Report 89

Buddhism and Psychology

Interesting topic choice -- I felt some resistance to taking this on since I usually try to find some kind of practice angle with each of our topics and didn't find any easy way in.  But the question does seem to come up a lot, and it seems like it could help to get some clarity on my own opinions here.

Seems that we westerners spend a fair amount of energy trying to situate Buddhism in our general worldview -- at first, Buddhism was considered a religion, then a philosophy, and right now a form of psychology.  It makes some sense: The Buddha himself is sometimes called the great physician, and there is a lived aspect to Buddhism that is lost on us if we call it simply a philosophy. 

However, I don't think Buddhism is a form of psychology.  Just as there are a lot of art practitioners insired by Buddhism, there are a lot of psychology practitioners (both therapists and patients) inspired by Buddhism -- but Buddhism is not just form of psychology (and psychology is not just a form of Buddhism).

There is definitely some crossover, but also vast tracts that are covered only by one or the other.  For one thing, you can get quite a bit of benefit from psychology without ever grappling with issues such as codependent arising, and you can be a Buddhist without ever really framing yourself as having a "psychology" at all.

Without any disrespect to the very important work of psychology, I personally rankle at the idea that Buddhism is being co-opted into a form of psychology -- it feels to me like a case of cultural assimilation, actually, where very important features of Buddhism are being swept under the rug so that it can seem more palatable/familiar to a western view.  Buddhism includes features of reality that should be more familiar to us, but which we Westerners have ignored for a very long time.  I guess I prefer to see Buddhism stand on its own.