Buddhist Psychology - Essay Example

Buddhism psychology Meaning of Buddhism psychology Buddhist psychology can be defined as a process of acquiring self knowledge, self awareness, understanding ones actions, feelings, decisions and thoughts. It is a radical process that aims to challenge the authentic spirituality and psychology worldwide, and it continues to link relationship between one self and the world around us. The application of psychological concepts in Buddha requires one’s perseverance, diligence and patience as there are numerous challenges and obstacles. Scholars and professionals have been using Buddhist psychology to reduce human suffering by utilizing disciplines like psychiatry, nursing, social work and medicine (Mikulas 41). The long term goals of Buddhist psychology is to alleviate any human distress, sufferings and dissatisfaction, which is not attributed to any clinical disorders. The main focus is on mental or emotional suffering and not physical sufferings; this was borrowed from Buddha tenets, where the fundamental concern was on human mind and its activities. Buddhist psychology has always been known as the science of knowing one’s consciousness, which focuses on human mind capability and activities. Scholars and psychiatrists have come up with areas that Buddhist psychology needs to address and they include direct human experiences, mind, awareness and consciousness. All these components can then be summarized as the science of experience and phenomenology of the mind. The Buddha use of mindfulness meditation becomes a relevant aspect in the study and application of Buddha psychology and by simply studying the mind it can create self awareness (Silva 13). Buddhist psychology as a discipline is based on five insights; the first insight is the use of subjectivity or known as centrality of consciousness. The insight focuses on how one can understand the mind by paying attention to it, or using meditation and other kind of contemplation to self awareness. The second insight is based on how human senses can explain human experiences; six senses can be used to outline corresponding experiences. The mind has been considered to be another sense organ through its cognitive nature. The third insight is that all human experiences can be constructed; what humans can visualize or translate to the mind can come from external environment stimuli. This means that we can only permit what our mind can conceive from whatever our senses will only permit. Penultimate, Buddhism insight states that human experiences keep on changing based on succession of events. This corresponds with how the body and mind changes or what is known as sensory distortion. The fifth insight of Buddhism psychology is that the mind and body are revealed through five process; consciousness, affection, habit, perception and physicality (Mikulas 38). Over the past 2500 years Buddhist psychology as a discipline has been helpful in understanding the human mental process. The relation between Buddhism and psychology becomes critical for personal development and well being through forms of meditation; concentration and mindfulness (Silva 13). Both forms of meditation contribute to the management of emotions, and helps reduce human suffering thus creating a healing process. Positive and negative effects of Buddhism psychology Most psychiatrists, religious leaders, and spiritual healers use a specific mode of medication or ritual to cure mental and physical illness, either by use of yoga, prayers and meditation. They cannot cure diseases physically, but they do help in reducing its impacts or effects. Meditation which is borrowed from Buddhism is the commonly used method in curing physical and mental problems, or so affirms Kaklauskas (132). However, the resulting output of using Buddhism psychology as a healing process has both negative and positive effects. The use of Buddhism psychology helps in development of mindfulness; this refers to one’s ability to have self regulation, self awareness, and attention to the present stimuli and events. It helps to regulate the focus of attention and balancing levels of curiosity among individuals. Psychiatrists argue that humans can develop mindfulness by using common methods like sitting meditation (balancing breathing process), walking meditation (balancing awareness and concentration) and focusing on daily activities (Davids 140). In addition, Buddhist psychology is a method used for curing by reducing cognitive vulnerability. By this it helps in managing all kinds of stress through a process of relaxation and enjoying one’s well being. Through the process of meditation, emotional and intellectual processes are balanced resulting to a balanced personality. Some clinical institutions advise their patients suffering from illnesses like asthma, headache and pains to use meditation, either by controlling their breathing or breathing exercises. Such exercises help reduce stress causing effects. More so, Buddhist psychology is used in curing muscular tension, blood pressure, and circulatory problems. As Kaklauskas (132) observes, meditation fully utilized