The development of a theoretical orientation for counseling based on early Buddhist teachings

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to integrate early Buddhist teachings into a viable theoretical orientation for professional practice, thereby systematizing early Buddhist teachings into a pragmatic, viable, and culturally competent treatment of choice for thousands of individuals affiliated with Buddhism in contemporary society. Since the emergence of secular mindfulness-based interventions 30 years ago, there has been an ongoing dialogue about the most appropriate way to integrate the penetrating insights of Buddhism into the disparate theoretical orientations (TOs) of counseling. The most recent trend is for counseling models to go beyond mindfulness and incorporate the most significant Buddhist teachings and practices into their treatment repertoire. Prominent examples of such are Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. However, most of these efforts make use of an existing psychological foundation and then try to add extracted Buddhist components to supplement it. Doing so leaves one crucial question unanswered: instead of extracting elements of Buddhism to fit into secular psychological models, can we develop a comprehensive TO based solely on Buddhist teachings? This dissertation is an attempt to respond to this question by proposing the first Buddhist TO in the mental health field. Using the definition of TO from Murdock (2017), this dissertation integrates key early Buddhist teachings into the five dimensions of a TO: (1) Basic philosophy: the application of the vital principle of dependent co-arising in understanding human nature and the world; (2) Central theoretical constructs of human nature and human motivation: driven by craving and ignorance, the human mind clings on to the notion of a self, which is the core cause of suffering; (3) Theory of human development: with liberation as an end goal, the Buddhist understanding of human development can be considered as a process of mental cultivation towards non-self; (4) Psychological dysfunction: the primary dysfunction or symptom that interferes with well-being is dukkha, the causes of which are ignorance as delineated in the 12 links of dependent origination, as well as craving as stated in the Four Noble Truths, and (5) Interventions: the Noble Eightfold Path provides the rationale for an overarching set of interventions, with Right View, the forerunner of the eight paths, being the core intervention. The final section of the dissertation uses a case example to illustrate several Buddhist counseling techniques as based upon early Buddhist teachings, thereby showcasing their practicality in any proposed TO.