Buddhism and psychology.

In the last few years, a strange one upmanship / victimhood has emerged whereby some people think they are better than others whereby their illness is worse. Many modern psychologists have found that the discoveries and explanations of the Buddhist coincide with their own recent discoveries and new ideas. 

Many seems not to understand Buddhism and the correlation it holds with psychologists. In regards to that, this article will discuss more of the history of Buddhism in correlation with that of psychology.

The history of Buddhism spans from the 6th century BCE to the present. Buddhism arose in the eastern part of Ancient India, in and around the ancient Kingdom of Magadha (now in Bihar, India), and is based on the teachings of Siddhārtha Gautama. This makes it one of the oldest religions practiced today. The religion evolved as it spread from the northeastern region of the Indian subcontinent through Central, East, and Southeast Asia. At one time or another, it influenced most of the Asian continent. The history of Buddhism is also characterized by the development of numerous movements, schisms, and schools, among them the Theravāda, Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna traditions, with contrasting periods of expansion and retreat.

Buddhism is a religion of eastern and central Asia that is based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha whose belief is that suffering is inherent in life and that no one can be liberated from it mental and moral self purification. On the other end of the psychologists, they as well hold a related belief with the Buddhist, they showcased their thoughts and perspectives about life through science and the study of man and his behavior with a characteristics expression of the western man’s spiritual crisis. Western psychology has had a couple of decades now, at least, in which the insights into human psychology in Buddhism have had a significant and broadening impact.

Having discussed the history of Buddhism, it’s as well essential to discuss the history of psychology as well for an explicit article. Psychology is a relatively young science with its experimental roots in the 19th century, compared, for example, to human physiology, which dates much earlier. As mentioned, anyone interested in exploring issues related to the mind generally did so in a philosophical context prior to the 19th century. Two men, working in the 19th century, are generally credited as being the founders of psychology as a science and academic discipline that was distinct from philosophy. Their names were Wilhelm Wundt and William James.

Buddha said that suffering is due to attachment. Jung also personally highlight part of his enlightenment experiences that the only movement within our culture which partly has, and partly should have, some understanding of these aspirations for such enlightenment is psychotherapy.

Buddhism includes an analysis of human psychology, emotion, cognition, behavior and motivation along with therapeutic practices. Buddhism correlates with psychology using the potential for transformation, healing and finding existential meaning.

The science of psychology has had an impact on human wellbeing, both positive and negative. The dominant influence of Western, white, and male academics in the early history of psychology meant that psychology developed with the biases inherent in those individuals, which often had negative consequences for members of society that were not white or male.

Women, members of ethnic minorities in both the United States and other countries, and individuals with sexual orientations other than heterosexual had difficulties entering the field of psychology and therefore influencing its development. They also suffered from the attitudes of white, male psychologists, who were not immune to the nonscientific attitudes prevalent in the society in which they developed and worked.

Until the 1960s, the science of psychology was largely a “womanless” psychology (Crawford & Marecek, 1989), meaning that few women were able to practice psychology, so they had little influence on what was studied. In addition, the experimental subjects of psychology were mostly men, which resulted from underlying assumptions that gender had no influence on psychology and that women were not of sufficient interest to study.

Without further ado, it can be concluded that when therapy in Buddhism and psychology helps us to recognize and accept our patterns and imperfections, while meditation gradually opens us to the confidence that we have an inner refuge, a way to hold our lives in our own caring and healing presence.