What Is Buddhist Psychotherapy?

Abstract

There is a framework for understanding people in every psychotherapy. I became convinced that Buddhism was an excellent psychotherapy, not to be outdone by any other psychotherapy. Buddhism possesses a clear understanding of people. It is not an understanding based on intellectual reasoning, but an understanding of people as they are based on observation. Based on a complete understanding of humans and the world, Buddhism helps us make decisions that are most beneficial to us. The strength of Buddhism in psychotherapy is in seeing human existence itself as suffering and proposing a path of freedom from it. The Buddha understood and treated human beings through the framework of the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path.

I present the three principles of Buddhist psychotherapy. The first principle is to understand the properties of the body and mind. The second principle is to understanding the way the world works. The third principle concerns what is most important as we live our lives. We must have wisdom to prevent suffering from arising.