An Introduction to Buddhist Psychology

An Introduction to Buddhist Psychology

Padmasiri de Silva

Foreword by John Hick

Third Edition

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York

ROWMAN & LITTLEAELD PUBLISHERS, INC.

Published in the United States of America by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.rowmanliulefield.com

Copyright © 2000 by M.W. Padmasiri de Silva 1979, 1991,2000

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN 978-0-333-77910-1 ISBN 978-0-230-38955-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230389557

@"'The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences - Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48- 1992.

TO THOSE WHO LIKE 'the simple things in life'

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Contents

FOREWORD BY JOHN HICK 1x

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION x1

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION xm

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION XIV

1 BASIC FEATURES OF BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY 1

2 THE PSYCHOLOGY OF COGNITION 21

3 MOTIVATION AND EMOTIONS 35

4 PERSONALITY 80

5 BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY AND THE WEST: AN ENCOUNTER BETWEEN THERAPEUTIC SYSTEMS 99

6 HEALTH AND SICKNESS IN BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVE 123

7 MIND-BODY RELATIONSHIP AND BUDDHIST CONTEXTUALISM 142

NOTES 153

BIBLIOGRAPHY 163

INDEX 165

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Foreword

Buddhism is the most psychologically interested of the great world religions. For when, some twenty-five centuries ago, Gotama the Buddha experienced the ultimate liberation which is nirvana and became one of mankind's supreme teachers, he did not point upwards or outwards to God or gods but inwards to the intricate dynamics of our mental and spiritual life. For Buddhism 'the proper study of mankind is man': it is through coming to realise what we are and - equally importantly - what we are not, that we may eventu­ally attain to that which the east calls liberation and the west salvation. Through its founder's teaching, treasured and amplified by generations of his followers, Buddhism has developed the extraordinarily astute and penetrating analysis of human nature and the human condition on which its guidance towards liberation is based. I ts central no-soul (aTUltta) doctrine, according to which a human self is not an enduring psychic entity or substance but a karmic process, a patterned flow of change through time, remains one of the great options for thought, and one which we dare not write off. Again, we cannot ignore the Buddhist account of the 'grasping' or incessant desiring which keeps the individual karmic process going, not only through a lifetime but, according to the Buddha's teaching, through a long succession oflives. In addition to this, the Buddhist tradition has important things to say about the ways in which we perceive our world; about our emotional and volitional life; about our sexuality, our social nature, and our aggressiveness; about the thin fac;:ade of the surface personality; and about the very important ethical implications of this Buddhist understanding of man.

These topics are of course discussed - some more extensively than others - in the literature on Buddhism. But it is surprising that there has been no book in English covering the field of Buddhist psychology as such since the early work of Mrs C. A. F. Rhys Davids, Buddhist Psychology (London, 1914) . There is thus a gap in the available literature at this point, a gap which Dr de Silva has

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X Foreword

filled in the present book.This will not be the last word on Buddhist psychology; but it opens the subject up again, and in doing so it provides a much-needed point of entry for the student of Buddhism.

Dr Padmasiri de Silva is the Head of the Department of Philosophy at the Peredeniya campus, near Kandy, of the Uni­versity ofSri Lanka (Ceylon). H e is himself a Buddhist, thoroughly versed in the Pali literature, as well as having studied the various western schools of psychology. He is the au thor of a study of Buddhist and Freudian Psychology (Colombo, 1973), and of Tangles and Webs: Comparative studies in Existentialism, Psychoanalysis and Buddhism (Kandy, 1974) . He stands within the Theravada tradition, which claims to represent original Buddhism in its distinction from the Mahayana movement which started to develop at about the beginning of the Christian era and which elevated the figure of the Buddha himself from a great human teacher to the level of cosmic saviour. Dr de Silva bases his discussion on the Pali scriptures of the Theravada tradition rather than the Sanscrit literature of the Mahayana; and so we find in his pages, for example, the word nibbana, which is the Pali equivalent of the (to most of us in the west) more familiar Sanscrit term nirvana.

Dr de Silva's book will be a valuable resource for the comparative study of religion , and in particular the study of Buddhism, in both west and east.

jOHN HICK

Preface to the First Edition

The discourses of the Buddha provide apparently simple but in fact sophisticated and stimulating discussions relating to diverse facets of man's life: his codes of personal conduct, the ideal of the virtuous life, the nature of man and the universe, the riddle oflife and death, the nature of human reasoning and sensory experience, and man's search for wisdom, knowledge and truth. Above all, the discourses delve into a yet more fascinating sphere of the human mind - the underworld of man's submerged and conflicting desires, the nature of his emotions and the paths of human personality development, and it is upon this group of issues centring on the psychology of Buddhism that this book focuses.

