sitting meditation is a Buddhist practice by which an individual can engage in taming the mind thereby removing these

obscurations and revealing inherent basic goodness. The Buddha is said to have removed every

obscuration of mind thus achieving enlightenment. Having removed all obscurations, the

Buddha manifested pure compassion, which is the antidote to suffering. The Buddhist teachings

also reveal a belief in reincarnation or a repeating cycle of birth and death. This cycle is called

samsara, and is characterized by the first noble truth that is the experience of suffering. It is this

very suffering which teaches compassion, and embodying compassion is what liberates sentient

beings from samsara. Achieving enlightenment means being liberated from samsara.

The Buddha brought his teachings into the world 2,500 years ago. At that time these

teachings were studied and practiced largely as a monastic tradition and exclusively by men.

Large monasteries were built to house great numbers of Buddhist monks who studied and

debated the teachings of the Buddha. Monks were required to spend extended lengths of time,

often years, and in some cases the great majority of the span of an individual life, meditating.

This meditation practice would often take place in a cave. Monks who renounced material wealth

did not have families or contact with cultural centers. The monastic life was a solitary endeavor.

Buddhist teachings and practice originated in India, and traveled to Tibet and Asia.

Different forms of the teachings developed based on direct transmission of the original teachings

from the Buddha to other great teachers. The specific routes of these transmissions now define

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 34

specific lineages of Buddhism and the teachings are regarded as ‘the living teachings’ because

they have been preserved over these thousands of years by way of an oral tradition.

People have always sought ways to cope with and alleviate their own suffering and the suffering of others. They have also sought comfort and a feeling of happiness and have largely done this through engaging different forms of spiritual practice. In the 1960’s and 1970’s the

Buddhist teachings and meditation practice became popular and somewhat fashionable in popular western culture. Famous Americans began seeking out high Buddhist teachers. This connection helped to bring some of these teaching to the West and eventually also brought teachers, for instance, Suzuki Roshi from Japan, Thic Nat Hahn from Vietnam, Maharishi

Mahesh from India, and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche from Tibet. Eventually several of these teachers founded their own spiritual centers that made the different lineages of Buddhist teachings and meditation practices more readily available to westerners.

The underlying theme which connects the Buddhist teachings/meditation and anxiety related disorders is the idea of suffering. Buddhism and meditation address suffering and anxiety related disorders as a form of suffering. Anxiety and anxiety related disorders have an enormous impact on the overall growth, health and function of individuals and organizations. It is reported that in industry, losses due to stress related sick days, disability, and decreased productivity were estimated at $200 billion annually in 1993 (Sheppard W., Staggers, John, 1997). The prevalence of anxiety disorders in the United States is estimated at between 15% and 25%. Symptoms of anxiety are linked to and/ or worsen many medical conditions. Current treatment options for anxiety include psychopharmacology, cognitive therapy, cognitive/behavioral therapy, relaxation training, self-hypnosis, biofeedback, meditation, and psychotherapy (Miller, Fletcher, Kabat-

Zinn, 1993).

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 35

The practice of sitting meditation creates a disciplined and structured way of sitting with ones’ emotions, both positive and negative. This particular way of paying attention in a nonjudgmental way creates awareness of how the mind works, and how thoughts are generated continuously, moment-to-moment. The concept of a person’s inherent basic goodness and the attempt through a sitting practice to reveal that, and connect with it generates compassion towards oneself and is known as Mindfulness Meditation (Miller et al., 1995). One of the instructions given in Mindfulness Meditation is to recognize any thought that comes up as

“thinking.” Another is to pay particular attention to the “out breath”. Any sensory experience is regarded also as “thinking” and so the practice includes everything that is happening in a person’s outer and inner environment. Meditation gives the practitioner experience in not becoming wrapped up in the content of ones’ thoughts or experiences.

