Zen Therapy: Transcending the Sorrows of the Human Mind

by David Brazier

"A potent source of inspiration for anyone interested in the therapeutic potential of Buddhism. David Brazier writes with clarity and authority about the Zen way."―Mark Epstein, M.D. author of Thoughts Without a Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective. "Comprehensive and readable . . . should appeal to anyone broadly interested in Buddhism."―Helen Sieroda psychosynthesis psychotherapist. In this book, psychotherapist David Brazier offers readers in the West a fresh perspective on Buddhist psychology and demonstrates how Zen Buddhist techniques are integrated into psychotherapy. Writing from the viewpoint of a Western psychotherapist, Dr. Brazier successfully demystifies Buddhist psychology, explains the conceptual foundations of Buddhist thought, and with the help of vivid case studies, clearly demonstrates how a Buddhist approach can provide a practical path to personal growth.

Genres: Psychology, Buddhism, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Zen, Counselling

283 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

authority on Buddhist psychology, spiritual teacher, Buddhist priest, commentator, author, poet, psychotherapist, traveller, President of Instituto terrapin Zen internacional (ITZI), Head of the Amida Order, co-ordinator of the Eleusis centre in France, patron of the Tathagata Trust in India, has written nine books and many chapters, papers and articles.

Reviews

[Sung-Hee Pak · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book more helpful than my entire Counselling degree.

[Steve Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book. In many ways it tells me why my exposure to the so called mental health profession has, with one or two exceptions, been a waste of time at best and destructive in ways that simply aggravated the problem at worst. The lack of answers, the lack of guidance, the lack of anything to provide insight into my own suffering and the dependence on western models of psychotherapy, (including the use of medication) almost killed me through despair. Perhaps things for me are more complex than for most people,childhood abuse, alcoholism, war realted ptsd and all the spin off derangement that flowed from them. My instinct is that this is probably not so, people don't end up in a psychiatrists office, a clinic, a mental instiution or a psychologists plastic chair because they are suffering from mild discomfort. They arrive after they have hit the wall, whatever that means to them and they have no more options.

David Brazier explores the world of Buddhist psychology in a clear though needfully limited fashion given the size of the book and the scope of the subject. What does become clear however is that all the fads that have evolved as the basis for most of western pschiatry and psychological exploration have all been covered some 2,500 years ago. What the west has done is reinvent the wheel in pieces. I remember clearly when positive thinking was the rage, Gestalt Therapy had its day along with CBT; the Inner Child had us digging around in all the pain and slating it all home to our parents; the psychboabble of TM and EST and Eckhardt Tolle all captured the attention of we who needed to be fixed somehow. The remarkable thing is that all of these "answers" contained some element of Buddhist pyschology, however they only focussed narrowly on one element, they generally lacked context and internal consistency and integrity or worse they warped the teachings towards commercial gain thereby simply becoming an integral part of the problem.

Refreshingly, the Zen approach to psychotherapy as presented by Brazier rightly points to the emphasis on the separate, discrete ego serving distraction of the sense of self and moves towards the use of process to align with the reality of life; and through that to allow the client to untangle the pain of the knotted sense of self done to, done by or messed up in some other way. The Zen idea of the flow of energy and our need to align with it, has more currency now than ever as the desperate driven need to serve discrete and self serving interest at the expense of connection and community drive the world and its various societies towards destruction of the very planet.

This book should be required reading for anyone in the field or indeed anyone failed by the field. There is new hope here even if in the end it means being able to watch with equanmity the rest of humanity dump our world down the toilet.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book a few years ago, whilst in my final year of a counselling diploma. The main reason for coming to this book was that I was researching the area of counselling and spirituality. For this, it was invaluable. But, it was also very important to how I perceived the counselling relationship. Be assured, even if you are not a Buddhist, if you are training or working as a counsellor, you would do well to read this book.

Something which has stayed with me after all those years was the simple idea of a counsellor having to give themselves enough time between clients, especially in regards to time to change focus from the client that you have just seen and the client who is to come. Brazier makes use of an image of someone pouring a drink into a glass. If you keep on pouring, the drink will just overflow, everything becoming mixed up together. But if you give yourself time to stop pouring and drink this in, then you are able to refill the glass later.

ZEN THERAPY will always remain on my bookshelf. It is something which I will return to time and time again - I have even left the original markers from when I first read it in place, so that I can go back to it later and reconsider the points I deemed to be important.

[Ade Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wise and insightful book with a steady and clear vpoce. It is wide and deep, though something beyond this. Very concise and clear introduction to aspects of buddhist psychology and its relationship with western therapy, particularly that informed by Carl Rogers.

[Tom Booker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Makes a convincing case for the correct way to see Buddhism as a religion but rather psychology/therapy. Therapists are therefore bodhisattvas. It practically explains practices from Buddhist theory and practice that increase wellbeing and ultimately lead to enlightenment. One of the best books I've read bridging the gap between Buddhism and western thought and psychotherapy in particular.

[Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Brazier is one of the heavy-weight in western writers and practitioners who have brought Zen to the western medical hemisphere. Just when I thought I lost all hope of connecting vipassana (mindfulness), Zen and the benefits it could bring into the contemporary world, I discovered this book! What a relief! I mean, it was through this book that I discovered for the first time, clearly, the kind of comparison I've always searched for - - the link between the word "mindfulness" and "Zen." Well, in practice we practitioner knew it *is* the same thing, but when we have to write an academic paper, we just have to quote some literary work! Here in this book, the author is clearly comfortable in discussing Dhamma terms in depth as well as psychotherapeutic terms, and he can communicate his though well, too. His writing is pleasant to read and follow. And from what I read, it's from someone who has actually practiced it, not someone who just read the Tipitaka and try to understand it word by word. That is the beauty of this book. Well, as much as I love this book, I did not finish it yet! Talk about attention deficit syndrome! In addition to that, Pali, Sanskrit, and Japanese technical terms are found throughout. I've read the parts I need for my reference, though. May be I should put it on a "reference" shelf, if I manage to find time and sort through my books again which one should go on that shelf!

[Helen Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book. I feel I've learnt a lot, yet know I will need to return again and again to it in order to extract all the wisdom. I'd recommend this book to Buddhists, Therapists and those who straddle both healing traditions.

[Richard]

Fantastic for what it was.