Customer Reviews

Buddhist Practice on Western Ground: Reconciling Eastern Ideals and Western Psychology

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Dr. Aronson has written a gem. His psychological insights are warming and wonderful. His bridge to Buddhist meditation practice is both unique and invaluable.

Rarely have I seen a psychotherapist who understands and communicates the quality of a successful psychotherapy so well. Coupling that gift with his ease in personal revelations, Dr. Aronson creates a warm holding environment, one that encourages the reader to feel equally comfortable and at ease in looking at his or her own vulnerable feelings. The ability to communicate both the value of a good psychotherapy and to capture its warm essence is very rare.

Dr. Aronson has another gift. As a long-time Buddhist practitioner and professor, he possesses a deep personal knowledge of how the practice is used, and misused, by Westerners. Dr. Aronson captures this by providing a very interesting cross-cultural perspective, picking up strengths and weaknesses as Buddhism has been both transplanted and translated from Asia to the West. He has a unique and invaluable perspective on the way Buddhist teachings are recruited to one's individual neurosis.

Dr. Aronson retranslates Buddhist proscriptions against "anger." He believes the Asian teachers were not admonishing one to avoid an emotional state, but rather to avoid destructive actions. Aronson believes that angry feelings are often helpful, or even necessary for some people to grow, and to become able have an effective meditation practice. This opinion is consistent with his gloss that the advice to avoid anger should be read as avoiding destructive action. This is so because if a person was the victim of destructive actions, or a longer destructive upbringing, hiding or disavowing those destructive actions perpetrated against the person would actually be to collude with one or more aggressors, and that can only done at a high personal cost. The cost could take many forms, including disengaging with the world, having symptoms of depression or guilt, substance abuse, chronic relational problems, etc. In this discussion, we see Aronson capturing therapy at its best.

My only criticism of this book is that its title didn't offer a way to easily capture the imagination of the psychotherapeutic world, as I think psychotherapists, and people interesting in psychotherapy are a natural audience.

I appreciate this wonderful book and encourage others to enjoy fascinating and stimulating book.

Mark Siegert, Ph.D.

Clinical Psychologist, Psychoanalyst

I found this book remarkable; it explores the crucial need to pursue new approaches to understand mental distress and to find ways to overcome such suffering.

Dr. Aronson shares with us the gift of his knowledge, experience, and deep compassion helping others. He presents us with a profound and comprehensive portrayal of the differences, similarities and ultimately synergism between Eastern approaches to 'taming' of the mind and Western approaches of 'therapy' of the mind.

In this detailed, nuanced and penetrating analysis he patiently teaches how exploring both of these traditions - Buddhism and Psychotherapy- can help us become aware of and overcome obstacles to our personal and spiritual growth that pursuing only one approach, without the assistance of the other, may lead us to feel mired in the inescapable quicksand of seeming insurmountable barriers.

Dr. Aronson shares tender personal reflections on his own struggles with suffering and how he was able to overcome these obstacles to his personal growth by pursuing both Buddhist teachings and psychotherapy. His discussion about the way in which both of these practices enabled him to expand and enhance his own spiritual growth and his abilities to work in helping others is both courageous and inspiring.

Philip J. Hauptman MD

Psychiatrist

NYC, NY

The author is psychotherapist, & meditation teacher with many famous associates/teachers in Theravada, Vajrayana, Dzogchen, & Bon (e. g. Surya Das, the IMS crew, Hopkins, Dudjom R., Norbu, Wangyal, Goenka et al), & Anne Klein's husband. He builds on the work of other therapist-Buddhists (Engler, Rubin, Epstein, Safran, Welwood) in explaining differences, risks, & potential cross-fertilization between these Eastern & Western approaches p. xiii: "Buddhist philosophy & meditation practice offer many tools for profound spiritual development, but they do not address all the psychological concerns of Westerners. Without more culturally appropriate interventions such as psychotherapy, even some advanced meditators continue to suffer from anxiety, depression, isolating narcissism, or numbed disengagement," p. xv: "When unacknowledged, such cultural gaps can cause teachers to misunderstand their students, who in turn suffer feelings of alienation & emotional injury," p. 2: "When we assimilate Buddhist practice into preexisting patterns, we merely introduce new content into old forms," & p. 65: "Confusion can occur when we are not mindful that we are taking concepts out of a Buddhist historical & linguistic context, translating them & depositing them into our own cultural-linguistic framework." As Tibetan/Pali/Sanskrit translator, he provides extensive discussion of how words, used differentially in English & Asian tongues, cause misunderstanding; thus, he focuses on 4 often confusing topics: self, anger, love, & attachment, providing examples of cultural & linguistic differences. Carefully choosing his words, he provides examples, stories, personal experiences, & quotes from both Buddhist masters & psychotherapists as well as meditation exercises (Tonglen, metta/maitri--see Pema Chödrön's works for more detail). He describes his aim as: p. 91: "cross-cultural & psychological reflections on Buddhist teachings," pointing out that p. 228 note 30: "Our way of understanding our experience is then very different from that of traditional Asian cultures." For example, p. 92: "Healthy anger, or assertion, differs from the intent to harm, which is the traditional Buddhist meaning of anger." p. 101: "Buddhist texts have no single morally neutral term for our abstract concept `emotions'." Also, p. 162: "It is an unfortunate & significant misreading of Buddhist literature to confuse the attitude of a Buddhist practitioner who embodies engaged nonattachment with that of a person who is defensively detached." He addresses how Buddhism will be absorbed into the West (reminiscent of Tsomo's & others' books on Western Buddhist Women), stating--p. 80: "We in the West will inevitably place Buddhist philosophical teachings within our psychological frame." p. 195: "While it is important to recognize the complex web of language, philosophy, social customs, & history that have both informed Buddhism & been informed by it in Asia, there is no way that we can-or should-seek to replicate all segments of that web when we incorporate Buddhist practice into our lives. From what I have seen, it is most effective to craft our own psycho-spiritual milieu, one that combines both traditional & modern approaches in addressing the broad array of concerns that we currently experience." p. 205: "We are seeing the evolution of an entirely new style of Buddhism in the West, influenced by cultural forces not prevalent in traditional Asia."

