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FACE TO FACE | EASTERN HORIZON 23

Can you tell us how you became interested in Also, I would say Zen and Buddhist teachings shift a
Buddhism, and why did you choose Zen instead of sense of therapy’s path. Buddhism and therapy both
the other Buddhist traditions? aim to decrease human suffering, but I see the way to
do that as less directional and as more radial because
My Buddhist practice evolved out of my practice of of the teachings. The therapeutic focus is to open and
psychology and from a feeling of hitting a ceiling in what allow more than to solve. I still hope to see symptoms
Western psychology offers. Western depth psychology decrease and lives blossom, but I think the way to that
brings great insights to human suffering, but I felt that is more about developing compassion and accepting
something was missing; something about context was awareness than about fixing anything.
being ignored in viewing the particular human mind
from within its own story. My research led me to the You’re a poet and a prolific writer – how can poetry
book Destructive Emotions, A Scientific Dialogue with or writing be a form of meditation?
the Dalai Lama by Daniel Goleman. That book led me
to meditation training and my curiosity about the I do consider writing to be a form of mindfulness
background of that training led me to study Buddhism. practice, if it is done with that intention and not
merely to produce a specific product. Writing is a
Truthfully, the choice to study the Zen tradition was particular way to think. For many people, it is a natural
fairly random originally, as I simply picked a place to mindfulness tool because it allows a bit of removal
learn meditation that was located close to me. Like between the thought processes and language. When
many seemingly random occurrences though, it ended people write in journals or use Buddhist practice
up well. I had found a place where my mind felt at home, journals to describe their paths, they force vague
and the more I immersed myself, the more I enjoyed impressions into full articulation. There is a reciprocal
Zen’s appreciation of inclusiveness, multiplicity, and the process in writing; insight flows into words which can
poetry of practice. be read and then bundle into further awareness. I have
found that writing and mindfulness or creativity fuel
As a clinical psychologist, what aspects of Zen each other.
teachings do you apply in your therapy sessions?
Here are a few specific reasons for this process:
This is always a hard question because I feel so infused • Writing slows down the pace of thought.
with Buddhist practice and perspective that it is an This is calming and creates a distinct increased feel
essential quality in the interaction of therapy. But I think for the flow of mental process.
the broad perspective of the teachings lends power to
the discussions of the particulars of any life or moment. • Writing forces completion of thought.
Seeing the universal in the moment of the interaction The importance of this cannot be emphasized too
and in suffering has a neutralizing quality. When it is not much. We usually think and perceive in fragments.
so personal, the hold of the self is loosened. From there, On the level of a sentence, page or journal entry,
more apt movement is possible. clarity, completion and wholeness are felt when the
words lie on the page.
The teachings of Buddhism, and of the Abhidharma in
particular, also lend power to analysis. With a Buddhist • Writing synthesizes various modes of experience
background in therapy, we can look at events in (sensory, emotional, spiritual, cognitive, bodily)
microscopic detail as well as in broad historical sweeps. through the mill of language.
This helps people to look at the natural laws of cause Writing is a powerful integrative process. All the
and effect as they play out in their lives and understand ways we experience our lives can be crunched
more deeply and again with more dispassion. through the deep human language structure and
aerated.