With continued training, a practitioner becomes aware of habitual ways of thinking and also responding to thoughts in an objective or nonjudgmental way. This awareness leads to an increased ability to view thought and feelings as temporary, passing phenomena which are not necessarily true, or representative of reality. One possible outcome of the practice of meditation is a more flexible relationship with the content of the mind. Meditation teaches individuals to identify destructive thought patterns, and relate to this information in a nonjudgmental way that allows for more options. This approach increases flexibility and allows for a possible reduction of ruminating thoughts, overgeneralizations, and self-criticism. Patients with anxiety related disorders who work with the practice of meditation might become less susceptible to mood and feeling states which contribute to anxiety (Ramel, Golden, Carmona, McQuaid, 2004).

This paper represents a review of current research literature on the effects of meditation on anxiety related disorders. It will include a summary of the evidence related to the general

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 36

relationship between meditation on anxiety related disorders, a discussion of methodologies, possible confounding variables that influenced the research, knowledge gaps in current research, and directions for further research.

The General Effect of Meditation on Anxiety Related Disorders

In general, all of the ten articles included in this literature review supported a hypothesis which confirmed that meditation has a positive effect on anxiety related disorders. The power of statistical support varied somewhat. Sheppard et al. (1997) in a study titled “The Effects of a

Stress Management Program in a High Security Government Agency” studied the effectiveness

of Transcendental Meditation (TM), and an educational “Corporate Stress Management” (CSM)

program on anxiety, depression, and negative self-concept. They found a significant reduction in trait anxiety and depression over the three month treatment program in the group using TM compared to the group who received the CSM training. This was measured using the State-Trait

Anxiety Inventory, the IPAT Depression Scale, and the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale. Self- concept was unchanged during the intervention but showed significant between-group differences after three years. It is reasoned that Self-Concept may be a more stable personality trait, and that it may take a longer period of time for differences in this trait to appear. This study also used a measure of blood pressure (Systolic/Diastolic), which showed to be unaffected by the intervention.

Smith, Compton and West (1995) studied the impact of meditation on Fordyce’s (1977,

1983) Personal Happiness Enhancement Program (PHEP). They report that the study of happiness and life satisfaction has increased over the last 25 years, and that this research has determined that personality factors have greater impact than situational factors in predicting happiness. These personality factors include: extraversion, internal locus of control, positive

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 37

self-esteem, optimism, and the ability to form close relationships. The PHEP program is directed

at supporting improvements in these personal traits. Research has found meditation to be effective for stress management, increasing internal locus of control, decreasing anxiety, and self-actualization and therefore, the authors contend, would be useful as an adjunct to PHEP.

This is called Meditation plus PHEP, or MEDP. Results of this study found that a program to enhance happiness is significantly improved by the addition of meditation, provided that participants practice meditation at least three times a week, which is the minimum amount of time the study found to have significant improvements.

In another of the articles, Ramel et al. (2004) studied the effects of mindfulness meditation on cognitive processes and affect in patients with past depression. They report that negative attitudes and personal attributes such as rumination, repetitive thinking, worry, anxious and depressive self-talk and thoughts of loss, incompetence, etc. contributed greatly to feelings of anxiety and depression. Again, they cite previous research, which supports the use of mindfulness meditation as a productive intervention in helping reduce anxiety. During the eight week intervention in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), results confirmed that

compared to the control group, patients reduced the number of general overall autobiographical

memories, a characteristic of thinking which leads to depression, and increased specificity of

their memories. Overall, their results suggest that and an eight week stress reduction program

which includes mindfulness meditation is effective in decreasing ruminative thinking, and that

this improvement in maladaptive thinking decreased episodes of depression and anxiety.

Methodologies

In general, studies on the effects of meditation on anxiety have become more sophisticated over time. In the 1980’s and early to mid 1990’s studies used a form of meditation

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 38

call TM, Transcendental Meditation, which was popularized in western culture largely during the

1970’s. Transcendental Meditation originated in India, which was one of the first lineages of

Buddhism imported to the West.

