As its title suggests, Dharma Psychology
is a fruitful marriage of East and West that blends scientific knowledge of our
mental and sensory processes with time-honored experiential wisdom about human
nature.
The result is an eminently compassionate and lucid approach to the
human predicament that enhances the Buddha’s teachings on suffering with a
detailed explanation of why and how it arises –and what can be done about it. Although
it is not academic, the book thoroughly analyzes the hidden workings of the
human mind, including the path of incoming sense data; the subliminal complexes
that interfere with its processing; the tension and stress arising from the
conflicts of these stained visceral, emotional and mental complexes with each
other, with existing social norms and with the inner voice that cries for the
restoration of natural harmony and balance; and the often phony resolutions we
implement to assuage those conflicts through cognitive dissonance. In so doing,
it depicts an anatomy of human suffering familiar to many yet laden with the
ultimate promise that there is a way out.
Shanjian is equally straightforward
indeed in his appraisal of human beings’ potential to retrieve their pure
nature. His analysis covers the natural processes involved in that recovery
(curiosity, creativity, imagination and humor, among others), reviews
compatible humanistic psychology models, and establishes a framework where they
can be combined with meditation techniques such as mindfulness, clear
comprehension and vipassana (insight meditation) to bring about a release from
the symptoms of suffering. Seldom before have the arms for self-liberation been
laid so openly before the eyes and hands of the general public.
Complete with
multiple diagrams and references ranging from the ancient Vedas and Shakespeare
to Freud and Simon & Garfunkel, plus an appendix on how to practice
vipassana and an index, Dharma Psychology will be an invaluable source for
psychologists, psychiatrists and therapists, as well as for meditation
instructors.