Arguably the most important figure in Western psychology was Sigmund Freud, who developed his psychoanalytic theory of the mind about 130 years ago. And arguably the most important figure in Eastern psychology was a man we call the Buddha, who lived and taught in Northern India around 2,400 years before that. Let’s think about that for a moment. Over two millennia before Freud saw his first patient, the Buddha and his followers had created a rich, sophisticated theory of the mind and how it worked.

Long before Freud’s ideas about neuroses and how to cure them, Buddhist psychology gave us a step-by-step guide to freeing ourselves from dukkha, which is the Pali (the language of the Buddha) word for suffering. As the Buddha himself said: ‘I teach one thing and one thing only – dukkha and the end of dukkha.’

It’s important to note at this point that you don’t have to be a Buddhist to find these ideas helpful. In fact, you don’t need to have any interest in Buddhism at all! One of the reasons I am so enamoured with Buddhism is that it’s very different from religions like Judaism or Catholicism. For starters, the Buddha was just a human being, not a god. And although many Buddhists do believe in transcendent ideas like karma, heaven, hell and reincarnation, I don’t think that was the Buddha’s point, really. It was more that he existed in a time when these ideas were normal and universally accepted, like we believe in gravity, or the nutritional benefit of vitamins. They were the zeitgeist of his age.

As I have written before in these posts, if I had to name my particular brand of spirituality it would be to call myself a Buddhist atheist. I believe in Buddhism. I think it’s a wonderful theoretical framework for understanding the mind – and especially what can go wrong with it. I also believe that the Buddha was a real person, a great psychologist, teacher and healer, like Jesus. But I don’t believe in heaven and hell, or reincarnation, or any of the more mystical, religious stuff. If you do believe in those things, of course that’s absolutely fine – I’m not saying I am right, it’s just how I was raised and educated to perceive the world.

How Buddhist psychology can help you

Most of my readers are either struggling with mental-health problems, or trying to help people with these problems. And whether you are a client, therapist or concerned family member, there is so much in Buddhism you might find helpful. Let’s circle back to that idea of dukkha – like all Pali words, there is debate about the exact English translation, but suffering is close enough. In his Four Noble Truths, the Buddha taught (not wrote, as his was a time before books and paper) that to live a human life is inherently painful. Pain is unavoidable, for a whole host of reasons, but one of the simplest is that we are all mortal. We will all age, get sick and eventually die. This is, of course, the hardest truth we all have to face – but facing it is both important and healthy, as once we accept this idea we can get on with maximising our brief but wondrous existence on this planet.

So we can’t avoid pain. But the Buddha then explained that we can avoid suffering, because most suffering is human-made. He gave the famous example of twin arrows – the first arrow is something painful, like injuring your knee playing football. This just hurts – it’s called ‘the pain of pain’ – so there’s not much we can do about that except to rest it, use ice, see a physio, and so on. But what the human mind does is then create more pain by trying to avoid or push away the original pain. We think, ‘Why is this always happening to me? I’m so unlucky! God, I hate my life,’ or ‘I can’t stand this pain, it’s unbearable! These painkillers aren’t touching the sides, let me go back to the doctor and get some oxycontin, quick.’

In the first example, we now add feelings of frustration, anger and bitterness to the physical pain. In the second, we are desperately trying to avoid the pain at all costs, which can be a slippery slope to addiction – especially with opioids. In the Buddha’s teaching, it’s like we then shoot ourselves with a second arrow. And so physical pain becomes emotional suffering.

If not the arrow, then what?

Another wonderful thing about Buddhism is the emphasis on developing positive mental states, which anyone can do with enough persistence and determined effort. These include metta (loving-kindness), karuna (compassion), mudita (sympathetic joy) and upekkha (equanimity). These four ‘sublime states’ build on each other, offering a profound sense of peace, calm and protection from the inevitable pain of life. If you would like to know more, I strongly recommend the wonderful Sharon Salzberg’s classic book, Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness. Sharon is a world-leading expert on metta and how to develop it – it’s her USP.

She explains that, instead of shooting ourselves with that second arrow whenever life hurts or disappoints us, we can learn to treat ourselves kindly, patiently and warmly. This is like a soothing balm for the first-arrow wound, which helps it heal. Of course, this is not easy! Take it from a long-term meditator and student of Buddhism. Developing these beneficial mental states is not a simple thing, or I wouldn’t have to meditate every day.

But it is possible. And this is another great gift from that remarkable teacher 2,500 years ago – he gave us concrete tools and strategies we could all use – monastic or lay Buddhist, Christian or atheist – to transform our mind. Two of the (deceptively) simplest of these tools are developing mindfulness and metta, so here are two of my Insight Timer practices for doing just that:

Mindfulness of Breath: 10 Minutes (a good place to start if you’re fairly new to mindfulness practice)
Loving-Kindness Meditation: Three Stages (also useful if you’re new to metta practice)

I hope you find them helpful – and wish you ever-increasing peace and happiness as you follow your own unique path to healing, whatever that may be. And this is my last post before Christmas, so wishing you all a wonderful holiday season. Rest, recuperate, recharge and I will be in touch in the new year.

Love,

Dan ❤️