Buddhism and Psychology

Buddhism and psychology overlap in theory and in practice. Over the last century, four strands of interplay have evolved:

  • Descriptive phenomenology: Western and Buddhist scholars have found in Buddhist teachings a detailed introspective phenomenological psychology (particularly in the Abhidhamma).
  • Psychotherapeutic meaning: Humanistic psychotherapists have found in Buddhism's non-dualistic approach and enlightenment experiences (such as in Zen kensho) the potential for transformation, healing and finding existential meaning.
  • Clinical utility: Contemporary mental-health practitioners increasingly find ancient Buddhist practices (such as the development of mindfulness) of empirically proven therapeutic value.
  • Popular psychology c.q. spirituality: Psychology has been popularized, and has become blended with spirituality to form modern spirituality. Buddhist notions form an importantant ingredient of this modern blend.

Read more about Buddhism And Psychology:  Buddhism's Phenomenological Psychology, Buddhism and Psycho-analysis, Buddhist Techniques in Clinical Settings, Four Noble Truths and The Medical Model

Famous quotes containing the words buddhism and/or psychology:

    A religion so cheerless, a philosophy so sorrowful, could never have succeeded with the masses of mankind if presented only as a system of metaphysics. Buddhism owed its success to its catholic spirit and its beautiful morality.
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    Psychology has nothing to say about what women are really like, what they need and what they want, essentially because psychology does not know.... this failure is not limited to women; rather, the kind of psychology that has addressed itself to how people act and who they are has failed to understand in the first place why people act the way they do, and certainly failed to understand what might make them act differently.
    Naomi Weisstein, U.S. psychologist, feminist, and author. Psychology Constructs the Female (1969)