Awakening and Insight: Zen Buddhism and Psychotherapy

drives in order to fit into a spiritual ideal (Epstein 1995; Epstein and Lieff 1981). As
Epstein aptly puts it, any realization in a meditative state is ‘vulnerable to narcissistic
recruitment’ (Epstein 1990:18). Blissful, rapturous states may deceive practitioners
into evading certain aspects of their experience; self-abasement may masquerade for
spiritual asceticism (Rubin 1996). Emptiness may be confused with incompleteness;
‘no-self’ with absence of healthy ego functioning (Epstein 1990:22).
Misunderstandings of the Buddhist view of self-nullification may entail similar
pitfalls (Rubin 1996). The doctrine of ‘no-self’ may appeal to students who feel empty,
hollow, or unreal, or who are seeking to avoid autonomy, responsibility, or intimacy.
It is possible to cultivate blissful, quiet states of mind and at the same time neglect
personal needs and disavow negative and shadow aspects of the personality that,
because they are not worked through, are eventually acted out. This may explain, at
least in part, the recent eruption of scandals involving sexual misconduct and financial
exploitation in many American Buddhist centers (Rubin 1996).
Welwood coined the equally well-known phrase of ‘spiritual bypassing,’ or ‘the
tendency to try to avoid or prematurely transcend basic human needs, feelings and
developmental tasks’ (Welwood 2000:64). Traditional Eastern parenting practices in
infancy and early childhood may be much more conducive to solid object-relations
constancy than modern Western parenting practices (Roland 1988; Welwood 2000).
This may in part explain why Buddhist meditation traditions presuppose a solid
self-structure in the students who initially come to practice (Engler 1984). Given the
loss of supportive social networks such as close-knit communities and extended family
ties, the neurosis of the nuclear family (in which most American Zen Buddhists have
been raised) is inevitably magnified (Welwood 2000). Contemporary Western society
does not facilitate the achievement of ordinary developmental tasks, such as obtaining
stable, meaningful work, engaging in significant long-term relationships, and
belonging to a supportive community (Welwood 2000). It is only understandable
that some, if not many, meditation practitioners are tempted to use spiritual practice
as a way of avoiding the need to face and work through their personal wounds or
distress.

Integrating Zen meditation and psychotherapy

The need for integration

As Buddhism spreads throughout the United States, perhaps its most visible
adaptation to Western culture will be through psychology (Kornfield 1993b).
Whether Buddhist principles will inform psychotherapy or Western psychotherapy
will inform the way Buddhist meditation is practiced in the West and, in this way,
become a form of therapy in itself, remains to be seen (Brazier 2000). Much of the
current debate on integrating Buddhist meditation and Western psychotherapy
emphasizes the importance of Buddhist teachers becoming aware of psychological

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