Zen and Psychotherapy

Partners in Liberation

by Dr. Joseph Bobrow, Roshi

Awakening to Delusion

Why do we suffer? From a Buddhist perspective, it is due to greed, hatred and delusion, the three poisons. These create suffering, these are our suffering. But we need to add a word to the Buddhist formula: unbridled. It is unbridled greed, hatred, and delusion that amp up suffering exponentially. The secret sauce in this toxic mix is self-deception. Read More

Holding in Mind; Forgetting as We Engage

Welcome back, dear readers. Read More

Moment to Moment

When I began training in Zen, the prime motivation of most of us was existential. We wanted to resolve burning questions such as Who am I? What is the mind? What is my essential nature? What is the true nature of reality? Fair enough, these remain key questions, and Zen practice, perhaps koan practice in particular, provides a good vehicle. Read More

Zen and the Human Heart

Someone asked me the other day if my Zen practice helps me with personal relationships. I chuckled. They persisted, "Surely it must somehow, all the years of practice, and guiding Zen students, no?" I chuckled again. Meditation practice grants us no exemption from the joys and challenges of intimate attachments. Read More

Self and No-Self

What is self? What is no-self? Psychotherapy grows the self's capacities; Zen helps us see through self-delusion of separateness. How do YOU see it?? Read More

Waking up

What is the "gold" that Zen brings to the alchemy with psychotherapy? Psychodynamic psychotherapists and psychoanalysts tend to privilege unconscious experience, internal and relational, and as a result miss what is closer to us than our own nose, what I take liberties in calling the "Bliss Body" Read More

PARTNERS in Liberation

Our lively interlocutor wrote:

"The manicured rock garden of Zen meets the tangled garden of psychotherapy? Do you enjoy gardening?" Read More

In and Out of Alignment

In the early days of the Maui Zendo, after sesshin, we would often pile into the zendo van and drive down to Baldwin Beach to swim, hang out, and eat junk food. Aitken Roshi would usually accompany us. Read More

"Partners in LIberation?"

I've found that liberation simultaneously unfolds in practice on two interconnected tracks, represented in this blog by psychotherapy and Zen. Although they contain elements of each other and address similar concerns, psychotherapy and Zen are distinctive paths that challenge and, by virtue of their differences, enrich one another. Read More

Welcome!

Hello PT bloggers! I'm Joseph Bobrow, a Zen master, psychologist-psychoanalyst, and founder of Deep Streams Institute and the Coming Home Project. I want to welcome you to our new blog, where we will be exploring the interplay of Buddhism and psychotherapy in transforming human suffering and helping us cultivate genuine well being. Read More

Dr. Joseph Bobrow, Roshi, is a Zen master and psychoanalyst who integrates Buddhism and psychotherapy in his writing and in his trauma work with veterans and their families.

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