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Buddhist Psychology

Buddhist Psychology. Pollyanna V. Casmar , Ph.D. VASDHS San Diego Spinal Cord Unit. THE PROBLEM IS……. We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are. --The Talmud.

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Buddhist Psychology

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  1. Buddhist Psychology Pollyanna V. Casmar, Ph.D. VASDHS San Diego Spinal Cord Unit

  2. THE PROBLEM IS…… We do not see things as they are. We see them as we are. --The Talmud

  3. It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power. --Alan Cohen

  4. Therapies that include Buddhism • DBT • MBCT for depression • Jon-KabatZinn’s Full Catastrophe Living • ACT • Siegal’s work on positive psychology • Mindfulness added to any other treatment

  5. We are coming to understand health not as the absence of disease, but rather as the process by which individuals maintain their sense of coherence (i.e. sense that life is comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful) and ability to function in the face of changes in themselves and their relationships with their environment. --Aaron Antonovsky

  6. WHAT ENLIGHTENMENT IS: A complete understanding of emptiness, resulting in spontaneous compassionate expression. By knowing ultimate reality, one has the skillful means to behave perfectly in conventional reality. The art of living does not consist in preserving and clinging to a particular mode of happiness, but in allowing happiness to change its form without being disappointed by the change; happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow up. --Charles L. Morgan

  7. Foundational Buddhist Concepts • Suffering (3 types) • Sickness, aging, death • Impermanence • Interdependence • Emptiness • Compassion • The two truths: conventional and ultimate • MINDFULNESS

  8. Desire/Clinging or Greed Moving towards Hatred/Aversion Moving Against Ignorance Indifference/Avoidance Generosity Patience Ethics Joyful Perseverance Concentration Wisdom 3 poisons and 6 perfections

  9. The work I do to let go of my suffering diminishes the suffering of the whole universe. When I have room for my own pain, I have room for the pain of others. Only then can I be transformed into joy. As I heal, the Earth heals. --Christiane Northrup

  10. Tricky bits that can be revised • Guru yoga • Karma • Nirvana/Samsara • Rebirth/reincarnation • 6 classes of sentient beings • Enlightenment • Precepts

  11. What is Mindfulness? • Of body: Breathing and sensations • Of Feeling: Pleasant, unpleasant or neutral Make sure to assist in distinguishing the physical sensation from the labelled emotional content. • Of Mind: Is it Desire, Aversion or Ignorance? • Of Mental Objects: Content based: know what to abandon, what to cultivate. 5 hindrances: sense desire, aversion, laziness, restlessness and doubt. Cultivate emptiness of “I”

  12. Voluntary simplicity means going fewer places in one day rather than more, seeing less so I can see more, doing less so I can do more, acquiring less so I can have more. --Jon Kabat-Zinn

  13. 7 factors of awakening • Mindfulness • Investigation (and choice) • Energy/Enthusiasm • Joy • Tranquility • Concentration • Wisdom

  14. Biology of Meditation • Stress reactivity as measured by skin conductance response (meditators have heightened responses then quickly return to baseline, or let go) • Increased attention and lack of habituation in practiced meditators for repetitive stimuli • FMRI studies being done with the Dalai Lama’s group http://www.mindandlife.org/mission.org_section.html • and B. Alan Wallace’s group http://sbinstitute.com/

  15. Realization and Actualization • Understanding emptiness has 10 levels • Knowing “bliss” or even possessing some of the siddhis does not guarantee personality integration into everyday life. • The integration of psychology with spiritual training assists in bringing reality to periods of meditation….for those of us who aren’t nuns and monks, living in caves!

  16. Learning is finding out what we already know. Doing is demonstrating that you know it. Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you. You are all learners, doers and teachers. --Richard Bach

  17. More Information at: http://HeartOfUnderstanding.com

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