The Original Buddhist Psychology: What the Abhidharma Tells Us About How We Think, Feel, and Experience Life

by Beth Jacobs Ph.D.

Overview

Drawing on decades of experience, a psychotherapist and Zen practitioner makes the Abhidharma—the original psychological system of Buddhism—accessible to a general audience for the first time.

The Abhidharma, one of the three major text collections of the original Buddhist canon, explores the critical juncture of Buddhist thought and the therapeutic aspects of the religion and meditation. It frames the psychological system of Buddhism, explaining the workings of reality and the nature of the human mind.

Composed of detailed matrixes and lists that outline the interaction of consciousness and reality, The Abhidharma explores the essence of perception and experience, and the reasons and methods behind mindfulness and meditation.

Because of its complexity, the Abhidharma has traditionally been reserved only for academic or monastic study; now, for the first time, clinical psychologist Beth Jacobs makes this dynamic, important text and its teachings available to general readers, using practical explanation, personal stories, and vivid examples to gently untangle the technical aspects of the Abhidharma.

Jacobs’ work illuminates this classic of Buddhist thought, highlighting the ways it can broaden and deepen our experience of the human psyche and offering profound insights into spiritual practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781623171308
Publisher:	North Atlantic Books
Publication date:	06/27/2017
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

BETH JACOBS, PhD, is a clinical psychologist in private practice and a former faculty member of the Feinberg School of Medicine of Northwestern University. A lay teacher in the Soto Zen tradition, Jacobs incorporates Buddhist studies and meditation into her work as both a psychologist and a writer. She is the author of Writing for Emotional Balance (2005) as well as an award-winning column for the National Association for Poetry Therapy.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Prologue: Why the Buddhists Got It Right xi

1 Entering the Abhidharma 1

2 Construction and Khandhas 11

3 Perceptual Processes 19

4 Six X Six 29

5 Citta 37

6 Cetasika 47

7 Cittas X Cetasikas: Ways of the Abhidharma Matrix 57

8 Emotion in the Abhidharma 63

9 The Abhidharma Diagnostic System 73

10 The Abhidharma Cosmology 87

11 A View of Matter 95

12 Karma 109

13 Causality and the Twenty-Four Conditions 119

14 The Abhidharma Prescription 141

15 A Timeless Psychology 151

Appendix: The Types of Citta 159

References 165

Notes 171

Index 181

About the Author 189

Editorial Reviews

"Beth Jacobs has the kind of mind that absorbs Abhidharma information and structure, combined with a lifetime of eloquent writing and clinical skills as a psychologist. The result is a unique treasure of a book and contribution to the study of Buddhism and mind."
—Sojun Diane Martin, founding and guiding teacher, Udumbara Zen Center
 
"Jacobs' work here is unprecedented: for all of the popular literature on Buddhist thought and practice and its relationship to psychotherapy, no one has yet made the foundational Buddhist psychological sources—the Abhidharma—available to a non-academic audience. Jacobs is doing just that. The Abhidharma is notoriously difficult to understand, let alone master. But in weaving her personal experiences as a therapist and Zen student into her learned discussion of the Abhidharma psychology, Jacobs makes the Abhidharma come alive. Her examples are startlingly illustrative, her language is fresh and immediate, and her use of her personal story breathes life into what is often thought of as the driest of Buddhist texts."
—Joy Brennan, PhD, assistant professor of religious studies, Kenyon College

“Beth Jacobs not only reveals the essence of the complex and nuanced text of the Abhidharma but holds it lightly and turns it slowly so that we can see through it to a whole new view of ourselves and the world.”
—Polly Young-Eisendrath, PhD, author of The Present Heart: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Discovery
 
“A wonderfully unique, refreshing, and much-needed alternative to the seemingly dry, tedious, and endless lists that typify the vast Abhidharma literature. Beth Jacobs has given us a penetrating, thorough, and dynamically practical study, full of beautiful lived examples that clearly demonstrate everyday usefulness.”
—Seiso Paul Cooper, author of The Zen Impulse and the Psychoanalytic Encounter

From the Publisher