And what is the result of stress? There are some cases in which a person overcome with pain, his mind exhausted, grieves, mourns, laments, beats his breast, and exhausted, comes to search outside, ‘Who knows a way or two to stop this pain?’ I tell you, monks, that stress results either in bewilderment or in search. (AN 6:63)
This quote from the Anguttara
Nikaya exemplifies the Buddha’s description of how people deal with stress
in their lives. This stress comes from
craving, which according to Buddhism, essentially acts as an addiction. The two paths of bewilderment and search in
the quote are thus very reminiscent of the two sides of [the alcoholism chart].
Buddhism, in so many of its facets, is designed to help in recovering from addictions. Making the link to addiction recovery and
Buddhism is not new, and many books have addressed this issue. One particularly interesting account comes
from Chonyi Taylor’s Enough!: A Buddhist
Approach to Finding Release from Addictive Patterns. As a long-time practitioner ordained as a nun
by the Dalai Lama who also worked professionally as a counselor for those
dealing with serious addiction issues, Taylor draws on plenty of direct
experience from both sides of this combination.
This paper will summarize the main themes, strengths and weaknesses of
the book, before addressing the elements that I personally could use and adapt
in future chaplaincy experiences.
Taylor defines addiction early on in the volume as “a
mental habit in which there appears to be no conscious control, which gives
short-term pleasure and long-term harm, and in which our own needs override the
needs of others” (9). I think this is a
strong definition which includes three main elements. The first part regarding a habit and the apparent
lack of control is fairly common when defining addiction. Next comes a qualifier about the primacy of
short-term pleasures. I think this part
helps provide an interesting link to where she can focus much of the discussion
on Buddhism. The last part of the
definition focuses on the narrowing view towards selfish desires and the
ignorance that develops towards others.
Although Taylor does not directly mention it, these two qualifiers on
her definition direct much of the upcoming discussion in her book through their
equivalence by their association with a common two-pronged Mahayana theme of
wisdom and compassion.
The book itself gives a well-rounded look at the causes
of addiction, and how various elements of Buddhist philosophy and practice can
help free a person from such patterns. Most
of the first half of the book focuses more on the nature of addictions. Along the way, it starts by introducing some
basic meditation instruction, and then progressively more detailed exercises. Although, such exercises deal with efforts
for change in specific ways, the discussion of response and recovery becomes
more dominant at chapter six and beyond.
The particular view of Buddhism presented in this book is
highly influenced by the author’s predominantly Vajrayana background. It was interesting to read this book while
also taking a class on Buddhist tantra this semester. I read material in that class by Lama Yeshe
who is often quoted in this book.
Another of Lama Yeshe’s students, Rob Preece, author of The Psychology of Buddhist Tantra,
seemed to have heavy correspondence to Taylor’s book as well. Tantra seems to place a heavy emphasis on
well-defined motivations at the beginning of meditation practice, use of
visualization, and developing keen awareness of the effects of defilements so
as to overcome them. All of these
elements were displayed in Chonyi Taylor’s book. I also saw elements of tantra in the
descriptions of light visualization in the body, including the nine-breath
visualization pattern that acts as a common starting point in many Tibetan
meditations.
Overall, I enjoyed many aspects of this book, yet it
displayed some weaknesses as well. I
felt Taylor’s association between the mind and brain were a little too direct,
almost presented as equivalents. I don’t
want to say I have proof the mind is something completely separate from the
brain, but I am also skeptical of science that simply assumes they are the same
thing. For example, Taylor states that the
“addictive habit has become buried in the primitive part of the brain” (45). This
seems to be a narrow statement, since addiction can be patterned in neurons throughout
the brain. Moreover, cell membranes have
showed many decision making aspects occur throughout the body and not just the
brain. Neuropeptides which help enforce
addictive behaviors may be generated in the brain, but spread and carry out
their effects throughout the entire body.[1] I also felt the issue of pain was treated a
little dangerously. Although I
appreciated most of the discussion on pain, when Taylor spoke of becoming more
tolerant of pain (95), I did not feel she provided enough safeguards to make
sure that readers would not misuse this advice.
