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Janvi Madhani

Professor Chilson

Buddhism and Psychology – 2184

March 20, 2018

Relationship of Psychology and Buddhism in the West Since the 19th Century

Traditional Buddhism as developed in South and East Asia does not emphasize

Buddhism as a mental health resource. The idea that the practices of Buddhism, particularly

meditation, can be used to reduce stress and maintain a healthy mind, developed as a

fundamental tenet of the Western interpretation of Buddhism, known as Buddhist Modernism, in

North America and Europe primarily over the course of the 20th century. The idea that

psychology and Buddhism are interrelated however, took root in North America as early as the

19th century.

In Richard K. Payne’s Buddhism and the Powers of the Mind, Payne describes how the

second industrial revolution of the 19th century brought with it the discourse of psychology, ideas

of self-improvement, and an eagerness to relate the modern world with the spiritual as a means to

understand reality in all of its entirety (Payne 2012, 236-7). The latter was known as ‘occult

modern’ – a way to support spiritual views with scientific discoveries. This ideology presented

itself in the Western interpretation of Buddhism as well. The original teachings of the Buddha

were legitimized by claiming that he “taught control of the mind for the relief of suffering (Payne

2012, 237)”. Another assertion that complemented occult modernism and led to the development

of Buddhist modernism included the psychotherapeutic idea that Buddhist meditation provides a

direct experience of a higher reality and that the mind can affect the material world directly

through proper training through meditation (Payne 2012, 244). Such ideas that Buddhist inspired
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mental training is congruous with science and is a rational method for self-improvement set the

stage for further development of Buddhist Modernism. As Payne argues, psychology and

Buddhism were linked by the West in the 19th century post-war period due to the increased

interest in the occult and spiritual as a means to cope with the drastic changes of this time. This

interest was driven by a feeling of disillusionment and nostalgia that came with experiencing

death as a consequence of the war, along with the increased exposure to the East as a result of

Western Orientalism and expanding empires (Payne 2012, 251).

Stemming from this interest in the occult, the modern age brought with it a desire to

understand the self and thus, consciousness, from a scientifically supported outlook. The journey

of self-discovery, that used to be religiously guided for many people, was explained with science

by many Western thinkers in the 20th century. Evan Thompson in Knowing, Is the Self an

Illusion? explains consciousness as explained in Buddhism using the language of science. One

analogy he gives to support the Buddhist doctrine of no self, and the self as a process, is that the

self is an autopoietic cell with a selectively permeable membrane that actively relates to its

environment (Thompson 2015, 5). He further links the Buddhist defined self-making process to

science and psychology by analogizing it to the working of the nervous system which “links

sensory activity and motor activity in a self-specifiying way (Thompson 2015, 9)” much like the

Buddhists describe the self as created from its aggregates but not reducible to its aggregates.

Buddhist Modernists emphasize understanding the consciousness to better train the mind

to develop resilience against the stress of daily life. This is why Thompson and many others like

him in the 20th century, sought to underscore Buddhist meditative practices and the

understanding of the consciousness with the validation of science. It is important to note

however, that in traditional Buddhism, meditation is but one tool to purify the mind in order to
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obtain liberation from the cycle of rebirth; it is not a self-help tool. Donald Lopez in The

Meaning of Meditation depicts the Buddhist Modernist approach to meditation as he vividly

describes a Tibetan monk’s meditative practice while his body is attached to equipment

monitoring his brain activity. Lopez describes the intent of the scientific community in looking

towards meditation as a self-help tool by way of their interest in the neurological and

physiological effects of meditation. Concurrently, he also rightly mentions that the goals of

certain Buddhist meditative practices, such as vipassana (insight meditation), transcend what can

be measured by an fMRI (Lopez 2014, 209). One of the most explicit convergences of

psychology and Buddhism in the modern era, and an example of the psychological interest in

meditation Lopez discusses, is Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

program. Kabat-Zinn created centers to promote mindful living that were heavily inspired by

Buddhist thoughts and practices but detached from Buddhist theology. Kabat-Zinn believed

MBSR to be an exemplary confluence of dharma (Buddhist teachings), neuroscience, cognitive

science, and mainstream medicine (Kabat-Zinn 2011, 284) – making it the poster child of

Buddhist Modernism.

Interest in meditation and Buddhist philosophy does not stop at just reducing stress and

leading a happier life, many Western thinkers and scientists of the 20th and 21st century, look

towards Buddhism as tool to remedy serious addiction as well. Transcendental Meditation (TM)

(a mantra based meditation) is one of the forms of meditation that developed as an intervention

practice for heavy addictions. Many scientific thinkers lauded the clinical results of meditative

practices, further legitimizing the use of Buddhist meditation as a self-help practice. As Marlatt

argues in Buddhist Philosophy and the Treatment of Addictive Behavior, “Buddhism provides an

alternative to the moral or disease models of addiction (Marlatt 2002, 46).

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This historical trajectory culminates in the current understanding of Buddhist Modernism.

The West has adapted a very specific and selected interpretation of Buddhism that is

complementary to and legitimized by the heavy influence of psychology and scientific reason of

the 21st century. Where people might have once looked for hopes of liberation and the grace of

God, they are taught to look for stress relief and temporal happiness. Littered with brain scans,

scientific experiments, and neurological and physiological research, Buddhism as understood by

the West is not theological, and cannot be separated from psychology.

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Works Cited

Lopez, Donald S. “Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed.” University of Chicago

Press, 2014.

Marlatt, G. Alan. Buddhist Philosophy and the Treatment of Addictive Behavior. University of

Washington, 2002.

McMahan, David L. Buddhism in the Modern World. Routledge, 2012.

(Richard K. Payne’s article Powers of the Mind is from this source)

Thompson, Evan, and Stephen Batchelor. Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in

Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy. Columbia University Press, 2014.

Williams, J. Mark G., and Jon Kabat-Zinn. Mindfulness: Diverse Perspectives on Its Meaning,

Origins and Applications. Routledge, 2011.