Buddhism and Psychotherapy

This article , ”How A Zen Master Found the Light (Again) on the Analyst's Couch,” was in the New York Times a couple days ago.  It addresses the issue of the belief in the concept of non-self as potentially harmful for someone who never had a healthy sense of self and the reintegration of self through the investigation of emotions.  I thought it was a nice example of a (piece of an) ILP – integrating practices.

Re: Buddhism and Psychotherapy

Thanks Tely

This is brilliant and deeply moving.

James

Re: Buddhism and Psychotherapy

Hi Tely, I asserted on another thread that what most spiritual teachers IMO do is take an experience which caps a long-time process and turn it into a statement of the process which led to that experience.  That just cannot be right, logically, experientially or otherwise!  The so-called no-self experience IMO requires you be a human and not a tree, and as a human that you be in some regard post-Neanderthal, and in being post-N that you have paid attention in certain directions and etc etc, including that you have gone through the so-called self stage.  Why else call it no-self?  Negating needs something to negate.

Thus in confusing the process that leads to so-called no-self with no-self as the result of that process, teachers are putting cart before the horse.  Doing so must retard if not derail certain peoples' natural necessary processes.

Re: Buddhism and Psychotherapy

From the article, a Zen teaching circa mid-80s:

“What you need to do, Lou, is put aside all human feelings.”  Say it isn't so.