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Buddhist VIew on Positive Psychology

Peace2012caPeace2012ca
edited January 2012 in Buddhism Basics
Recently, there has been a new development in psychology which focuses on increasing happiness in life. How would a Buddhist view this? Is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy more in line with the realistic outlook of Buddhism?

Comments

  • SpacelessSpaceless
    Anything that benefit living beings for joys and peace is in the spirit of buddhism. You can never discover realistic outlook in buddhism unless you are the one same as buddha.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    Be kind to yourself and allow mistakes. Be a friend to yourself and others. I don't know much about CBT but I just think this is the positive buddhist.
  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    edited January 2012
    I know in talks with western scientists (including psychologists) HHDL has mentioned the need to investigate the importance of the positive emotions.
  • VastmindVastmind Memphis, TN Veteran
    I subscribe to PhsychologyToday, and ...its not really new there. Buddha's best attribute was his practical way of explaining one's behavior.

    What have you been reading?
    We love discussing books!
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    Buddhsim IS positive psychology!

    Current psychological methods and implementations can already be found in Buddhism....
  • DharmaFieldDharmaField
    Agree with Frederica, most of it is Buddhist inspired, but tends to be used performatively rather than true giving.
  • LostieLostie Veteran
    Buddhsim IS positive psychology!

    Current psychological methods and implementations can already be found in Buddhism....
    Mod

    What about the middle way which Buddhism talks about? It's dualistic to speak of something positive/negative. Thanks.

  • IktomiIktomi
    Life is suffering. Yeah, so positive!
  • SpacelessSpaceless
    Agree with Frederica.
  • Telly03Telly03 Veteran
    Life is suffering. Yeah, so positive!
    Can be, doesn't have to be
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    Life is suffering. Yeah, so positive!
    The Buddha never said that Life IS suffering:
    What he said was that there is 'stress' (suffering) in life. Quite different.
    Pain happens, but suffering is optional...

    Psychology supports a person in getting to the bottom, or source of what that person perceives to be their aspect of suffering, and helps them own it, challenge it and overcome it.

    If that happens, good thing....

    Buddhism supports a person in getting to the bottom, or source of what that person perceives to be their aspect of suffering, and helps them own it, challenge it and overcome it.

    If that happens, good thing....

  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    The Gospel (Good News) of Buddha.

    "The problem is, people are suffering." First Noble Truth.
    "This suffering is self-inflicted through selfish desires." Second Noble Truth.
    "Selfish desires, and thus suffering, can be eliminated!" Third Noble Truth.

    What can be more positive?

    When I took a class on Cognitive Psychology in college, I was immediately struck by the way our modern psychologists rediscovered the Buddhist model of the human mind without giving him credit. Their therapy of examining one's thoughts as triggers to our emotions fits into the Buddhist dharma and points toward mindfulness as a theraputic tool.

    Positive Psychology has its flaws. If happiness is the goal in life and gives it meaning, then a lifetime supply of valium is the most direct answer. Pain and stress and unhappiness is the human motivation to look around and notice that something is going wrong. Conflict arises because we are all unique individuals with different values that sometimes rubs each other the wrong way. And things will go wrong and should cause unhappiness in individuals and societies. There should be conflict, as long as we cherish individualism.

    It's the Middle Way all over again. Buddism does not promise a life of happiness. There will still be pain and sorrow and disappointments. Buddhism promises a way to rise above our selfish expectations of personal happiness, to realize a peaceful mind. We use a metaphor of a rock falling into a pond, and our minds are tossed and turned by the waves. We learn how to quiet the waves, but the rock still lands in the water. It's hard to explain.




  • seeker242seeker242 Zen Florida, USA Veteran
    edited January 2012
    Interesting facts about CBT :)
    Dr. Albert Ellis, considered the "grandfather of cognitive-behavioral therapy" (CBT), has written: Many of the principles incorporated in the theory of rational-emotive psychotherapy are not new; some of them, in fact, were originally stated several thousands of years ago, especially by the Greek and Roman Stoic philosophers (such as Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius) and by some of the ancient Taoist and Buddhist thinkers.
    So basically, CBT borrowed some techniques that were/are part of Buddhism, to begin with. :)
  • IktomiIktomi
    Life is suffering. Yeah, so positive!
    The Buddha never said that Life IS suffering:
    What he said was that there is 'stress' (suffering) in life.
    There is suffering in life. I see your point, that's so positive.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    Yes it is, isn't it?
    If life IS suffering, then what remedy is there?
    If there is suffering IN Life - then there is a remedy!

    Glad you see my point, thanks! :thumbsup:
  • IktomiIktomi
    Yes it is, isn't it?
    If life IS suffering, then what remedy is there?
    Please read the rest of the Noble Truths.
    If there is suffering IN Life - then there is a remedy!
    Your logic escapes me. Life does not exist without suffering. Of course if you can somehow show that it does...
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    Hey, you started with the misquotation, not I.
    Yes it is, isn't it?
    If life IS suffering, then what remedy is there?
    Please read the rest of the Noble Truths.
    your error, not mine....
    You're the one who said "Life IS suffering.
    I pointed out that what in fact the Buddha said, more accurately, is that life contains suffering....
    If there is suffering IN Life - then there is a remedy!
    Your logic escapes me. Life does not exist without suffering. Of course if you can somehow show that it does...

