Book Review:

A Buddhist approach to counselling

The Buddha's Technique and Practice of Counselling as Depicted in the Pali Canon

By Jenny Quek

Author Publication, Singapore, 2007

The name says it all: it is a book on counselling as practised by the Buddha. The source is the Theravada canon available in Pali language. The key words are the Buddha, counselling and the Pali canon. Although the lengthy title of the book sounds too academic, the lucid and direct style of presentation shows that the reader does not need to fear an abstruse treatise of the subject. The book under review is a thesis submitted to the Department of Philosophy, University of Kelaniya for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in philosophy, with Buddhist and Western Comparative Psychology as its specific focus.

Psychological aspect

Although the title does not say anything directly on the Western psychological aspect of the book, I think it is assumed in any discussion on counselling, which is basically a concept developed in the Western psychological context. For the author, what the Buddha did in his entire life as the Awakened One is counselling. She takes this as a given that does not require any specific arguments for its establishment. I will say more on this basic assumption later. But for the moment the significance of this assumption is that it provides the author with a comfortable reason for her comparative approach to the subject.

The author, Jenny Quek, has been actively involved in counselling since 1991. Since 1995, she has been volunteering at a counselling centre (Shan You Counselling Centre, Singapore) in various capacities as voluntary counsellor, facilitator and President of the Centre.

Life of the Buddha

The special character of the type of counselling practised at this centre is that it is inspired by the life of the Buddha, who devoted his life for guiding people to end their multiform suffering, and informed by the insights of his teaching. The Buddha presented himself to his listeners and followers not as a commander to be obeyed, but as a good friend to be emulated. (We are told that shan you in Chinese means 'good friend' - kalyana-mitta in Pali language). Jenny Quek's book can be considered a comprehensive commentary on this characteristic of the life of the Buddha.

Psychology as a discipline is not very old in the Western tradition. It started to evolve as a separate discipline only during the last two centuries. Up to this point, the focus of any discussion related to human being was on soul. Not only in the Western tradition, even in the Eastern (Indian) tradition, what was mentioned as the unique feature of human being is this elusive entity called soul, which allegedly is constituting his/her essence. This foundational belief, which is a fundamental error according to the Buddha, was responsible for non-emergence of a systematic study of mind, both in the East and in the West. Mind started becoming a recognized subject in philosophy starting from Descartes (16th Century), who is considered the father of the modern philosophy. He characterized human being as made of two substances, mind and matter, interacting with each other, but with totally opposing characteristics. This 'Cartesian dualism' provided the subsequent philosophers and scientists with the basis on which to develop their ideas of the nature of human being and the role of mind in human life. References to most of the ideas developed subsequently can be found in the book under review.

As the author of this book clearly indicates 'psychology' is not something new for the teaching of the Buddha. His teaching begins with the idea of no soul (annatta-vada), which can be described as the most revolutionary view of human being and reality ever to be espoused by a teacher of a 'religion'. Prior to the Buddha, in India, the denial of the metaphysical soul was associated with the espousal of materialism, which is basically a reductionism.

Buddhist sources

According to the Buddhist sources, the teacher named Ajita Kesakambala maintained a similar view based on which he denied morality. With the idea of no soul the Buddha, too, was classified along with materialists and was rejected as a 'destructionist'. What the Buddha, however, did was to replace the unchanging and everlasting soul with a dependently arisen mind and leaving room for morality and liberation within such a reality.

Social manifestation

The Buddha did not deny the social manifestation of human problems. He traced their ultimate origin to their psychological condition. As mentioned in the Dhammapada, the ill-placed mind will cause more havoc to oneself than would one's worst enemy do, and the well-placed mind will cause more good than would one's own mother or father or the best of relatives do. Accordingly, understanding one's mind and developing it becomes the most important undertaking in the Buddhist religious life. In order to facilitate this undertaking, the Buddha has elaborated on the ways of understanding and developing mind in many discourses.

The ultimate purpose of Buddhist involvement with mind is its total liberation from suffering. The Buddha achieved this difficult feat by destroying all the defilements, which were also known in the tradition as the forces of Mara, in his mind. He subsequently taught the way to achieve liberation from defilements and freedom from suffering. Those who followed the path taught by Him and achieved total freedom from suffering were known as 'arahants'. Understandably not everyone became arahant. But all those who followed the path were able to achieve freedom from suffering in different degrees. What is described in the teaching of the Buddha as suffering ranges from mental and physical pain at its most ordinary form to its most subtle manifestation as fundamental existential unsatisfactoriness. This fundamental sense of anguish or pain has been articulated by the Buddha in the following manner:

And to me brethren, before I was enlightened while I was yet unenlightened and was Bodhisatta there came this thought: Alas! This would has fallen upon trouble. There is getting born, and decaying and passing away and being reborn. And yet from this suffering, from decay and death, an escape is not known. O, when shall escape from this suffering, from decay and death, be seen? (Samyutta-nikaya II. pp.10-11)

Noble search

This is the kind of suffering that motivated Siddhartha for his 'noble search', which culminated in total freedom. The Buddha subsequently described this total freedom as 'unshakable liberation of mind' (akuppa cetovimutti). The mission of the Buddha was to lead as many people as possible to achieve this freedom of mind, and it is to achieve this goal that he devoted his entire subsequent life. The disciples who achieved the final goal also spent the rest of their life helping others to tread the Path of freedom. What is studded in the book under review is this story of the Buddha and his disciples who, as 'good friends', guided others to freedom from mental afflictions. According to the author, this whole thing is counselling. Obviously this encompasses a much wider area than what is usually covered by counselling today. I feel that the author should have addressed this issue at the very beginning of her discussion and inform the reader that she is using the term in an extended sense.