Also, I think the perspective she gave of Buddhism was not properly
identified. Although I do not have issue
with the perspective she comes from, that perspective is quite strictly from a
Tibetan Vajrayana position. She fails to
clearly identify that perspective she holds, and unfamiliar readership could be
confused at the differences between Buddhism in this book vs. some of the ideas
presented from a vipassana-dominant perspective.
Despite these rather nit-picky examples, however, there
were many things I deeply appreciated about this book. The overall tone was calm and hopeful, yet
clear and pragmatic. I could easily
imagine the writing style to be attractive to somebody coping with a serious
issue themselves, researching information for a loved-one in need, or to
someone looking to enhance their skills as a caregiver. I also personally really appreciated the
chapter focused around King Songtsen Gampo’s “Sixteen Guidelines for Life.” Anyone who has been around Buddhism for a
while or read their fair share of sutras and commentaries knows that Buddhism
is filled to the brim with various lists.
I’ve seen many, but this was the first time I saw the “Sixteen
Guidelines.” The four areas and the items
in each area provide a really well-rounded view of personal practice and
excellent daily reminders of things to work on.[2] Besides these features, I thought Taylor’s
book provided abundant examples from to assist a chaplain in working with
patients dealing with addiction issues.
The resources for helping people deal with addictions
fall into the categories of Buddhist philosophy and in the various meditation exercises.
Taylor suggests turning around the same aspects of our mind that helps create
addiction in the first place. She says
three important emphases are strong motivation, repetition, and reward. To help create new habits, she suggests
familiarizing ourselves with new habits.
She asserts that a real key is to “catch ourselves at the moment just
before we fall into the ineffective pattern” (62). I feel there are some ways
that Taylor phrased or brought up issues that would help me better deal with a
client. For example, on page 58 - just asserting that feeling good is not a
problem, but hanging onto that feeling is a problem. That equates to craving. All things, however, are impermanent and that
clinging will eventually lead to suffering – These types of ideas help provide
a starting point I could see to explore issues with a patient, where I would
otherwise not know how to enter into an issue. Another example occurs on pages
106-110, where the author lists 3 different versions to one story based on the
different types of communication that occur.
The way she outlines this can be a helpful dialog or role play to guide
a patient through.
The most helpful part of the book for me was the variety
of meditation practices. I liked the
basic outline in which she described the theoretical parts of the meditation
and then went through step-by-step with what to do for each practice. Although
I would have issues with some specific points of wording in certain places, and
I would edit some of the meditations to my own comfort level, the meditations
in this book provide an extremely solid template to follow when helping to
guide a patient through mental exercises that can systematically work with overcoming
various aspects of addictive behavior. The
meditations use a variety of different types of equanimity development, locating and exploring the trigger points that
set off an addictive behavior, various ways to deal with pain, and more. I like that the meditations Taylor provides are
very active for the mind in the sense that there is a constant activity for the
mind to be doing. I think this is
helpful for people with very serious addictions whose minds might have trouble
with simply extended periods of silence on a single object of focus. Instead, this format can provide a directed
and systematic examination.
Chonyi Taylor’s book is from a very particular Buddhist
tradition with practices inspired from her line of training, but they are
easily applicable to people from almost any religious (or non-religious)
background. The book has a good overall
structure with many helpful pointers that can provide a solid base platform
from which to build a treatment plan for patients dealing with addiction
issues.
[1]
See, for example, Candace Pert et al., “Neuropeptides
and Their Receptors: A Psychosomatic Network,” Journal of Immunology
135, no. 2 (August 1985): 820–826; Candace Pert, “The Wisdom of Receptors:
Neuropeptides, the Emotions, and Bodymind,” Advances 3, no. 3 (Summer
1986): 8–16; and Candace B. Pert, Molecules Of Emotion: The Science Behind
Mind-Body Medicine (NY: Scribner, 2003).
[2]
The sixteen guidelines are separated into four categories: how we think
(humility, patience, contentment, and delight), how we can reconnect (kindness,
honesty, gentleness, and right speech), how we can interact with compassionate
wisdom (respect, forgiveness, gratitude, and loyalty), how to find meaning in
our lives (principles, aspiration, service, and courage).
Excellent and thoughtful -- Thanks, Nathan...
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