11
LOCATING BUDDHISM, LOCATING
PSYCHOLOGY
Richard K.Payne
IntroductionJust as it is important to understand the cultural assumptions—psychological and
religious—of our own society and historical period, it is important to inform our
discussion of Buddhism and psychology with a sensitivity to the social, cultural and
historical origins of the practices and teachings which are being appropriated, lest our
own concerns and preconceptions distort the tradition so greatly that it loses its ability
to effect change in us. As I understand it, the Buddhist tradition itself holds that
everything that exists, exists as the result of causes and conditions. Throughout this
essay, whenever I speak of what Buddhism or the Buddhist tradition holds, the reader
is to understand that this is simply shorthand for what I myself understand Buddhism
to be. I am not attempting to cloak my own views in the authority of the tradition,
but rather simply avoid cluttering up the essay with repeated qualifications.
Existing as the result of causes and conditions, as Buddhism teaches, entails viewing
every existing thing in terms of its particular location. This includes self-referentially
applying this view to the teachings and practices of Buddhism itself. In my own
experience there are three more specific reasons for giving special attention to the
social, cultural, and historical location of a religious teaching or practice. As indicated
by Geertz’s often-quoted definition of religion, both religion and culture have the
effect of presenting a particular world view as simply given, natural, just ‘the way it
is,’ and therefore unquestionable. Yet, after having lived in Japan for almost a year
and a half, it seems obvious to me that much of what is taken for granted as simply
natural is actually conventional, an agreement reached implicitly and without
discussion. The amount of culture shock I and my family experienced upon our return
to the United States was in fact far greater than when we went to Japan. While we
had expected the unfamiliarity of Japan, our sense of alienation when we returned to
what was supposed to be home was disconcerting. Attitudes, behavior, dress,
everything that we had taken so much for granted now seemed strange and arbitrary.
Second, I have seen how Buddhist teachings can be unintentionally distorted by
those who fail to recognize their own assumptions about the character of religion.
Assuming, for example, that like Protestantism all religions give primacy to the