Freud and the Buddha: The Couch and the Cushion

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This book investigates what psychoanalysis and Buddhism can learn from each other, and offers chapters by a Buddhist scholar, a psychiatrist-author, and a number of leading psychoanalysts. It begins with a discussion of the basic understanding of both psychoanalysis and Buddhism, viewed not as a religion but as a psychology and a philosophy with ethical principles.

The focus of the book rests on the commonality between the psychoanalyst’s neutrality as he listens to his freely associating patient, and the Buddhist monk’s non-judgmental attention to his mind. The psychoanalytic concepts of free association, the unconscious, transference and countertransference are compared to the implications of the Buddhist principles of impermanence, non-clinging (non-attachment), the hard-to-grasp concept of the "not-self", and the practice of meditation.

The differences between the role of the analyst and that of the Buddhist teacher of meditation are explored, and the important difference between the analyst’s emphasis on insight and thinking is compared to the Buddhist attention to awareness and experience. Mention is made of the authors’ implicit recognition of the dissolution of the mind-body split and the relevance of neuroscientific discoveries of the increasingly important role of the right brain in thinking is noted.

The book concludes with a discussion of the controversies about free association, words, and understanding, in both psychoanalysis and Buddhism.

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Introducing Buddha: A Graphic Guide

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“Introducing Buddha” describes the life and teachings of the Buddha, but it also shows that enlightenment is a matter of experiencing the truth individually and by inspiration which is passed from teacher to student. Superbly illustrated by Borin Van Loon, the book illuminates this process through a rich legacy of stories and explains the practices of meditation, Taoism and Zen. It goes on to describe the role of Buddhism in modern Asia and its growing influence on Western thought.

Mixing Minds: The Power of Relationship in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism

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“We cannot find ourselves, or be ourselves, alone.”—from Mixing Minds

Mixing Minds explores the interpersonal relationships between psychoanalysts and their patients, and Buddhist teachers and their students. Through the author’s own personal journey in both traditions, she sheds light on how these contrasting approaches to wellness affect our most intimate relationships. These dynamic relationships provide us with keen insight into the emotional ups and downs of our lives—from fear and anxiety to love, compassion, and equanimity. Mixing Minds delves into the most intimate of relationships and shows us how these relationships are the key to the realization of our true selves.

The Signifier Pointing at the Moon: Psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism

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Within the context of a careful review of the psychology of religion and prior non-Lacanian literature on the subject, Raul Moncayo builds a bridge between Lacanian psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism that steers clear of reducing one to the other or creating a simplistic synthesis between the two. Instead, by making a purposeful 'One-mistake' of 'unknown knowing', this book remains consistent with the analytic unconscious and continues in the splendid tradition of Bodhidharma who did not know 'Who' he was and told Emperor Wu that there was no merit in building temples for Buddhism. Both traditions converge on the teaching that 'true subject is no ego', or on the realisation that a new subject requires the symbolic death or deconstruction of imaginary ego-identifications. Although Lacanian psychoanalysis is known for its focus on language and Zen is considered a form of transmission outside the scriptures, Zen is not without words while Lacanian psychoanalysis stresses the senseless letter of the Real or of a jouissance written on and with the body. 'The Signifier Pointing at the Moon' proposes that the truths of desire do not conflict with the teaching of emptiness because a desire for emptiness, or the emptiness at the root of desire, regenerates rather than annihilates desire.

See also

Nothing: Three Inquiries in Buddhism 

Psychoanalysis and Buddhism: An Unfolding Dialogue

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"What a wonderful book! Jeremy Safran has assembled an absolutely stellar group of writers and has himself contributed an illuminating introduction. The essays are riveting and the book is the rare edited collection with real thematic unity. If you think you might have an interest in the intersection of psychoanalysis and Buddhism, this is the place to start. If you already know you're interested, once you look at the table of contents you'll find (at least I did) that you want to let Psychoanalysis and Buddhism displace whatever you were going to read next."--Donnel B. Stern, PhD, author of Unformulated Experience and editor of Contemporary Psychoanalysis

The Zen Impulse and the Psychoanalytic Encounter

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Although psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism derive from theoretical and philosophical assumptions worlds apart, both experientially-based traditions share at their heart a desire for the understanding, development, and growth of the human experience. Paul Cooper utilizes detailed clinical vignettes to contextualize the implications of Zen Buddhism in the therapeutic setting to demonstrate how its practices and beliefs inform, relate to, and enhance transformative psychoanalytic practice.

The basic concepts of Zen, such as the identity of the relative and the absolute and the foundational principles of emptiness and dependent-arising, are given special attention as they relate to the psychoanalytic concepts of the unconscious and its processes, transference and countertransference, formulations of self, and more. In addition, through an analysis of apophasis, a unique style of discourse that serves as a basic structure for mystical languages, he provides insight into the structure of the seemingly irrational Zen koan in order to demonstrate its function as a pedagogical and psychological tool.

Though mindful of their differences, Cooper’s intent throughout is to illustrate how the practices of both Zen and psychoanalysis become internalized by the individual who engages in them and can, in turn, inform one another in mutually beneficial ways in an effort to comprehend the ramifications of an individual or collective expanding vision.
 

Psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism by Erich Fromm

A master of psychoanalysis and social philosophy explores Zen Buddhism

In 1957, social philosopher and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm invited Daisetz T. Suzuki, the most famous Zen Buddhist master in the Western world, to a seminar at his new home in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Their discussion was one of the highlights of Fromm’s life, and the paper Fromm presented (and later expanded into a book) was a watershed work. Fromm demonstrates his mastery of the philosophy and practice of Zen, perfectly articulating how Zen tenets fit into the ideas of psychoanalysis. In this text, he creates new perspectives on both systems of thought.

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