The Buddha Dhamma as a psychotherapeutic technique and how the Buddhist mindfulness practice could be integrated into thecontemporary social work service

Abstract

This doctrinal study demonstrates in what way the ‘Universal Applicability’ of Buddha Dhamma can be reflected in the intervention process in view of the contemporary situation of the Buddhist Mindfulness being integrated as a psychotherapeutic technique. In past few decades, the Western psychotherapists recognize Mindfulness as ‘the heart of Buddhist meditation’ and apply it as an impartial psychotherapeutic technique to serve their clients’ physical health and psychological wellness. As recorded in the Buddhist Pāli tradition, through practicing Mindfulness meditation, people are able to comprehend the ‘Universal Applicability’ of Buddha Dhamma, to realize three universal characteristics (lakkhanas) of sentient existence, namely impermanence (anicca), un-satisfactoriness (dukkha), and non-self (anatta), and eventually to liberate their mind from suffering.

From studying the Buddhist teaching of Mindfulness embedded in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta and the Mahā-Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, the researcher develops this tenet,

“the Buddhist Mindfulness could be an effective psychotherapeutic technique when it is practiced within the Buddhist context and supported by the theoretical foundation, and when the ‘Universal Applicability’ of the Buddha Dhamma is reflected in the therapeutic process ”.

Applying the tenet to study the case, the ‘Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program’ (the MBSR) initiated by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, she finds three issues which makes her hesitated to agree with the Western psychotherapists’ integrating the Buddhist Mindfulness as a stand-alone psychotherapeutic technique. The first two issues are the way the psychotherapists interpreting and implementing the Buddhist Mindfulness as a stand-alone technique without the Buddhist context and isolated from the Buddhist theoretical foundation. Resulted from the first two issues, the third one is the ‘Universal Applicability’ of Buddha Dhamma has no way to reflect in the treatment process to help people liberating from suffering.

After identifying these three issues, the researcher carries on to incorporate ideas of practicing Mindfulness suggested by the Pali Buddhist tradition, and collaborate with the Social Work Profession with applying transferrable skills of the ‘Experiential Learning’ techniques to design a pilot service—the Buddhist Mindfulness-Based Social Service Project (the BMBSS). The BMBSS, consists of (1) an Orientation Meeting, (2) the six-session Prerequisite Training (the PRT-BMBSS) and, (3) the twenty-six-session Buddhist Mindfulness-Based Social Service Program (the BMBSS), aims at demonstrating the way to support the ‘Practicing Facilitators’ and the ‘Practicing Novices’ to apply the Buddhist teaching of Mindfulness into their daily activities.

Moreover, the researcher designs the BMBSS Project in the way to promote interdisciplinary collaboration between Buddhist communities and the Social Work Profession to exchange ideas to benefit their services. The Social Work Profession may benefit from the Buddhist teaching on ‘non-self’ to apply its intrinsic technique of the ‘use of self’ to serve the clients, when the Buddhist communities may learn from the Social Work Profession to bring the Buddhist teaching to serve the society at large. Furthermore, ideas on supporting inter-disciplinary collaboration generated from developing the BMBSS may transfer into promoting dialogues and networking between the Buddhist communities and other professions to integrate the ‘Universal Applicability’ of Buddha Dhamma to serve the needs of the Buddhists and non-Buddhists.