For over ten years I have made studies of diverse aspects of the psychology of Buddhism. It was at the invitation of Professor John Hick, the Editor of this series, that some attempt was made to put together all the material collected over the years and weld them to more recent findings. The present work is thus concerned with the systematisation and interpretation of the psychological questions raised within the discourses of the Buddha.

Among serious students of Buddhism psychology is a badly neglected field, and I hope this venture will stimulate a greater degree of interest in the psychological foundations of Buddhism. Among the more clinically oriented psychologists and psychiatrists in the west, there is a growing interest in what may be called 'Asian psychology'. It would be necessary to break through the misty atmosphere that surrounds this term, and present in prosaic terms, and if possible in a modern idiom, some specific schools of traditional psychological enquiry. Thus this book is addressed to both the student of Buddhism and the student of psychology interested in Asian thought.

I am grateful to all those who assisted me by valuable discussion. I owe a special debt of gratitude to the Venerable Nyanaponika Maha Thera, who went through the first draft and made important suggestions. I am also grateful to my friends Mr P. D . Premasiri and Mr G. Samararatne for their comments.

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XII Preface to the First Edition

When Dr Jerry D. Boucher of the East-West Center invited me to participate in the collaborative research project on emotion and culture, a fresh breeze of life invigorated my attempt to work out a Buddhist theory of emotions. While I have written here a fairly long account of Buddhist thinking in that area, the unexpected en­counter with the work of Jerry Boucher has already provided me with a challenging base for future research. I am grateful to him for having opened out these exciting horizons for me.

Finally, this work would never have reached happy completion but for the warm encouragement I received from my wife, Kalyani. But she has done more - she has given shape and substance to those 'simple things in life' which feature on the dedication page of this volume.

Universiry of Sri Lanka September 1977

PADMASIRI DE SILVA

Preface to the Second Edition

It is a gratifying experience to look back after ten years with a great feeling of satisfaction and find that the objectives with which this work was written have been achieved . It was my original intention to write an intelligible and clear presentation of the early Buddhist reflections on human psychology, so that this would be available for a broad spectrum of readers, ranging from the academically oriented scholar to the diverse types which come under the rubric of the 'general reader'. The responses that I received over the years from these different types of readers have been encouraging. I am very happy to assist the publishers to bring out this new edition with an additional chapter.

I had the opportunity of using the book as a text for courses which I taught in a number offoreign universities, and I also kept in touch with number of teachers who were using it as a course text. This new edition will, I hope, preserve interest in the subject and generate further creative work in the area of Buddhist psychology.

There has also been a growing interest, in recent times, in the Eastern spiritual traditions, particularly among psychologists and therapists trained in the West. Although the therapist is often drowned by the 'drama of neurosis' , there has been a change of attitude; they now arc prone to consider psychotherapy more as a 'way of life' than as a 'form of treatment'. T hese changing vistas in the study of mental sickness and health are of great interest, and in the new edition T have added a new chapter which examines the therapeutic stance of Buddhism. I am glad that the book will be available again to interested readers.

Padmasiri de Silva National University of Singapore

October 1990

xii i

Preface to the Third Edition

T he growing academic interest in Eastern spiritual traditions and their therapeutic resources is the background that sustained the positive response for two editions of this book for over two decades. But as this work moves into the twenty-first century, there is a new dimension in the emerging interest in Buddhist psychology. Outside academia, there is a growing interest among some people in the therapeutic appeal of Buddhist psychology, and these inter­ests converge on the need to make their routine lives more coherent and meaningful and their professional lives more robust and vibrant.

During the last two years, I have moved to places outside the universities, given regular talks and occasional courses at the Buddhist temples, centres for adult education, talks at youth semi­nars and professional bodies. I have found my book a useful guide to expand and sustain interest in the perennial psychological insights of the Buddha among all these interested groups. While I look forward to working in these fresh pastures and exciting con­texts in the years ahead of us, I am sure other teachers of Buddhist psychology will respond to these emerging trends.

Macmillan, and specially Mr. T.M. Farmiloe, have been over the years, more than a publisher. I consider them as great friends of an author. They recently brought out a splendid publication of my new work, Environmental Philosophy and Ethics in Bw.idhism. This is a work that builds a vital link between Buddhist psychology and ethics. I express my deep sense of gratitude to my publishers and also to academics and lay readers who have given me encourage­ment and confidence to continue writing over the years. A very special expression of thanks is due to Charmian Hearne of the publishers, and also to the copy-editor Lesley Steward, for the speedy and smooth production of this work.

I have added a new chapter on the mind-body relationship. We need to re-affirm the Buddhist perspective on the mind- body rela­tionship, not only because philosophers are clarifying these prob-

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Priface to the Third Edition XV

!ems at the turn of this century, but also as therapeutic concerns in the emerging field of behavioural medicine, as well as meditation and healing have presented the body- mind relationship in new and refreshing perspectives. It is with a great sense of fulfilment that I assist the publishers to bring out a third edition of the book.

Padmasiri de Silva Monash University