The Western reception of Buddhism as a psychological and ethical system: developments, dialogues, and perspectives

Abstract

Three dimensions of how Buddhism is received in the West as a psychological and ethical system are outlined, based on the connection between mental balance and ethical behaviour in the Buddhist system: Buddhism as an indigenous psychology; parts of the system of Buddhism integrated in Western psychotherapy; and new movements in Western Buddhism, which are in critical dialogue with scientific methodologies and findings. The article tackles questions of how the reception and integration of Buddhism as a psychological ethical system might continue to have an impact on Western cultures and societies, especially regarding epistemological questions that underlie (post-)modern sciences. Buddhist phenomenological psychology is a tool for analysing scientific and social developments, referring to the Buddhist ethical notion of non-distinction between individual and collective wellbeing.

Keywords:

• Buddhism
• psychology
• psychotherapy
• philosophy of science
• epistemology
• postmodernism

Notes

1. The Pāli canon comprises three parts, called the “three baskets” (Pāli tipiṭaka). The third part of the canon contains the “higher doctrine” (abhidhamma), which is a classification of Buddhist thought.

2. The Yogācāra (Sanskrit, “yoga practice”) school emerged around the fourth century CE and is one of two main early Indian Mahāyāna-Buddhist streams, the other being the Madhyamaka (“middle school”).

3. The Abhidhammatthasa[ndot]gaha (Pāli, “a compendium of Abhidhamma”) by Ācariya Anuruddha (ca cent 11th CE) is a summary of the main ideas of the third part (the Abhidhamma piṭaka) of the Pāli canon. See note 1.

4. Behaviour therapy is the branch of modern psychotherapy that has developed with a strict scientific paradigm, based on neuropsychological findings and theories of learning and operant conditioning, among other scientific evaluated approaches within psychology (Yates, 1970). As cognitive approaches have gained increasing importance in psychology since circa the 1970s, also behaviour therapy has become a part of the cognitive movement, and partly departed from its behaviourist psychological roots. Hence, CBT is referred to as the “second wave”.

5. Linehan (1993) developed DBT mainly to treat patients with borderline personality disorder (BPS). BPS is characterised by suicide attempts and a high suicide rate, and the difficulty to predict therapy outcomes (Gunderson, 1984). DBT addresses the difficulties therapists and clients face in the therapeutic process with a dialectical strategy. The aim is to change the client's behaviour based on acceptance of the whole life situation and problems. The process is dialectical referring to “technologies of change” and “technologies of acceptance”, and, hence, a middle way between these two seemingly contradictory strategies (Linehan, 1998).