Buddhism & Psychology Blog with Lisa Dale Miller, MFT

I am deeply honored that Phillip Moffitt has asked me to be a contributor to the Dharmawisdom web site. The main purpose of this blog is to dialogue about the theoretical and practical applications of Buddhist psychology. I heartily encourage anyone who has an interest in this topic—whether you are a clinician, patient, academic or interested observer—to join in and contribute your wisdom, experience, and thoughtful comments. We all have a lot to learn from each other.My effort to share knowledge of Buddhist psychology will primarily focus on the Four Noble Truths, selections from the Pali Suttas, the Brahmaviharas, and the profound teachings on emptiness. Occasionally I will offer examples from my own clinical experience delivering Buddhist psychological interventions in the therapy room, discussing the power of teaching informal and formal contemplative practice in daily life. Since I am a self-described “neuroscience of meditation geek” I will, when appropriate, refer to research on the neuroscience of contemplative practice.

But before we explore further, let’s take a moment and dive into actual experience by arriving here together: my fingers on the keyboard, your eyes reading these words. My mind communicating thoughts: your mind receiving these thoughts through text. Noticing how each moment allows us to meet again and again through mentally generated, apparently seamless, flow of perceptions, feelings, deductions, intentions, and actions.
I’d like to start with the essence of Buddhist teachings as I know them. Some of you may know Ajahn Sumedho, one of the most beloved, erudite Theravadan teachers—and not surprisingly Phillip’s main Buddhist teacher. I had the pleasure of sitting a retreat with Ajahn Sumedho a few years ago. The shear power of his presence, clarity and wisdom was truly inspiring. An example of this is a favorite quote from him, “Somebody asked me one time, ‘Could you describe Buddhism in one sentence?’ And I said, ‘I can do it in one word.’ He said, ‘What’s that?’ I said, ‘Wake-up!’” (Ajahn Sumedho, 2009). So what constitutes waking up and from what are we awakening? Understanding the nature of human suffering was the principal motivation of Gotama Buddha (the meaning of the word “Buddha” in Sanskrit is awakened one) a man who lived in India over twenty-five hundred years ago. The Buddha was probably our first psychological theorist and cognitive scientist, as well as a brilliant philosopher of mind. To awaken, the Buddha fixed his attention directly upon the mind and its activity to find the roots of suffering and realize the path to awaken from the delusion of suffering. He maintained that we should not take this truth at face value and insisted that each of us look into our own mind to truly understand the nature of reality.

The common thread woven throughout Buddhist psychological theory is the central role of mind in the creation, continuance, and ultimately, the cessation of human suffering. The Buddha’s methodology was largely phenomenological, relying heavily upon direct experience of mind through informal and formal practice of concentration, insight, and compassion/loving-kindness meditation. Interestingly, as neuroscience gives us greater insight into brain function, the insights of the Buddha and subsequent Buddhist teachers about the human mind seem more relevant than ever.

Through the Four Noble Truths—the heart of the dharma—the Buddha located the main source of human suffering in the mental activity of grasping to pleasure and aversion to pain—both of which give rise to unhelpful or harmful thoughts, feelings, and actions that inevitably lead to increased suffering. The Buddha further surmised that mentally-generated suffering could be reduced by knowing experience as it truly is— rather than clinging desperately to what the mind fears or wants experience to be. I am sure we can all relate to the discomfort of trying to maintain pleasurable experience or desperately avoid/end difficult experience. We might also all be able to understand the ways a ruminating, blaming, negative, anxious mind can make our discomfort so much worse. I refer to all of this as habit-mind.

Transforming the habit mind requires mental training. Buddhist psychology prescribes a variety of contemplative strategies that enable people to observe the mind—its content and activity—with openness, curiosity, accuracy, and generosity of heart. Mindfulness is best delivered clinically with an equal measure of heartfulness. In fact, for many people learning to turn their own compassionate heart toward themselves can be much more challenging (and healing) than recognizing even complex inaccuracies in views and perceptions. This clear seeing (Pali: sampajāna) of heart and mind gives rise to a spaciousness that opens us to states of mind, which feel more creative and flexible. Skillful actions arise from a mind that is less rigid, more pliable, and imbued with compassion and kindness.

Once there is a basic understanding of how the mind creates and becomes lost in suffering, the profound Buddhist teachings on emptiness help us recognize the true nature of “what is”. This realization of emptiness is the ultimate key to waking up. The Buddhist view of emptiness is quite different from the concept of emptiness in Western psychology and philosophy—generally characterized by nihilism, disassociation, anhedonia, or a sense of deficiency in the self. Even the DSM-IV lists feelings of emptiness as a symptom of depression.
In Buddhist psychology the experience of emptiness leads to the recognition of phenomenon as co-arising: hence total relatedness with all that exists. This recognition of interrelated causes and conditions spontaneously arising in each moment renders all co-arising phenomena empty of self-existence; including the self. This is the point where Buddhist psychology diverges quite radically from Western psychology and where the ultimate liberation of mind is realized.

We will pick up from here in my next blog entry. For now, I look forward to your comments and contributions! Please visit my web site if you wish to learn more about my work. www.lisadalemiller.com/mbpsych.htm