You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
There has been a growth in interest over the past 20 years in Buddhist psychology and its links with psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Many books have appeared and a reader fresh to the subject might be forgiven for feeling confused at their range and varied quality. An exception is Walpola Rahula's What the Buddha Taught. Although not concerned with psychotherapy directly, this classic introduction to the Buddhist mind will resonate with any interested psychotherapist. Mark Epstein, a psychiatrist, psychotherapist and Buddhist, has achieved something similar in that he conveys the emotional foundations of Buddhist practice, but in addition he has managed to link these to psychoanalytic theory and clinical work without reductionism or damage to either. This is no small achievement. An ordinariness and clarity of approach combined with. scholarly thinking characterize the work. This is exemplified by a simple story of a dharma combat (the clashing of great minds sharpened by years of study and meditation) arranged by Epstein between two monks, Kalu Rinpoche of Tibet and the Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn. The latter, renowned for insistence on the importance of a ‘don't know mind’, reached into his robes and drew out an orange. ‘What is this?’ he demanded of the lama, ready to pounce on any answer. Kalu Rinpoche bent to the Tibetan monk next to him who was acting as translator, and they whispered together. Eventually the translator addressed the packed room: ‘Rinpoche says, “What is the matter with him? Don't they have oranges where he comes from?”’ The dialogue ended.
As the emphasis on sexual and aggressive strivings in therapy has given way to a focus on how individuals are unhappy in fundamental ways with who they are, so the subject of the self has emerged as the focus of Buddhism and psychoanalysis. In ten chapters divided into three parts (Buddhist Psychology, Meditation, Therapy) Epstein explores how both disciplines - Buddhism and psychoanalytic therapy - approach