The technique of TM focuses awareness on a specific object or , and in that way is

much more specific, and less inclusive than mindfulness meditation which opens up eyes and

mind to encompass all perception. Because of the popularity of TM in earlier years, those early

studies looked only at TM without considering other forms of meditation. Studies have also developed more sophisticated ways of measuring the effects of meditation on anxiety. Early studies used physiological measures such as blood pressure testing, which was later revealed to be a less accurate method, as blood pressure readings could be influenced by other health related problems. Further, these early studies used non-standardized testing including self-report measures of well being, and one did not have a control group.

Later studies all included a control. In general, the development of studies included more specificity in hypothesis, which did include looking at the effects of different forms of meditation on anxiety, including Mindfulness Meditation, and also, began to include standardized measures including State-Trait, and DSM-IV. Due to these improvements in the sophistication of ways of designing studies, and in testing measures, the validity of results has improved dramatically over time. Of the studies which included measures of length of intervention, they found that the effectiveness of the intervention increased with the length of time. Interventions which took place over longer periods of time were more effective than interventions which were briefer.

The earliest article included in this review is by Books and Scarano, (1985). This study included a random sample of patients from the Denver Vietnam Veterans’ Outreach Program,

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 39 and tested the effectiveness of Transcendental Meditation compared with psychotherapy in the treatment of Post-Vietnam Adjustment. A group of 18 male Vietnam veterans seeking treatment at the Denver Vet Center were selected randomly to be included in one of the two groups. Odd numbered participants were assigned to the TM group and even numbered clients were assigned to the psychotherapy group. The TM program included a 4-day instruction period of 1½ hours per day and weekly follow-up meetings over a 3-month period. TM instruction was given by instructors trained and qualified by . Each client was instructed to meditate 20 minutes per day. Clients assigned to the psychotherapy group participated in weekly, individual psychotherapy sessions at the Vet Center.

Pretest and posttest measures used the same measures which were: a measure of

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) developed by Charles Figley after the DSM-III and included a subscale measuring emotional numbness, the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale, Beck

Depression Inventory, a questionnaire designed by Figley to measure post Vietnam adjustment, and a physiological measurement using stimulus GSR. There was no control group and therefore generalizability of this study is not supported. Results support a positive correlation for the effectiveness of TM in the treatment of post-Vietnam adjustment. The TM group improved significantly pretest to posttest on eight variables; the therapy group showed no significant improvements on any measure.

An article titled: Effectiveness of a Meditation-Based Stress Reduction Program in the

Treatment of Anxiety Disorders, (Kabat-Zinn, Massion, Kristeller, Peterson, Fletcher, Pbert,

Lenderking, Satorelli, 1992), and Three-Year follow-up and Clinical Implications of a

Mindfulness Meditation-Based Stress reduction Intervention in the Treatment of Anxiety

Disorders, ( Miller et al, 1995) are of particular relevance to this review. The 1992 study was the

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 40 first of its kind in that previous to it, studies had only researched effect of Mindfulness

Meditation on non-psychiatric populations. This study measured the effectiveness of meditation for patients with anxiety disorders as measured by DSM- III or DSM-III-R criteria. In addition it was the first study of its kind to use standardized diagnostic procedures, and also was the first to use structured clinical interview for diagnosis. This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of a group stress reduction program using mindfulness meditation for patients with anxiety disorders. The participants were screened with a clinical interview and found to meet the DSM-III-R criteria for generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder. This study found that meditation effectively reduced symptoms of anxiety and panic. The 1995 follow up study is the only study which included a long-term follow-up. This three-year follow-up found that the positive results of the earlier study were maintained on every outcome measure providing strong evidence that a mindfulness based meditation program can provide a clinically effective treatment. It suggests that people who experience chronic long-term anxiety can experience long lasting positive effects by practicing mindfulness meditation.

