Buddhism and Alternative Counseling Strategies
Buddhism teaches that salvation from suffering is achieved by renouncing the world, by pursuing the eradication of desire, and by following the eightfold path (Fisher, 1999). The Buddha set forth a systematic approach by means of which dedicated individuals could pull themselves out of suffering and achieve the goal of liberation. The Eightfold Path offers ways to burn up all past demerits, avoid accumulating new demerits, and build up merit for a favorable rebirth and a final escape from the cycle of death and rebirth into nirvana.
Practices associated with the Eightfold Path include the pursuit of right understanding, right thoughts or motives, right speech and right action, right livelihood and effort, right mindfulness, and right meditation (Fisher, 1999). Meditation is of special significance in assisting the Buddhist believer in distancing the self from the pull exerted by materialism. Prayer is an integral practice within Buddhism that links meditation to the pursuit of knowledge and the eradication of desire. It is therefore the purpose of this report to explore Buddhism as a non-Western psychological model that is useful in identifying and correcting emotional distress.
Rand (2004, p. 40) identifies the theoretical basis on which Buddhism can be integrated into therapeutic practice with respect to the following ideas:
People in the helping professions must cope with the pain and suffering of others on a daily basis. Consequently, as they try to relieve the pain and suffering of others, helping professionals often end up feeling it themselves. If the helping practitioner believes that it is his or her job to relieve the client's suffering or to heal or fix the client, that helper may fall victim to vicarious trauma. Though it is nearly impossible to accomplish the task of taking away the client's pain, the practitioner may feel doubly guilty for not being able...