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MAGA Z I N E
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Living Buddhism
Buddhism is not just a set of techniques for self-help. There is something much bigger going on.
By Dharmavidya David Brazier
WINT E R 2 0 1 1

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Photographs by Alison Wright

T
his article is available as part of our current web exclusive featuring the Shin
School of Pure Land Buddhism. Read more about the rich tradition of Jodo Shinshu from
our Wisdom Collection here.

In the s, I knew a remarkable man named Carl Rogers, one of the most eminent and
inuential psychologists of the last century. Carl, not unlike Shakyamuni Buddha, saw
virtually limitless potential within human nature, and this inspired him in all he did. He
was an explorer of human relations, a visionary, and a rigorous researcher. He was willing
to ask awkward or demanding questions, consider them thoroughly, and then think about
things in new ways as the situation required. Indeed, one of Carls favorite expressions was
the facts are friendly, by which he meant we should not fear the truth even though it may
not t with what we already believe.
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During Carls time, the world of psychotherapy had become polarized between various
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schools of psychoanalysis on the one hand, with their complex and untestable esoteric
theories, and on the other, behaviorism, which in the name of a very narrow denition of
science reduced human experience to simplistic terms and therapy to mechanically
applied techniques. In his approach to research, Carl did not impose a theoretical structure
on clinical practice; instead, he let theories arise from careful investigation of what actually
happens in the clinical setting. His work was instrumental in the development of
humanistic psychology, which presented itself as a third force in the eld.

I nd that the concerns Carl had about the psychology world of his time has parallels in the
Buddhist world of today. With this in mind, we might do well to reect on whether we
modern practitioners of the dharma are not in danger of falling into one or the other of two
extremes, one insular, heavily esoteric, and self-validating, and the other characterized by
a narrow focus on the application of technique alone. I am especially concerned with the
latter, because it seems to me that in adopting that perspective, we might think we are
being progressive when in fact we are merely tting Buddhism to certain unexamined but
commonly held beliefs about the world.

For many Western Buddhists, a technical approach that says in eect, You dont need to
believe anything, just do the practice is very appealing. We are, after all, a culture very
much driven by technology. Yet this technical emphasis directed toward Buddhism is
something new. Traditionally, in the Asian cultures in which the dharma has ourished,
Buddhism is more a matter of attitude than a set of techniques. Attitude is about the
holding of an entire context, though it can take specic forms in ritual or meditation
practice or other activities. But the main attitudes through which Buddhists have always
expressed their connection to the dharma are devotion and faith. The form and content of
these attitudes varies depending on the culture, the tradition, and even the individual, but
the common characteristic is a whole (though not uncritical) and deeply felt sense
relationship to the Three Treasures: the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.

The idea that one can just do the practice is itself based on faith, yet it is easy to miss this
sleight of hand. This view of practice does not avoid faith; it simply plays into a faith we
already havethat is, faith in a technological approach to life. It assumes that meditation,
like penicillin or Windows ., works the same in any context. That is a lot to assume.
Liberate this article!
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Dharmavidya David Brazieris a Buddhist teacher, doctor of Buddhist psychology, and

author of numerous books. He is head of the Amida Order, an international Pure Land
community based in Europe.

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