by Buddhists has been found to have greater psychological impact than any other forms of exercises. Studies have indicated that Buddhist psychology contributes significantly in improving an individual’s image, self-actualization, coherence, happiness, independence, self-control, and stress management. When one sits down and meditates, the mind is given a chance to recover, conceptualize, create and make decisions. Silva (11) reports that these help improve motor skills and reaction recovery time for patients. Despite the numerous benefits discussed above, the use of Buddhist psychology can also be detrimental to an individual, warns Davids (140). When it is wrongly used, he asserts, it can lead to detrimental consequences. The basis of the discipline is for curing emotional and mental consequences, but a problem may arise when it is used to cure physical disorders. In other scenarios when it is used wrongly it can lead to someone going insane. This is because of the individual’s lack of ability to control the mind. In addition, for those who use forms of Buddhist psychology practices like meditation more frequently, they can be faced with the problem of depression. Moreover, individuals may lose body awareness, unhealthy conditions, visions and hallucinations. Other negative effects are when one becomes stationery in one place meditating for long; the process interferes with body structure and performance (Davids 140). Similarities between Buddhist Psychology and logo- therapy/existential analysis The two terms Logo-therapy and existential analysis are mostly used together and interchangeably. Existential analysis refers to a phenomenological and human focused psychotherapy that focuses on individual’s emotional and mental care to have a positive way in dealing with life and the world. Logo-therapy on the other hand, refers to a method of counseling or an individual’s inquiry for a meaning. Buddhist psychology on the other hand is defined as a process of acquiring self knowledge, self awareness, understanding ones actions, feelings, decisions and thoughts. From the three meanings it is clearer that they deal with a common entity: with individuals and individual inert problems (Kaklauskas 133). A similarity that can be derived from the three disciplines is on their application. They can all be applied in psychosomatic, psychological and psychosocial causing disorders in human experience and behavior. They both deal with methods that can be used to reduce human suffering by improving one’s emotional and physical detachment. Both methods use concepts like meditation as a means of curing certain disorders. Existential analysis is similar to Buddhism psychology as it focuses on individual’s responses to external stimuli, and how they take consideration to experiences (Davids 140). Both logo-therapy and existential analysis work together in the area of psychotherapy. Existential analysis helps to explore individuals past and current situations while logo-therapy helps to search for answers to current situations. They can both be applied in explaining an individual’s current situation and provide remedy for any emotional, psychological or emotional distress. The three disciplines are focused on alleviating human suffering as their goal is to try and interpret human suffering naturally instead of using medicinal and religious perspectives (Silva 13). A major similarity between the three concepts is how they acknowledge that the mind is a powerful concept with many functions at superficial and deeper levels. That is the reason why studies of the mind and functions can have curable results. All are based on conjunctive psychology which studies the behavior of the mind, components of meditation process and solution to self or no self scenario. In all the cases, an individual makes a comparison of one’s self as a basic feedback component to change own behavior and growth (Kaklauskas 134). In conclusion, Buddhist psychology’s goal is concerned with applying different methods to help alleviate human suffering, distress and any form of dissatisfaction. Buddhist psychology has been known to have positive curing processes. Examples of disorders cured are stress, skin diseases, and depression. It contributes to one’s self awareness, confidence and well being. But Buddhism psychology can have negative effects if not applied well; it can lead to insanity and depression. Logo-therapy, Buddhist psychology and existential analysis have common similarities in covering human mind, suffering and mental cure. Works cited Kaklauskas, Francis. Brilliant Sanity: Buddhist approaches to psychotherapy. New York: University of Rockies press, 2010,, pp.132-345. Silva, D. Padmasiri. An introduction to Buddhist psychology: Leicester: UK: Rowman Littlefield publishers 2011, , pp.12-45. Davids, Rhys. Buddhist Psychology: An Inquiry into the Analysis and Theory of Mind. The American Journal of Theology, Vol. 20, No. 1 (2012), pp. 139-141. Mikulas, L. William. Buddhism and Western Psychology: Fundamentals of Integration. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2007, Vol. 14 (4), 4-49. Read More