These two aforementioned articles greatly influenced the studies, which came after them and are cited extensively. One article in particular, “Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress

Reduction on Medical and Premedical Students,” (Shapiro, Schwartz, Bonner,1998) modeled their intervention after the study developed by Kabat-Zinn.

Possible Confounding Variables Influencing Results

In general there is one confounding variable which influenced all of the studies considered in this review, and that is that they all used very small sample sizes, which decreased the reliability and generalizability. Another variable which influenced the studies was their lack of a randomized control group (Miller et al., 1995). A Pilot Study of a Yoga and Meditation

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 41

Intervention for Dementia Caregiver Stress, (Wailde, Thompson, Gallagher-Thompson, 2004) studied the effectiveness of meditation on caregiver stress and found that it reduced anxiety and fatigue/burn-out. However, the study allows that this result could be influenced by the fact that, in general, over time a caregiver might become better able to accommodate the demands and stress created by care-giving by developing better skills, practice, and support.

In a study titled: Individual Trait Anxiety Levels Characterizing the Properties of

Zen Meditation, (Murata, Takahashi, Hamada, Omori, Kosaka, Yoshida, Wada, 2004) which studied the changes in neurophysiology during Meditation, and evaluated the results in relation to the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory found that lower trait anxiety more readily induces meditation which emphasizes internalized attention, and that higher trait anxiety induces meditation with an emphasis on relaxation. This study reports that individuals who participated in the study and who were psychologically healthy and who therefore had a greater capacity for relaxed attention appear to be better at meditation. It is not clear whether these participants already had these characteristics or if the practice of meditation created them.

Knowledge Gaps in Current Research

Knowledge gaps in the current research reflect a need to continue to design studies which evaluate the relationships between, and effect of meditation and anxiety. One of the ways in which that might be accomplished is to design studies which measure the effects of the different kinds of meditation. Meditation has many forms, for example: Transcendental Meditation,

Mindfulness meditation, of which there are several forms including forms which come from

Tibet, India, and Japan. Also, there are more body centered forms of meditation including Yoga, and Tai Chi, (Tloczynski, Tantriella, 1998).

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 42

Smith et al. (1995) report that in their study the initial teaching, and beginning a

meditation practice may be psychologically stressful for some people due to the increasing

awareness of internal states and that this may have an influence on results.

There are knowledge gaps in terms of generalizability. Because all of the sample sizes were very small in all of the studies included in this review it is unclear whether or not the results of these studies have any power in terms of their generalizability to larger populations of people

(Smith et al, 1995). In most of the studies reviewed for this paper the effects of meditation on anxiety were looked at in non-psychiatric populations, and few used DSM-III criteria. In nine of the ten studies there was no long term follow up, so it is unclear whether or not the effects of meditation on anxiety related disorders has any long term effectiveness or it is strictly effective as a short term intervention. In addition, many of the studies did not use standardized testing methods.

Directions for Further Research

Many of the people who suffer from anxiety related disorders receive many different forms of treatment to address their disorders. These include: psychopharmacology, cognitive therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, relaxation training, self-hypnosis, biofeedback, meditation, supportive psychotherapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy, and other forms of psychotherapy. People also use alternative methods of healing including somatic interventions like Hokomi and other body centered therapies, chiropractic, naturopathy, acupuncture, visualization, yoga, Tai Chi, and exercise. Further research could include ways of taking into account the influence of these other modes of dealing with anxiety related disorders and how they affect results.

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 43

Of particular interest is pharmacotherapy. Since meditation has its greatest influence on the mind, brain, and awareness, it seems prudent to look at ways in which specific drug therapies influence outcomes, particularly because the use of drug therapy is so prevalent as an intervention in treating anxiety related disorders. It would be interesting to see how drug therapies affect a person’s experience of meditation, or if it has any influence in a person’s ability to commit to a regular sitting meditation practice. Also of interest would be to determine if there is any occurrence, due to meditation, of an ability to decrease amounts of drugs being prescribed. Another area of research could be to look at whether patients who are receiving pharmacotherapy receive any greater or lesser benefits from meditation than people who do not.

