Inviting the Buddha Home 3

My copy of this book.

As I type these words I have just been looking at the RTE weight loss programme Operation Transformation and I was transfixed by the ongoing physical and emotional transformation that all the candidates/leaders have undergone.  It was wonderful to witness the joy of well-being that shone through from their eyes (sometimes with tears) as we watched.  Theirs was and still is a long journey.  The same type of courage is involved in our spiritual journey through life.  There simply is no easy path to well-being.  The title of these three posts is Inviting the Buddha Home, a title that is just that, an invitation.  That invitation can only be fulfilled when we have really committed ourselves to the path to enlightenment.  That path or that journey is indeed a long and a hard one.  There will be a lot of obstacles along the way both from within ourselves (our mind) and from without (others and society), but the first is the overwhelmingly stronger of the two influences.  And lest we become in any way complacent about the struggle for well-being, let us remind ourselves always that we need to begin the journey anew each day of our lives.

Buddhist Psychology

To survive any journey, be it weight loss, recovery from an illness, either physical or mental, or even the traditional pilgrimage a positive frame of mind is needed.  Therefore, it is important to have a firm and positive psychology.  The third book I sometimes dip into, more for reference than for inspiration, is Caroline Brazier's sound and complete introduction and explanation of Buddhist psychology.  The book is, naturally enough, called Buddhist Psychology: Liberate Your Mind, Embrace Life, and is published by Robinson, London, 2003.

Unlike her husband, David Brazier's book Zen Therapy, which I reviewed a few posts ago, this is quite a technical read.  One can see why.  David's book concentrates on the therapeutic side of things, while Caroline here explains wonderfully clearly the complexities of Buddhist psychology that underlies the practices of Buddhist therapy.  Hence, when you read this book you will have to concentrate on what the author is communicating.  However, it is a richly rewarding read, though it certainly would not serve as an introductory book for a neophyte in the study of Buddhism.

If you are familiar with Buddhist teachings and are a meditator in any of its traditions, this is a worthwhile reference book to have as it outlines clearly the psychology of Buddhism.  This following is how Caroline Brazier describes her task in this book:

For Buddhism, therefore, psychology is not a peripheral interest.  It is rather embedded in its most important teachings... Buddhist psychology offers a framework for understanding mental process to those who wish to develop their own spiritual training... (pp. x -xiv)

This book is a challenge to orthodox Western approaches to psychotherapy and psychology that lay great emphasis on the individual building up his or her own self-image, sense of identity or self-esteem.  Brazier goes to pains to explain that central to Buddhist psychology is the delusional nature of the self: 

Buddhist psychology is sometimes described as a non-self psychology.  The self is a defensive structure, built in response to affliction .  we encounter difficulties and we retreat into various patterns of avoidance and comfort, but quickly they result in the creation of a defensive self or identity...  (ibid., p.31 et passim). 

Indeed, Brazier spends much of Part 1 of this book, entitled Theories and Models, on explicating this theory of the non-self.  At one stage she underlines this contention by stating that Buddhist Psychology is a psychology of addiction to self, and that self as prison is a central metaphor in that tradition.  Naturally, all meditation practices from all Buddhist traditions speak about liberating the meditator from that prison. (See pp. 33 ff).  For us in the West, including this reader and writer here, who has been steeped in the Western tradition of "addiction to self," this is a really hard concept to get one's mind around.  This is where this book is interesting as Brazier attempts to explain this to the Western mind. Whether she succeeds or not, I will leave it up to the individual reader.  However, I was not not 100% convinced.  Perhaps I am just a poor weak Buddhist after all, and am really still struggling on the journey to enlightenment.

This book, like many others, argues that by letting go of our attachments to self we liberate ourselves to fully participate with others and with life itself.  Brazier argues that by doing so we step out of our self-made prisons.  All in all this is a very challenging read that is a good foundational text for Buddhist psychology.  It will always be a good reference book for this reader.