Western Buddhist scholarship and scientific psychology both emerged during the late Victorian era. Buddhism and scientific psychology have exerted mutual influences on each other since psychology’s inception. The Background and Context section of this entry explores how and why psychologists became interested in Buddhism, Buddhism’s history and core tenets, and Buddhism’s influence on...
Buddhism is a historically and culturally diverse religious and philosophical tradition that offers a positive vision of the human potential for ending suffering and for leading lives that are happy and good. In recent years, ideas drawn from the Buddhist tradition have found their way into Western psychology, informing new ways of understanding and promoting human well-being. These insights...
This chapter explores the foundations of the Buddhist doctrine of the anattā or “non-self,” and what the concept means and does not mean. It then examines the utility and limitations of the doctrine and proposes that the self is best understood as a set of interrelated reflective organismic processes. The chapter explains why Buddhism views the self as problematic and explores the degree to...