Buddhism and Psychology - Essay Example

Buddhism and Psychology Buddhism as a religion preaches non-violence under all circumstances. In its practice, perhaps, political leaders or entities may have sought to advocate violence, by stating that it was okay to cause trauma to others if the outcome was the continuation of the existing political regime, or at least to ensure the continuation of Buddhism itself. (Sivaraksha 1992, para 1) But such a stand is totally eschewed by Buddhist theologians or monks in their interpretation of the religion. (Sivaraksha 1992, para3) In his famous Simile of the Saw (M 21.20) the Budhha states that: “ Even if bandits were severing you limb from limb with a two-handled saw, if you gave rise to an attitude of hatred towards them, you would not be following my teaching.” Instead he advocates being compassionate and wishing for the welfare of the abusers. The bar is thus set dauntingly high, but the Buddha perhaps uses this deliberately extreme example to indicate that all hatred is intrinsically non-Dhammic1 and that loving-kindness (metta) is always possible. (Bhikku Amaro 2002) Zen Monk Thich Nhat Hanh who lived through the horrors of the Vietnam war, and saw the destruction of Bentra village where 300,000 homes were destroyed, and was “[racked] with anger grief”(Hanh 2001) insisted that listening to the other side was the only way to deal with the violence. He in fact advocated this to the people of America after the Twin Tower attacks. (Hanh 2001) Why does a person become a victim of trauma or violence? Is it due to his Karma? The word, Karma, is from the Sanskrit language, and means both action and duty. Karma according to Buddhist philosophy exists at two planes, at the individual plane, and at a collective plane. At the individual plane, every person gets born into circumstances, depending on his actions in his past life. And at the collective plane, a “certain category of beings live in a certain location and tend to perceive their environment in much the same way, because that particular shared situation is the fruition of their former actions.” (Epstein 1988) On this depends whether a being is reborn as a human or an animal. However, the Karma Theory is not a deterministic one. At each point of time, one has a choice of adopting either an elevating course of action, thus ensuring a better birth in the future. Therefore, although Karma may have put a person into circumstances, which are difficult, including becoming the victim of trauma, it decrees that one accepts this and treat those who wrong him with compassion. (Epstein 1988) One must understand that Buddhism does not exalt suffering as a means to having a better life in the next birth. Not at all. A person who does not suffer and a person who suffers have both the same chance of being in similar circumstances in the next life. But since one’s current circumstances are the result of past actions, how one deals with it (with patience and forgiveness to those who harm you, if anyone does) ensures a better life in the next birth. Does the theory of Karma, and the Buddhist attitude towards violence mean that one should never protest against the infliction of violence? An interesting narrative taken from the life of Buddha illustrates this. Once a snake who had become a devotee of the Buddha, and had suppressed his snake-ly urges was troubled by some boys, who had discovered that it would not attack them, whatever the provocation. The much troubled snake goes to the Buddha, and tells him that one of the boys had even swung it by its tail, and thrown it into a tree, and for how long, and to what extent was it to show tolerance to its tormentors? And the Buddha replied to him that he had enjoined on it that it should not bite, but not that it should not hiss. In other words, protecting oneself or even protesting was okay (without violence in thought, word or deed), although retaliating in kind to violence perpetrated, was not. (Bhikku Amaro 2002) This is the kind of stance that Gandhi/ Luther King advocated in dealing with violence. What is the means to overcoming trauma in Buddhism? Compassion, tolerance and forgiveness are advocated in Buddhism. The conscious following of a particular style of life, “The Eight Fold Path”1, which in essence means living a simple and ‘right’ (pious) life, respecting all life, is advocated. (Buddhism does not advocate asceticism for anyone who is not a monk, but it advocates a simple life.) Meditation is also a means to cleanse the mind of sorrow and suffering. Meditation is of two kinds, one that seeks to still the process of thought and the other, called Vipassana. It is Vipassana that is used for relieving mental trauma and to forgive those who wrong us. Vipassana is mindfulness; it helps focus (rather than distance the mind) on one’s anger, and the person, who causes this. By focusing on the process of how anger is generated one is able to understand why it is caused, and recognize when anger or sorrow is generated in one. Once there is a recognition of this process, overcoming it is only a step away. Does meditation actually help in relieving mental trauma? Practitioners of Pranayama2, and of Reiki3 claim that they actually feel a difference — be peaceful and calm — as a result of regular meditation, both of the stilling thought variety, and the mindfulness Vipassana variety. An attempt has been made at NIMHANS, an established institution for treating mental disorders, in Bangalore (India) to objectively and scientifically assess the effects on mental depression of a breathing/ meditation technique called the ‘Sudarshan Kriya’ which is being popularized by the Art of Living Foundation in India. This investigation has revealed that meditation has led to levels of improvement in mentally depressed subjects, which levels were earlier obtained only through medicines. Perhaps, an attitude of forgiveness, and the techniques of meditation may have a bigger role to play, than was earlier thought, in healing minds and conflicts in this war torn world. Works Cited Bhikkhu Amara Choices: Living Consciously: War & Peace: or, Non-contention with Mara, Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery,December 8, 2002, by Epstein, Ron Choices: Living Consciously: Buddhist Ideas for Attaining World Peace (Lectures for the Global Peace Studies Program, San Francisco State University, November 7 & 9, 1988) http://www.bodydharma.org/choices/violence/epstein.html Sivaraksha, Sulak Choices: Living Consciously: Buddhism and Non violence Reprinted from Seeds (1992) with permission of Parallax Press, Berkeley, California Thich Nhat Hanh – Zen monk Choices Living Consciously What I Would Say to Osama bin Laden interview by Anne A Simkinson, Published On Beliefnet, 2001) < http://www.bodydharma.org/choices/violence/nhathanh2.html> Read More