Zen and Psychotherapy: Partners in Liberation

by Joseph Bobrow, Norman Fischer (Foreword by)

Overview

A new take on the interplay of emotional and spiritual development.

“Please read this book. Joseph Bobrow is a true meditation teacher who walks his talk and enjoys his practice.”—Thich Nhat Hanh

This book is an intimate dialogue that examines the interplay of emotional and spiritual development through the lens of Zen Buddhism and psychotherapy. Zen and Psychotherapy artfully illuminates the intrinsic connections between the two practices, and demonstrates how the traditions can be complementary in helping to live a truly fulfilled and contented life.

Zen teacher and psychologist Joseph Bobrow deftly shows how the major themes of trauma, attachment, emotional communication, and emotional regulation play out in the context of Zen and of psychotherapeutic practice, and how, in concert, both provide a comprehensive, interactive model of fully functioning human life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614296805
Publisher:	Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date:	06/16/2020
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Joseph Bobrow, PhD, practices psychotherapy and psychoanalysis and is the author of three books. His approach is informed by years of practicing and teaching Zen mindfulness. He lives and practices in Studio City, California, and consults and teaches widely on psychotherapy, Buddhism, and how they enrich each other in transforming suffering.

Joseph is also the founding director and Roshi of Deep Streams Zen Institute, which offers Zen practice, interdisciplinary education, and community service. He has long been bringing together the best from Buddhist and psychodynamic traditions in his work to alleviate individual and collective anguish. Most recently, he developed integrative retreats for military veterans, their families, and their care providers that help heal the unseen wounds of war.

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Introduction xiii

1 Coming to Life 1

2 Fertile Mind 33

3 Harvesting the Ordinary 51

4 Presence of Mind 69

5 Singularity, Intersubjectivity, and the Immeasurable 87

6 Knowing the Truth 97

7 The Bliss Body and the Unconscious 127

8 Forging Integrative Learning 153

Afterword: At the Heart of the Matter 179

Acknowledgments 187

Notes 189

References 191

Credits 199

Index 201

About the Author 217

What People are Saying About This

Christopher Bollas

Writing in an electrifying prose that lights up continuously brilliant connections between psychoanalysis and Zen, Bobrow is nonetheless New York in motion: the New York of Whitman, Mailer, and Heller … Brilliant, moving, and unforgettable.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Please read this book with a feeling of gratitude. Joseph Bobrow is a true teacher of meditation. He has walked his talk and he truly enjoys his practice.

Editorial Reviews

A masterful exploration... nuanced, sensitive, perhaps poetic, and certainly non-reductive. I am not aware of another book that plunges so deeply into theory, with equal respect and appreciation for both disciplines. Bobrow’s voice from the Zen teaching seat is clear, compassionate, encouraging, deep, yet modest. Those adjectives apply to the book in its entirety.

from the foreword by Norman Fischer

This is a quiet book that works you, not simply informs you. Bobrow embodies unconscious affective communication between psychoanalysis and Buddhism. He’s lived it. The book carries it. The reader experiences it.

Charles Spezzano

"His book, like the Zen teachings he has mastered, is smart, lively and provocative."

Mark Epstein

"Please read this book with a feeling of gratitude. Joseph Bobrow is a true teacher of meditation. He has walked his talk and he truly enjoys his practice."

Thich Nhat Hanh

"Zen master and psychoanalyst, Joseph Bobrow has a rare depth and subtlety of experience in both disciplines and ways of life. After nearly 40 years of practice and teaching in each, he has written a definitive, clear and compassionate book that argues persuasively that Zen and psychotherapy are complementary traditions. Each challenges and enriches the other. Even enlightened Buddhist practitioners can expand themselves as individuals and in their relationships. Therapists and their patients can become more meaningfully aware of the depth of experience that lies beyond individuality and individuation. Mindful of differences, but also indivisible links, Bobrow challenges us to realize the integration of the personal and the universal in our daily lives. Anyone interested in psychological or spiritual ideas or practice will find much of value in this deeply gratifying and informative work."

Gerald I. Fogel

"This wise book provides a context for both psychotherapists and students of Buddhism to think in new and helpful ways. Its implications for trauma therapy, in particular, are substantial. I gained a lot from this book and highly recommend it to others."

John Briere

"Writing in an electrifying prose that lights up continuously brilliant connections between psychoanalysis and Zen, Bobrow is nonetheless New York in motion: the New York of Whitman, Mailer, and Heller … Brilliant, moving, and unforgettable."

Christopher Bollas

"Zen and Psychotherapy is the most thoughtful book I’ve read so far in the important and burgeoning literature on Buddhism and Western psychology. His unusual gift for vivid theory and subtle distinction, as well as his grounded sense of what is really possible and worthwhile for the inner life, make this book a landmark for all of us who are in the business of continuing this crucial personal and cultural conversation."

Norman Fischer

"Often the most interesting places in our lives are found where two contrasting spheres of influence meet – those warm tidepools of the littoral zone that bristle with all sorts of fertile surprises. Joseph Bobrow’s book embodies just such a rich encounter in the interfacing of Zen and psychotherapy. His several decades of experience have enabled him to draw knowledgeably and freely from both disciplines. His narrative coaxes insights as often from academic papers, encounters and dreams, as it does from koans and dialogues of the ancients, poems, and song lyrics. All of these he has brewed together in the fecund pool of his own wisdom and thoughtful analysis, and what has emerged from that crucible is a fine book, brimming with life, and resonant with integrity and heart. It would be no surprise if people were quoting from it long into the future."

Ajahn Amaro