Buddhism and the Art of Psychotherapy (Carolyn and Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology) [Paperback]

Hayao Kawai (Author), David H. Rosen (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: Carolyn and Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology | Publication Date: May 8, 2008

"Dr. Kawai's self disclosures and ruminations serve as an open invitation to us all to step beyond our culturally imposed frames and expand our understanding of the impact of culture on the psyche and the implication for consciousness and individuation."--Journal of Analytical Psychology

"Stories, three sets of drawings, and a nod to the value of silence enhance the presentation, which is graceful, humble, and sure."--Library Journal

In this intriguing work, Hayao Kawai, Japan's first Jungian psychoanalyst, examines his own personal experience of how the Buddhism that was part of his culture gradually reacted to his becoming a Jungian.

Kawai reviews his method of psychotherapy and looks at I in the context of Buddhism. His analysis provides a new understanding of the human psyche from the perspective of someone rooted in the East.

Kawai begins by contemplating his personal koan: "Am I a Buddhist and/or a Jungian?" His honest reflections parallel Jung's early skepticism about Buddhism and later his positive regard for Buddha's teachings. He then relates how the individuation process is symbolically and meaningfully revealed in two philosophical and artistic picture series, one Eastern and one Western.

After exploring the Buddhist conception of the ego and the self, which is the opposite of the Western view, Kawai expands psychotherapy to include sitting in silence and holding contradictions. He concludes that true integration of East and West is both possible and impossible, but his work should help readers deepen their understanding of this area of psychology and of Eastern philosophy.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The first Japanese psychologist to be trained as a Jungian, Kawai eloquently tells of his journey away from and back to his roots by way of extended study in the West. He traces common and disparate threads in the fabric of his own personal and professional experience with Buddhism and psychology?eachness and individuality, "egocide" and suicide?recognizing that some things cannot be verbalized, objectified, or interpreted. Stories, three sets of drawings, and a nod to the value of silence enhance the presentation, which is graceful, humble, and sure. Nondoctrinaire, Kawai speaks of Carl Rogers as well as Carl Jung, and there is much here in accord with existential thinkers and therapists like Martin Buber, Rollo May, and Otto Rank. As a non-Jungian, this reviewer recommends Kawai's contribution to all psychotherapists and all readers interested in the likeness and difference of East and West. For both academic and public libraries.?E. James Lieberman, George Washington Univ. Sch. of Medicine, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

“. . . what makes this book so forceful and readable, from beginning to end, is that Hayao Kawai has written it all, and tells it all, from the perspective of his own experience, both as an analyst and as a Japanese man who rejected Buddhism and then returned to make his own Jungian peace with it. When you consider both ends of these traditions, and realize how unlikely it is for a truly autobiographical book to come out of either of them, you will appreciate what Kawai is offering here. Get out your best Mikasa and pour yourself a cup of tea, dear reader. This is a good one.”--Spring 60

(Spring 60 20100401)

“In a self-effacing style that fails to dim the brilliance of his intellect and intuition, Kawai explores the differences between the Japanese and Western ego . . .” --The Bloomsbury Review

(The Bloomsbury Review )

“Stories, three sets of drawings, and a nod to the value of silence enhance the presentation, which is graceful, humble, and sure.”--Library Journal

(Library Journal )

“Engaging, intriguing . . . and enlightening . . . ”--Resource: A Guide to Books, Audiotapes, and Videotapes

(Resource: A Guide to Books, Audiotapes, and Videotapes )

“This brief taste of Kawai’s riches hardly touches the repast he provides in his thinking. It is both popular and deep, humorous and serious, Buddhist and Jungian, individual and collectiveas East and West as his initial dream promised and as his life has fulfilled. . . .”--Psychological Perspectives

(Psychological Perspectives )

“Dr. Kawai’s self disclosures and ruminations serve as an open invitation to us all to step beyond our culturally imposed frames and expand our understanding of the impact of culture on the psyche and the implication for consciousness and individuation.”--Journal of Analytical Psychology

(Journal of Analytical Psychology )

" . . . a remarkable book by a remarkable man. Kawai''s writing is direct, honest and self-effacing and it can be quite confronting to read. , , The exraordinary and heart-warming feture of this book is to see how one''s fate can manifest itself through the unconscious, even if one has pushed it away."--Journal of Analytical Psychology

(David Tacey Journal of Analytical Psychology )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 184 pages
• Publisher: TAMU Press; 1 edition (May 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1603440534
• ISBN-13: 978-1603440530
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,142,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Need to be clear on what you are looking for here., January 4, 2008

By 

Michael Staples (Sonoma, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Buddhism and the Art of Psychotherapy (Carolyn and Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology) (Hardcover)