In general, it is obvious that further research should include much larger sample sizes.

The small number of subjects in on particular study prohibited any conclusions about the relationship of the results with how frequently the participants meditated. A much larger sample size would make it possible to analyze the role of frequency of meditation and how that affects anxiety (Miller et al., 1995).

It would be interesting to see a group of studies look more specifically at kinds of thoughts and how they relate to anxiety and/or happiness. They are beginning to find that there are specific thoughts which produce anxiety and depression, for instance: repetitive thoughts, worry, rumination, anxious and depressive self-talk, thoughts of loss, incompetence, rejection and failures, future-oriented and questioning thought of threat, harm, and uncertainties (Ramel et al., 2004). It would be worthy of study to also look at what kinds of specific thoughts or patterns in thinking produce positive feelings. Finally, studies showing how these positive and negative patterns affect the brain and body chemistry, which kinds of meditation most effectively produce

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 44

positive thinking and which kinds of meditation are most effective in reducing negative thinking

would be valuable.

One study suggested that meditation and relaxation are both effective but for the

treatment of different problems and for different kinds of individuals. This study suggests that more research is needed to differentiate between meditation and relaxation. It suggests that variables in personality be taken into consideration, and that a look at the relative health and pathology of people included in studies be taken into consideration (Tloczynski et al., 1998). In addition, studies could consider a variety of personal lifestyle variables such as, height, weight, age, income, marital status, eating habits, education, spirituality, etc.

A study shows that experienced meditators demonstrate increased activity in their autonomic nervous system while they are meditating compared with inexperienced meditators who showed autonomic relaxation while meditating. The authors of this article suggest further long- term studies which would measure differences between experienced meditators and inexperienced meditators. These same authors also would like to see further studies which would measure changes in the properties of meditation such as changes from a predominance of relaxation to concentration or from autonomic relaxation to autonomic activity with meditation practice (Murata et al., 2004).

Discussion

Meditation is a specific process by which the individual practicing it may come to have a greater awareness of what happens in their own mind. A person starts to see first that there many, many thoughts which occur continuously and are produced at a very fast rate. The practice of meditation may also produce a greater awareness of the content of those thoughts and recognition that not all of them are true, real, or accurate. People who are able, through

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 45

practicing meditation, to recognize anxious thoughts report that this helps decrease anxiety and

increase their ability to deal with anxiety generating situations. The insight that a person is not

the content of his/her thoughts gives them more options when responding to a specific thought.

This increased awareness and flexibility is associated with a greater sense of control (Kabat-Zinn

et al, 1992).

The practice of meditation and its accessibility in teaching a mindfulness approach to

present moment situations and experiences can help to alleviate the fight of flight response in individuals encountering a stressful or anxiety producing situation. The practice of mindfulness and its ability to create feelings of calm, control, and stability in the mind allow individuals to respond to difficult situation more effectively rather than reacting with panic or fear which tend to escalate negative feelings and a feeling of loss of control. In addition, the finding that short- term improvements in the effectiveness of meditation in treating anxiety were maintained at a three-year follow up suggests that a mindfulness based stress reduction program also has the potential to be cost effective.

Total costs of mindfulness training programs are relatively low (under $500 for an 8 week program). Average duration of symptoms from anxiety related disorders was 6.5 years and treatment for anxiety and its resulting symptoms were associated with significant health care costs over that length of time. The cost of psychotherapy, medication, emergency visits, and lost productivity is significant in terms of its cost. Meditation training may be regarded as a possible solution in its cost effectiveness as well as its usefulness in the treatment of anxiety (Miller, et al., 1995).

Meditation is effective in the treatment of anxiety related disorders. The studies’ findings and positive correlations suggest that further research would be extremely valuable in

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 46 determining the extent and application of mindfulness training as a treatment for anxiety related disorders.

INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY AND SHAMBHALA BUDDHISM 47

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