Making Buddhism Accessible to Westerners – Society for Descriptive Psychology

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Presenter	H. Joel Jeffrey, Ph.D.
Date	September 30, 2022
Abstract:	Mindfulness and mindfulness training are widely recognized techniques in psychotherapy. Mindfulness is a classic Buddhist concept and technique. A natural question is what other elements of Buddhism could be helpful in therapy, but the Buddhist literature is very difficult for most Westerners. “Awakened essence of mind,” “relatively vs. absolutely real,” or “everything is infused with emptiness,” and many others are virtually impenetrable. This presentation uses Descriptive Psychological formulations of action, appraisal, status and consciousness to make this language intelligible. The goals are: 1) Have articulations of several classic Buddhist concepts; and 2) To demonstrate a method of arriving at those articulations.
Related Papers	1. Rinpoche, M. and Tworkov, H. (2019). In Love with the World: A Monk’s Journey Through the Bardos of Living and Dying. Penguin Random House: New York. 2. Ossorio, P. G. (2006 and 2013). The Behavior of Persons. Descriptive Psychology Press: Ann Arbor, MI. 3. Ossorio, P.G. (2012). Place. Descriptive Psychology Press: Ann Arbor, MI. 4. Ossorio, P.G. (1975/1978/2005). “What actually happens”: The representation of real world phenomena. The collected works of Peter G. Ossorio, Vol. IV. Descriptive Psychology Press: Ann Arbor, MI. Also published University of South Carolina Press: Columbia, SC 1975, 1978. 5. Jeffrey, H.J. (1998). Consciousness, Experience, and a Person’s World. In H. J. Jeffrey and R. M. Bergner (Eds.), Advances in Descriptive Psychology, Vol. 7 (pp. 67-106). Descriptive Psychology Press: Ann Arbor, MI.