This is a well written high quality book, but I was a little disapointed. I think if you are a Jungian it might be of a more interest because that seems to be its strength. There are many questions left unadressed. I would have like to have had a cogent discussion of the differences, for instance, in the Jungian and Buddhist notions of Self. Kawai points out that Spiegleman (one of his influences) takes issue with the Buddhist notion of no self...or at least feels the idea needs to be reframed. But he doesn't really elaborate. I was looking for a discussion that would bridge what appear to be theoretical differences between the "All Self" of Jung (and Vedanta), and the "No Self" of Mahayana. Didn't get it. In Chapter 1, Kawai writes that "...I have no intention of writing about psychotherapy based upon Buddhist ideas or of comparing Jung's theories with Buddhist cosmology." So that was that. But without that discussion it is difficult to make the leap from Psychology to Psychotherapy -- and after all, the book is entitled "Buddhism and the Art of Psychotherapy." So I felt the book was a little dissapointing. But again, there are some intersting things in this book for Jungians. There is a unique and interesting correlation explored between the Rosarium Philosophorum and the 10 Ox-herding Pictures of Zen, for instance.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marvelous insight into the intersection of East & West, December 10, 2005

By 

Neal J. Pollock (VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Buddhism and the Art of Psychotherapy (Carolyn and Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology) (Hardcover)

This is a unique & inspired book by the 1st Jungian analyst in Japan, who provides rare & unusual insight into the differences & similarities between East & West psychology- both theoretical & personal. Kawai provides inputs from his family's Jodo (Pure Land) sect as well as his "2nd Master" the Buddhist monk Myoe's (1173-1232) Kegon (Garland) sect & Zen (both Soto & Rinzai). He begins with an eye-opening biography of his personal journey to both Jungian psychology & Buddhism with relationships to Freud's & Rogers' psychologies. He expands on his friends' Spiegelman & Miyuki's "Buddhism & Jungian Psychology" analysis of the Zen Ox-herding Pictures, including photos both Ku-on's & a contemporary Japanese woman's version (but not Pu-ming's) & a similar comparison with the alchemical Rosarium Philosophorum but with an interesting chart comparing the titles of each plate-pointing out the amazing similarity. Many of his observations are revealed in a personal manner--he shares himself with the reader.

Comparing East & West: p. 110: "Complementarity of Buddhist `eachness' & Western individuality" & pp. 30-1: "I found that my psychotherapy was deeply related to what Buddhist sutras deal with," & p. 102: "Jung's concept of synchronicity belongs to the thought pattern of interdependent origination." He references specific sutras to buttress his views/observations. From his comparisons of sutras vs. Jung's psychology, it seems that the "Collective Mind" in the sutras resembles Jung's Self (see The Awakening of Faith sutra). On the other hand, p. 105: "Jung, as a psychologist, limited his work to considering those things which can be grasped by ego & then verbalized," p. 106: "Probably I still have a different kind of ego from Westerners. Compared to the Western ego, the Japanese ego is living far more `in everything,'" pp. 130-1: "When I sit with a client in the therapy session, I am sometimes reminded of the motto, `just sitting,' appreciated by the Soto monks-not caught by `treatment' or `solution,' but simply sitting..."Sometimes I feel that client's complaints are similar to koans, at least for the therapist," & p. 147 note 2: "During Thomas Merton's visit to the East, he discovered that Buddha encompassed both self & no-self; that is, he discovered `the Middle Way'."

He also shines a light on some contemporary issues 1) in Western Buddhism from a united perspective: p. 19: "When getting close to someone, even a great man, you start to see his shadow side. Living in Japan, you sometimes see or know about a `great Zen master,' but when you find out that, even after he reaches `enlightenment,' his selfish aspect, for example, remains as great as before." He notes, however, that the same can hold in psychoanalysis! 2) modern Jungian psychology--powerfully defining what it is to be a Jungian. 3) Explaining important Buddhist concepts in modern terms: p. 31: "Monks did not `read,' they chanted it. It was in chanting the sutra, while repeating many similar & gracious names, that transformation of consciousness was to be expected. You can approach the sutra only though this sort of consciousness." [~the Ecstatic Kabbalah of Abraham Abulafia] & p. 89: from an old Buddhist story-"The "I" of a human being is a composite of various elements. It's only temporarily formed into one thing. Foolish people captured by this "I", suffer a great deal. Once you know what this real I is, your suffering with disappear at once."

5.0 out of 5 stars The work and life of the psychotherapist Dr Hayao Kawaii, October 12, 2010

By 

Andrew Grimes JSCCP, JCP (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Buddhism and the Art of Psychotherapy (Carolyn and Ernest Fay Series in Analytical Psychology) (Hardcover)

A fascinating and clearly written explanation of the introduction of Jungian Psychotherapy into Japan, its transformation into the mainstream of counseling and group therapy practice and the teaching of psychology, and the influence of the life and work of Dr. Hayao Kawai in the planting of Analytical Psychotherapy into Japan and the promotion of integration of a broad range of psychotherapies in the service of the people of Japan. Still as timely and thought provoking as when it was first published in Japan, it is a book that makes one question the wisdom or otherwise of adhering solely to a single school of psychotherapy in the service of our clients and patients.