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4. Buddhist Psychology

Buddhism is, to a large extent, a psychology. Traditional Buddhist thought draws a map of the mind that includes normative human mental states, but goes beyond this to describe exalted states of spiritual awakening. The psychological detail in the earliest suttas was systematized in the later Abhidharma texts, masterful (if often overly ponderous and technical) Buddhist scholastic manuals. Whereas Western psychology was, until recently, exclusively concerned with pathology (mental illness, its symptoms, causes, and cures), Buddhist psychology always assumed that the typical human being operates at a psychological deficit, but that complete mental health to the point of transcendent human happiness, based on ultimate human potential, was possible, and was the goal of the spiritual path.

Though Buddhist psychology has a lot to say about emotions, both positive emotions (like compassion, loving-kindness, acceptance, joy) and negative emotions (like greed, hate, anger) it does not preserve the typical Western division between intellect and emotion. Both are understood as functions of consciousness that are ever-present, influencing each other constantly. More importantly, Buddhism does not assume that emotions are fixed conditioned by-products of our essential personalities; instead, it proposes that emotions can be cultivated, positive emotions encouraged, negative emotions gently discouraged. The cultivation of positive emotions is a crucial dimension of the Buddhist spiritual path.

Classical Buddhist texts discuss negative emotions in terms of the five hindrances: attachment, aversion, excitement, laziness and doubt. They discuss positive emotions in terms of “Four Immeasurables,” loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. The Six Perfections (generosity, ethics, energy, patience, meditation, wisdom/compassion) is a Mahayana format for discussion of positive emotions. In Zen practice, zazen (meditation), and ongoing daily mindfulness, provide a way of being with our emotions non-judgmentally and honestly, to see how and what they are, and how they work. Watching emotions rise and fall, we begin to see patterns of suffering and happiness. In sitting practice clarity arises in the midst of ease and hindrance, and we can note the effects and complexities of both.

Study Guide

Please note: we are currently the process of editing and properly categorizing our teachings library. The teachings will become available here in the study guide as soon as they’re ready, please check back soon.

1. Abhidhamma Studies | Buddhist Explorations of Consciousness and Time

By Ven Nyanaponika Thera | 1998 | ISBN 0861711351

Detailed and technical but lucid and reliable. For those who want to delve into abhidharma.

2. Buddhist Thought in India | Three Phases of Buddhist Philosophy

By Edward Conze | 1967 | ISBN 0472061291
Conze was a great scholar. His translations, especially of the Prajna literature (see Topic 9, Emptiness Teachings), remain standard after more than forty years. This book is his classical discussion of the basics of Buddhist psychology and philosophy. The reader must be patient with his quirky and supercilious style, which is great fun once you get used to it.

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3. Meditation on Emptiness

By Jeffrey Hopkins | 1996 | Wisdom Publications | ISBN 08617101106

Very tough going. But some of Norman’s talks are based on a short technical section that is included. Probably a text for the philosophically minded only! The talks are useful even without the text.
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4. Transformation at the Base: Fifty Verses on the Nature of Consciousness

By Thich Nhat Hanh | 2001 | Parallax Press | ISBN 1888375140

A readable version by Nhat Hanh of the complicated Buddhist teachings on “Mind Only” philosophy, the nature of mind and karma.

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