Thoughts Without A Thinker: Psychotherapy From A Buddhist Perspective [Paperback]

Mark Epstein (Author), The Dalai Lama (Foreword)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0465085857 | ISBN-13: 978-0465085859 | Publication Date: June 1, 1995

Traditional distinctions between matters of the mind and matters of the spirit are increasingly being questioned, and people are searching for alternate perspectives on these issues. Thoughts Without a Thinker is a major contribution to today's exploding discussion of how Eastern spirituality can enhance Western psychology. In it, Mark Epstein argues that the contemplative traditions of the East can be extremely beneficial to patients, not just in helping them recognize their problems, but by giving them the strength to heal. Clearly written and very accessible, this enlightening guide explains the unique psychological contributions of the teachings of Buddhism, describes the path of meditation in contemporary psychological language, and lays out the possibility of a meditation-inspired psychotherapy.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Drawing upon his own experience as therapist, meditator and patient, Mark Epstein, a New York-based psychiatrist trained in classical Freudian methods, attempts to integrate Western psychotherapy and the teachings of Buddhism. Repressed memories, painful emotions, narcissism and destructive energies can all be uprooted through Buddha's teaching on suffering, delusion, wisdom and non-attachment. Epstein argues that in recognizing his or her self-created mental suffering, a patient can overcome neurotic behaviors and even overcome a deeply ingrained negative sense of self. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Epstein, a New York City psychiatrist trained in classical Freudian methods, has studied Buddhist meditation in India and Southeast Asia. In a highly personal, thoughtful, illuminating synthesis, he draws on his own experience as therapist, meditator and patient in an unusual attempt to integrate Western psychotherapy and Buddha's teachings on suffering, delusion, wisdom and nonattachment. According to Epstein, Buddhist meditative practices can help people release repressed memories, work through painful emotions, uproot narcissism and redirect destructive energies. By recognizing his or her self-created mental suffering, the patient is able to overcome neurotic behavior patterns and may ultimately shed a deeply ingrained negative sense of self. Patients, psychologists and meditators willing to explore the arduous path outlined here will find much spiritual nourishment.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465085857
• ISBN-13: 978-0465085859
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #202,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Wandering through the Wheel of Life.", December 21, 2001

By 

G. Merritt (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thoughts Without A Thinker: Psychotherapy From A Buddhist Perspective (Paperback)

A friend loaned me this book, and from the notes in its margins, it looks like it has passed through many hands before mine. "It's Epstein's best book," my friend explained, "and it changed my life." Mark Epstein is a graduate of Harvard Medical School, and this book is his result of twenty years' experience in both Western psychotherapy and Buddhist meditation (p. x).

In the Dalai Lama's Foreward to Epstein's 1995 book, and in his own more recent books including THE ART OF HAPPINESS (1998), STAGES OF MEDITATION (2001), and AN OPEN HEART (2001), he tells us the "purpose of life is to be happy" (p. ix). However, as Epstein reveals in his insightful book, clinging to the self causes suffering. Whereas attachment, aversion, delusion, and faulty perceptions not only cause suffering, they also offer the potential for "release" (p. 16). "We are locked into our minds," Epstein writes, "but we do not really know them. We are adrift and struggling, buffeted by the waves of our minds, having not learned how to float" (p. 17). (Perhaps this is what my own Zen teacher meant when he once told me that I "think too much.")

To find enlightenment, the Buddha encouraged us to become as lamps unto ourselves (p. 40), and Dogen observed that, "to study Buddhism is to study the self" (p. 20). This is also the premise of THOUGHTS WITHOUT A THINKER. Epstein has organized his book into three parts, the Buddhist psychology of mind (pp. 11-102), meditation (pp. 103-155), and therapy (pp. 157-222). In Part I, he demonstrates how Buddhist teachings are the key to understanding the psychology of mind (p. 41), and how those teachings are "less about religion (in the Western sense) than they are a vision of reality containing a practical blueprint for psychological relief" (p. 45). In Part II, Epstein examines the basic Buddhist meditation practice of "bare attention." Meditation, he explains, promotes the therapeutic goals of integration, humility, stability and self awareness (p. 129). In Part III, using non-technical terminology, Epstein integrates Freud's practice of psychotherapy into Buddhist teachings. In the end, Epstein's book is not so much a "feel-good" book about finding happiness in our lives, as a feel-real book well worth reading.

G. Merritt

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a book that keeps on giving, August 4, 2002

By 

L. Heiser (Portland, ME) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Thoughts Without A Thinker: Psychotherapy From A Buddhist Perspective (Paperback)

I picked this book off the shelf in 1995, when it was published, and have read it about five times since. Although I have an advanced degree and am used to difficult books, I found it very challenging, though readable and interesting. I don't think I developed a coherent sense of the profound and helpful ideas in "Thoughts Without a Thinker" until my third or fourth read.

I'd like to thank Mark Epstein for the 20 years of experience, study, practice, thought, and compassion he put into this book. In our anti-intellectual culture it's a pleasure to read a consummately intellectual book that is packed with feeling, humanity, and a dynamic sense of purpose and discovery.

It's reductive to say what I got out of this book, and, in a way, against the spirit of the book. But what I derived from my readings is a profound argument (that has stayed with me, really helped me) for not taking myself, my "tragedies," or, even, anyone else's, too much to heart. To understand that I and my culture burden me with a sense of identity and history that are simply irrationally heavy; to understand that many of my "burdens" can be eased by blending analysis and understanding with a less rational "bare attention" and letting go.

Are you berating yourself for anything? Epstein's marvelous quotes from Buddhist texts speak eloquently for him: "Things are not what they seem. Nor are they otherwise. Deeds exist, but no doer can be found."

It's amazing how much the reviewers of this book agree with one another. I think this speaks to the tremendous integrity of Mark Epstein's effort in this book. Among other things, "Thoughts Without a Thinker" inspires me to try (as non-neurotically as possible) to create something as excellent in my life.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of East and West, July 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Thoughts Without A Thinker: Psychotherapy From A Buddhist Perspective (Paperback)

I found this book not only enlightening but very practical. The introduction to the fundamentals of Buddhism in the first section is clear, easy to read, and well-thought-out -- I've read a lot of Buddhist texts and commentary on my own, but this summary pulled it all together for me. His discussion of the practice of meditation was extremely helpful -- although the best way to learn how to meditate is to DO it, this provided some useful guidelines, and was very reassuring for us perfectionists who tend to get hung up in "Am I doing it right?"! While the final section would probably be most useful to those who practice psychotherapy, or to their clients, I found it thought-provoking and fascinating to read. This isn't just a book for specialists; it has something to say to anyone who's interested in human psychology or spiritual development (which, Epstein might say, are fundamentally the same thing).