This initial theoretical imprecision apart, the Book contains a valuable and quite comprehensive study of the Buddhist approach to counselling. It is difficult to find anything relevant left behind by the author- incidents, anecdotes and discourses having anything to do with what the author construes as counselling have not been missed. This, I would consider as an admirable characteristic of the Book.

Social awareness

The Book begins with an introduction covering issues such as perspectives of Buddhist counselling, Buddha's social awareness, and terminology of Buddhist psychoanalysis. The themes such as meditation and counselling the dying have been briefly discussed at the very outset. Chapter 1 is 'Early Buddhism and Counselling', discusses the overall psychological character of the teaching of the Buddha. Chapter 2, 'Psychology underlying the Buddhist Techniques of Counselling', discusses such themes as suffering, the three characteristics of existence, and the Buddhist analysis of personality. An insightful discussion on counselling for stress management is included here. Chapter 3 is on the Buddha's role as therapist, counsellor cum teacher. Chapter 4 discusses counsellors who are not suitable for the job in the Buddhist view.

The discussion is concluded with some remarks on the communication skills needed by a counsellor. Chapter 5 contains a useful study of the character traits and personality types according to the Buddhist sources, particularly the Abhidhamma and the Visuddhimagga. The Buddhist analysis of human types and characteristics is unprecedented in the Indian history of religion and deserves being treated on its own. The author studies this valuable theme within her limits. The last chapter, 'Cases of Effective Counselling and Techniques Applied', discusses instances from the life of the Buddha illustrating his remarkable ability to counsel people effectively.

Western psychotherapy

The last two chapters, covering a little less than a half of the entire book, are by far the most informative and useful in the eyes of one who enters the field of Buddhist counselling. The conclusion summarises and highlights the key findings of the Book. The bibliography provides information on primary and secondary sources for those who wish to pursue the subject further. Two indexes are useful study aids for readers.

A noteworthy feature of Jenny Quek's treatment of the subject is her comparative approach. The author locates the discussion in the wider context of modern Western psychotherapy and counselling. Almost in every aspect of the discussion the author compares or contrasts the Buddhist materials with relevant Western psychological findings and views.

In particular, the references to psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud and the views of C. G. Jung are many and useful for the reader to locate the Buddhist practice in the wider context of modern psychology.

The author also draws from more recent authors such as Eric Fromm, D. J. Kalupahana, Mark Epstein, Padmasiri de Silva and many others.

The Book provides a new dimension to the widespread practice of counselling and psychotherapy in today's world.

Material aspect

The quest for psychological health and well being has become almost the distinguishing character of modern society. This does not mean that it was not a concern of the society in the past.

With vast improvements in the material aspect of life, particularly in more affluent societies, people have increasingly felt the need for fulfilment beyond gratification of senses. Phenomena such as industrialization, urbanisation, population explosion, etc., have contributed to the rapid acceleration of mental problems in society.

Professional jealousies and rivalries and unending competition at every stage of life have added to this new form of 'suffering' characteristic of modernity. Very often those who could not find what they sought after in their traditional religious and cultural beliefs have increasingly turned to the East in general and to Buddhism in particular.

Accordingly Buddhist meditation has gained almost a universal recognition today. This popularity does not mean that all those who try Buddhist meditation are seekers after nirvana or that they have become 'Buddhists'. Their goals are more worldly and mundane.

Many of them seem to look for peace and happiness of mind so that they can cope with the daily challenges of their professional demands and day-to-day living. Consequently psychotherapy and psychological counselling based on Buddhist insights has become quite attractive, especially among the educated and the professional for the last several decades.

This trend suggests that the modern educated society has come to appreciate the relevance of the teaching of the Buddha for mental health. The metaphor of suffering as illness/disease, the Dhammas as the medicine and the Buddha as the physician is well known in the Buddhist literature. As the author of this book herself refers to (p.131), the Buddha advised Nakulapita, whose body was afflicted with disease due to his advance age, that he should make sure that he is mentally healthy although he may not be so physically.

Mental afflictions

The mental health referred to in this context is not necessarily the ultimate state of health characterised by Nirvana. It could well encompass all types of mental afflictions of varying degrees one is bound to experience in the course of one's Samsaric existence.

As we noticed earlier, not all those who followed the Buddha were able to make a total end to their suffering. This is quite understandable and the Dhamma was not exclusively for those who had renounced their household life; it was equally for those men and women who were in Samsara, escape from which was not their immediate priority. Accordingly one cannot argue that using the teaching of the Buddha for the temporary needs of this-worldly individuals is not warranted. What is crucial, however, is to see the total Nirvanic context of the teaching of the Buddha and locate oneself within the broader ethical framework taught by him.

Jenny Quek has written a useful, insightful and informative book on the Buddha's contribution to psychological counselling and psychotherapy. The fact that the author is not a mere theoretician, but one who is very much involved has made it all the more reliable and relevant. As the insight meditation (Vipassana) has become an essential aspect of the contemporary programs of mental well being, the Buddha's techniques and the practice of counselling, too, will be the face of psychological counselling to come. The author should be congratulated for successfully completing an innovative project. The ultimate test of the survival of the Dhamma is whether or not it provides guidance for the human beings living in today's troubled society. Jenny Quek's work provides a substantial affirmative answer to this question. All those of us who look for better and alternative answers through the Dhamma for human problems cannot bypass Jenny Quek. I wish her good health, longevity and happiness to continue her work for the welfare of many.

- Asanga Tilakaratne Professor of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University of Colombo