Open AccessThe Relationship between the Psychology of Religion and Buddhist Psychology
Author(s) -
Kato Hiroki
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
japanese psychological research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.392
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1468-5884
pISSN - 0021-5368
DOI - 10.1111/jpr.12121
Subject(s) - buddhism , mindfulness , psychology , meditation , theoretical psychology , psychology of religion , spirituality , positive psychology , subject (documents) , confusion , asian psychology , transpersonal psychology , critical psychology , epistemology , social psychology , psychotherapist , psychoanalysis , cognitive psychology , philosophy , theology , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , library science , computer science
The psychology of religion and B uddhist psychology have deep historical connections. However, there has been a lack of discourse between these fields of study. Therefore this paper focuses on the relationship between the psychology of religion and B uddhist psychology as well as the history and research trends of each field. Recently, studies on the psychology of religion and B uddhist psychology have attracted attention based on the concepts of “spirituality” and “mindfulness.” Moreover, there have been a number of psychotherapeutic techniques developed that are based on mindfulness meditation. The relationship between the psychology of religion and B uddhist psychology is complex and often the subject of confusion. The complexity results from the fact that B uddhism could be seen as an alternative to psychology in the analysis of the mind; and moreover, B uddhism also contains aspects of psychotherapy that bring peace of mind.