Does a culture of conformity really make it easier for an individual to conform to a set of stringent rules? Do we Americans live in a culture of conformity or individualism, or a sort of conformist individualism? How does conformism relate to a heightened sense of communalism? These questions arise after reading Aronson's book, which is part scholarly, part insight born of practice. Stephen Batchellor has commented on about the work-in-progress quality which characterizes Buddhism in the West, a progress that may take several generations before flowering into its own identifiable and viable tradition. I would submit that all spiritual practices are continually works-in-progress, as cultures shift, collide, and collude. It could even argued that Buddhism is here in our land largely because of the U.S. dropping an atom bomb on Hiroshima. (To think of Buddhism as a sort of fallout is chillingly ironic.) This may seem to be a grotesque oversimplification, as years of colonialism brought the study of Eastern religion west, however it was really at the very end of World War 2 that the atom bomb made both a horrible wound and an opening in the heart of the West, a comingling of blood that happens in war. Wave after new wave of Asian immigrants to both Europe and America made the dissemination of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam inevitable.

Aronson himself came to Buddhism in the Sixties, when there was a great interest in altered states of mind, and meditative practices were rumored to bring about these states. Aldous Huxley's Doors of Perception was essential reading. The meditative practices of Eastern religion were laced with the scent of patchouli, sitar theme music and other pop baggage. To take a dharma practice seriously at that time one would have had to commit to a subculture which was not accepted institutionally in the United States. It still happens that the pop media sneers at Richard Gere and Jerry Brown. To practice Buddhism as a Westerner one is often faced with non-comprehension and sometimes negative attitudes of partners, coworkers, and family members who may say things like, "But I WANT to desire things", or "I wouldn't WANT to lose my ego." It appears to a many people that the Western Buddhist is engaged in a discourse with an exotic discipline out of a sort of petulant rejection of his own traditions, or that she is a cultural hobbyist or tourist, or that he is just consuming yet another New Age product in a catalog of useless self help tools.

These may seem like shallow concerns, but they reflect important misunderstandings that come up in everyone's practice as our community infuses us. The issues of translation which Aronson examines make this book an essential read for anyone who engages in a meditation practice and particularly for therapists who utilize the modalities of Buddhist practice in working with clients. Aronson expressly delimits his exploration to a discussion of how Americans in particular respond to meditation , what sort of expectations for personal growth are realistic from a dharma practice, and where the many pitfalls lie.

Having worked for years as a translator for Eastern teachers and their Western students, Aronson has seen first-hand a wide range of non-comprehension and misinterpretation, in the areas of both language and culture. I was very moved when he speaks of finding out that he has lost his tenure at a university stateside while on a retreat in Tibet, and realizing that there was no way he could ever communicate the personal devastation brought by such an event to his teacher. To begin with, there was no word for "career" in Tibetan. In another chapter, he describes succumbing to a severe panic attack after years of practicing, retreats, and spiritual commitment. The breakdown was a turning point, when he realized that his meditation had not only been useless in "curing" him of his psychological problems, it had actually exacerbated them in some ways. Meditation can fail to alleviate the sort of misery that is born, he maintains, from our Western customs and ideologies. Certain neurotic patterns we tend to experience as Westerners, Aronson says, relate to the value we place on the need to have a unique personal identity, a pride which is often nationalistic, and to particular rituals of intimacy in both parenting and partnering: these are not going to simply go away by meditating. Many patterns will in fact become more ingrained, amplified, or solidified. A shy, self-involved person, for example, who has issues with self-esteem, may find temporary solace in a meditation practice and may become quite adept at concentration and the necessary commitment to being alone in their room...but without intervening directly with their reactive patterns of withdrawal and despair--through conventional Western psychotherapy, Aronson maintains--this person will come to a point where spiritual progress will reach a dead stop.

