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A case study of a therapeutic approach in practicing Buddhist psychological counseling

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Author

Date

2002

Volume

3

Pages

253-264

Abstract

Looking for an ultimate healing for mental sickness of an individual or group is one of the important goals of our gradually polluted society. In fact it is not an easy task for a counselor.

A good healer, as Buddha mentioned, should keep up to date with all related tools and knowledge in order to achieve this goal. Taking into account Buddha's teachings as well as western techniques, a counselor can develop a wonderful therapy that can be as practical and reliable, as Buddha's therapy was 2500 years ago.

It is my interest in Buddhist Psychological Counseling as a monk, in applying Buddha's teaching to our life, which is a fundamental goal of Humanistic Buddhism, and in helping all suffering sentient beings. Yet it should be point out that an enduring and practical system is more essential than just my interest. With my experience, I have developed four steps of counseling as a model that has proved to be long lasting and practical. This paper will briefly discuss these four steps of counseling, using mostly Buddha's therapy with some modification of Western technique.

At the conclusion, some suggestions are given which I believe that a good counselor should be aware of, including suffering and the knowledge to deal with the complexity and diversity of our society. In my experience, this model has worked for many of my patients and is practical for a counselor.