1. Pollyanna V. Casmar, Ph.D. VASDHS San Diego Spinal Cord Unit
Buddhist Psychology
Pollyanna V. Casmar, Ph.D.
VASDHS San Diego
Spinal Cord Unit

2. We do not see things as they are.
THE PROBLEM IS……
We do not see things as they are.
We see them as we are.
--The Talmud

3. It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
--Alan Cohen

4. Therapies that include Buddhism
DBT
MBCT for depression
Jon-Kabat Zinn’s Full Catastrophe Living
ACT
Siegal’s work on positive psychology
Mindfulness added to any other treatment

6. We are coming to understand health not as the absence of disease, but rather as the process by which individuals maintain their sense of coherence (i.e. sense that life is comprehensible, manageable, and meaningful) and ability to function in the face of changes in themselves and their relationships with their environment.
--Aaron Antonovsky

7. WHAT ENLIGHTENMENT IS:
A complete understanding of emptiness, resulting in spontaneous compassionate expression. By knowing ultimate reality, one has the skillful means to behave perfectly in conventional reality.
The art of living does not consist in preserving and clinging to a particular mode of happiness, but in allowing happiness to change its form without being disappointed by the change; happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow up. --Charles L. Morgan

8. Foundational Buddhist Concepts
Suffering (3 types)
Sickness, aging, death
Impermanence
Interdependence
Emptiness
Compassion
The two truths: conventional and ultimate
MINDFULNESS

10. 3 poisons and 6 perfections
Generosity
Patience
Ethics
Joyful Perseverance
Concentration
Wisdom
Desire/Clinging or Greed
Moving towards
Hatred/Aversion
Moving Against
Ignorance
Indifference/Avoidance

11. The work I do to let go of my suffering diminishes the suffering of the whole universe. When I have room for my own pain, I have room for the pain of others. Only then can I be transformed into joy. As I heal, the Earth heals.
--Christiane Northrup

12. Tricky bits that can be revised
Guru yoga
Karma
Nirvana/Samsara
Rebirth/reincarnation
6 classes of sentient beings
Enlightenment
Precepts

14. What is Mindfulness? Of body: Breathing and sensations
Of Feeling: Pleasant, unpleasant or neutral
Make sure to assist in distinguishing the physical sensation from the labelled emotional content.
Of Mind: Is it Desire, Aversion or Ignorance?
Of Mental Objects: Content based: know what to abandon, what to cultivate. 5 hindrances: sense desire, aversion, laziness, restlessness and doubt. Cultivate emptiness of “I”

15. Voluntary simplicity means going fewer places in one day rather than more, seeing less so I can see more, doing less so I can do more, acquiring less so I can have more.
--Jon Kabat-Zinn

16. 7 factors of awakening Mindfulness Investigation (and choice)
Energy/Enthusiasm
Joy
Tranquility
Concentration
Wisdom

17. Biology of Meditation
Stress reactivity as measured by skin conductance response (meditators have heightened responses then quickly return to baseline, or let go)
Increased attention and lack of habituation in practiced meditators for repetitive stimuli
FMRI studies being done with the Dalai Lama’s group
and B. Alan Wallace’s group

19. Realization and Actualization
Understanding emptiness has 10 levels
Knowing “bliss” or even possessing some of the siddhis does not guarantee personality integration into everyday life.
The integration of psychology with spiritual training assists in bringing reality to periods of meditation….for those of us who aren’t nuns and monks, living in caves!

20. Learning is finding out what we already know.
Doing is demonstrating that you know it.
Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you.
You are all learners, doers and teachers.
--Richard Bach

21. More Information at: http://HeartOfUnderstanding.com