Aronson structures his book according to those major themes of Dharma practice which are also addressed in Western psychology: the notion of the self, the ego, pride, self assertion, dealing with anger, love, and attachment. He is at his most trenchant when observations like what follows:

Shatideva wrote:" 'If I give, what shall I enjoy?' Such concern for one's own welfare is fiendish. 'If I enjoy, what shall I give?' Such concern for the welfare of others is divine." Such spontaneous spiritual fullness is not readily accounted for in traditional models of psychology, which base their approach on the biological sciences, with a bias toward considering developmental issues related to infancy and childhood. From such sources have come need-based models of human behavior, with Freud emphasizing instinctual drive and its gratification as the primary engine of human bonding...To date, mainstream psychologists do not have a model of graceful, spontaneous spiritual fullness that is not driven by deficit or sublimation...A different set of principles seem to be operative in the deeply realized. Their secure attachment does not stem from having found what they need in the external world. Rather they interact with others out of fullness and inner expansion."

As Western Buddhists perhaps this is the crux of what it means to be going against the flow. The aspiration of a Dharma practice both leapfrogs and flies head on into our deepest of cultural tendencies. This notion of a need-based model of human behavior arose not only in the context of the biological sciences, but of capitalism, that need-based economic model which has now become the engine of a global culture with disasterous ramifications socially, politically and environmentally. It is this global capitalism which has granted certain of us the privileges of being affluent Westerners with the leisure time to explore and consume culture. But the process of the Dharma taking root in our hearts and the changes that begin to come over us as we practice mindfulness, is something far more mysterious. Aronson's book honors that mystery even as he exposes the mythic structures that define how we regard what comprises our selves.

For more than half a century scholars and psychologists have been trying to see whether the practices and philosophy of Eastern religions and philosophical systems can be engaged with Western psychology. Some of the finest attempts at doing this have come from Ken Wilber, Roger Walsh and Frances Vaughan. To their number we should now add the name Harvey Aronson. I do not know him, but I read that he is a psychotherapist and Buddhist lecturer and this is one of the most comprehensive attempts to examine the basic differences and convergences between Asian and Western cultural and spiritual values.

This is far from being an arcane topic. Virtually every meditation teacher has been struck by the amount of psychological work that we need to do. Not just at the outset, but, as practice continues, many psychological issues tend to come up. Often people find themselves struggling with the apparent contradictions of being a Christian and needing therapy. Or alternatively of being a Western practitioner of Buddhism who enters therapy and then has to try and reconcile the apparent contradictions between a meditation practice that stresses the gradual dissolution of the ego and social inter-dependence, with therapeutic models that tend to emphasize ego-strengthening, autonomy and individuality.

The influential Chögyam Trungpa, founder of Naropa University in Boulder, talked a lot about meditation as therapy, but always said that meditation should be seen as an unconditional way of life rather than a form or medicine or healing.

The author's background enables him to expand on the subject in a way that only a few other writers have. In this book he focuses on the four central strands of the teachings of the Buddha: The Self, anger, love and attachment, and how these strands can illuminate and enrich Western psychological thought.

This is a well-written, clear and practical book that I recommend highly.

I am a Buddhist and am working with a Buddhist therapist. He recommended I read this book for homework. This book hits upon many points and obstacles that I've encountered over the years and offers good insight into how to bridge traditional Buddhist teachings with western psychological understanding. Good stuff!

As a Social Work student, I have taken several classes on counseling/therapy and I was struggling with how to reconcile the ideas I was learning in my classes with the philosophy of Buddhism. Coming across Aronson's book has been a great help to me in addressing these questions. On the surface it may seem like psychotherapy and Buddhism clash on ideas of anger, the self, and attachment, but as Aronson explains, they are not really so contradictory after all.

I also appreciate the words of caution he has for westerners taking up this religion. The cultural differences are real and it would be a mistake to ignore them. If we're not careful, we as westerners can use our Buddhist practice to reinforce dysfunctional behavioral patterns and thinking. I was surprised how spot on Aronson was in identifying these problems. He is clearly someone who is very familiar with both Buddhism and psychotherapy and has a deep understanding of how the two can interact for westerners. I learned a great deal about myself in reading this book and I am very grateful to Aronson for that.

I highly recommend this book for any western Buddhist, whether they are involved in psychotherapy or not, and also for any therapists in general as it will help them understand some of the struggles their Buddhist clients may be experiencing.

A well written and thought-out book that can be of great use for western practioners of the buddha-dharma. Having been exposed to many of the challenges written about in this book I find it helpful that such a book has been written by someone with so much experience in the buddhist world as well as the world of psychotherapy. A veritable boon for all westerners on the path of awakening!

This book was desperately needed for those that live in the West and practice Buddhism! The honesty, directness and usefulness of this book is great! I'm so glad this book was published!