    No, I think it's pretty clear.Life does not exist without suffering.... but not everybody need suffer.....
    I'm sorry, I thought we were agreed on this?
    Or are you just arguing for the sake of it?

  • IktomiIktomi
    You wrote yourself that there is suffering in life. If you can see that as positive there's no reason you shouldn't be able to see the truth of suffering, that life is suffering, is positive. Not like Stuart Smalley positive, but positive nonetheless.

    You might also see that being reborn into the world of suffering is positive.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    Yes, ok. :)
  • IktomiIktomi
    Cool.

    Positive psychology is intended to complement, not to replace traditional psychology. It does not seek to deny the importance of studying how things go wrong, but rather to emphasize the importance of using the scientific method to determine how things go right. Researchers in the field analyze things like states of pleasure or flow, values, strengths, virtues, talents, as well as the ways that they can be promoted by social systems and institutions. This is a scientific or pragmatic approach. If something is found to be false or unreliable it is put aside and not doggedly held on to in support of the status quo or social hierarchy.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    that's precisely the opinion HHDL has about science.... if anything can be found to disprove or seriously bring into question anything already taught in Buddhism, then Buddhism would seriously have to review its teachings.....
  • driedleafdriedleaf Veteran
    So the first noble truth, simply put, is that clinging is suffering. It's because of clinging that physical pain becomes mental pain. It's because of clinging that aging, illness, and death cause mental distress. The paradox here is that, in clinging to things, we don't trap them or get them under our control. Instead, we trap ourselves. When we realize our captivity, we naturally search for a way out. And this is where it's so important that the first noble truth not say that "Life is suffering." If life were suffering, where would we look for an end to suffering? We'd be left with nothing but death and annihilation. But when the actual truth is that clinging is suffering, we simply have to look for the clinging and eliminate its causes.

    http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/lifeisnt.html
  • IktomiIktomi

    that's precisely the opinion HHDL has about science.... if anything can be found to disprove or seriously bring into question anything already taught in Buddhism, then Buddhism would seriously have to review its teachings.....
    Positive psychologists don't need to make statements like this, because it's a given that if something is found to be false or unreliable it is put aside and not doggedly held on to in support of the status quo or social hierarchy. And in any case, positive psychology focuses on what works, not what's not working, hence the use of the word "positive."
  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    A person goes to the doctor.

    The doctor tells them their appendix is about to burst. We can do surgery and remove it before it does.

    Is it negative or positive for the doctor to tell the patient their appendix is about to burst?
  • IktomiIktomi
    The bummer is why the appendix burst - bad karma.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    Not necessarily. you can't say that with any definitive conviction.
    The fact that he found a skilled surgeon who may well have saved his life, isn't bad karma - is it?
  • IktomiIktomi
    Must have done something "negative" in a past life to deserve a burst appendix.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    I don't view it that way.... kamma isn't a process of retribution...it just is. Saying something MUST be down to something else, is complete hypothesis.
    It's speculation, and as such leads us into wrong View.
    Best just see it for what it is, and try to make the best of it.
  • IktomiIktomi
    Speculation leads to wrong view... yet again, not a very positive outlook.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    if you say so. :)
  • IktomiIktomi
    Again, positive psychology focuses on what works, not on what doesn't work, hence the use of the word "positive."
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    Ok. You made your point, thanks.
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    Many countries are taking their first tentative steps towards a Ministry of Well Being
    UK wellbeing index
    . . . imagine that . . . tools, tips, means towards positive well being.
    Maybe dukkha could eventually be made illegal?
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    Surely seeking this kind of evaluation is dukkha itself....?
  • SattvaPaulSattvaPaul South Wales, UK Veteran
    edited January 2012
    Ministry of Wellbeing? :hiding: Sounds strangely Orwellian to me.
  • seeker242seeker242 Zen Florida, USA Veteran
    I propose that both positive and negative are both just mental fabrications to be abandoned. :)
  • IktomiIktomi
    Ok. You made your point, thanks.
    Hey your welcome. Glad your starting to be more open to different ideas!
  • IktomiIktomi
    I propose that both positive and negative are both just mental fabrications to be abandoned. :)
    Rather than dismissing, a positive approach simply focuses on what works and builds on that.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    Ok. You made your point, thanks.
    Hey your welcome. Glad your starting to be more open to different ideas!
    I've never been closed to them.
    I just can't be bothered to argue....;)
  • IktomiIktomi
    Uh, you're arguing...
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    if you say so..... :)
  • IktomiIktomi
    That's called being passive aggressive. Any yes, I say so. :)
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator

    I thought I was just replying to your statement.
    you called it arguing.
    If you want to see it that way, that's your prerogative.
    I don't, and that's mine.
    I guess we'll just have to agree to differ.
  • IktomiIktomi
    If you say so. :)
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