Is it possible to integrate psychotherapy and Buddhist meditation?
Yes. The goals of psychotherapy – bringing insight, realization, freedom, and less suffering – are highly compatible with the main thesis of Buddhism. One-third of the Buddhist canon of old concerns psychology and psycho-philosophy – how to understand the nature of the mind, its consciousness, and its workings. So psychotherapy and Buddhism are very congruent practices; and particularly in America there has been a mutually beneficial cross-fertilization between the two approaches. Many Western Buddhist teachers I know are practicing therapists and psychiatrists. And conversely, many therapists, psychiatrists, and healers today are practicing Buddhist meditation. Even if they’re not Buddhists per se, they’re doing mindfulness meditation, which is also taught in hospitals and other situations without a Buddhist overlay. Q: You’re a self-described “Jewish boy from Long Island” who has studied and practiced Buddhism for nearly thirty years. Looking back at your own spiritual journey, do yo
