Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective
Thoughts without a Thinker is a major contribution to the exploration of discussion about how Eastern spirituality can enhance Western psychology.

As patients and therapists find themselves reaching for new solutions to their problems, the traditional distinctions between matters of the mind and matters of the spirit are increasingly being questioned. Here is the first book on the subject by a classically trained psychiatrist who has immersed himself in the Buddhist tradition.

Drawing on his own experiences as a patient, meditator, and therapist, Mark Epstein argues that the contemplative traditions of the East help patients go beyond merely recognizing their problems to healing them. Far from being at odds with the psychodynamic method, such an approach is in fact just what the doctor might order.

Epstein explains the unique psychological contributions of the teachings of Buddhism, describes the path of meditation in contemporary psychological language, and lays the groundwork for a meditation-inspired psychotherapy. Part I of the book is an orientation to the Buddhist perspective. Dispelling misconceptions common even among those already practicing meditative techniques, this section presents the Buddha's psychological teachings in the language of Western psychodynamics. Part II explains the meditative practices of bare attention, concentration, mindfulness, and analytic inquiry, and shows how they speak to issues at the forefront of psychological concern.

Part III uses Freud's treatise on the practice of psychotherapy, "Remembering, Repeating and Working-Through" as a template to show how the Buddha's teachings can complement, inform, and energize the practice of psychotherapy. Indeed, Epstein reveals that many of today's important clinical psychotherapists have been, often unknowingly, "knocking on Buddha's door."

Thoughts Without a Thinker, Mark Epstein, Basic Books, Paperback, 242 pp, $20.00

Mark Epstein, M.D., has a private practice in New York City and has been an instructor at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. A graduate of Harvard College and the Harvard Medical School, he is a consulting editor to Tricycle: The Buddhist Review.

CONTENTS

Foreword by the Dalai Lama ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Knocking on Buddha's Door 1

PART I
THE BUDDHA'S PSYCHOLOGY OF MIND
Chapter 1 The Wheel of Life: A Buddhist Model of the Neurotic Mind 15
Chapter 2 Humiliation: The Buddha's First Truth 43
Chapter 3 Thirst: The Buddha's Second Truth 59
Chapter 4 Release: The Buddha's Third Truth 75
Chapter 5 Nowhere Standing: The Buddha's Fourth Truth 89

PART II MEDITATION
Chapter 6 Bare Attention 109
Chapter 7 The Psychodynamics of Meditation 129

PART III THERAPY
Chapter 8 Remembering 163
Chapter 9 Repeating 181
Chapter 10 Working Through 203

Notes 223
Index 235