My interest in
Buddhism dates back a couple of decades before my graduate studies, which
included a wide-ranging look at Buddhist imagery in James Joyce. I find much of Robert Wright’s survey in Why Buddhism is True stimulating and
endlessly fascinating. Of additional
interest is the fact that Wright is also a psychologist.
In the “Note to
Readers,” he concisely separates several areas of inquiry into five neat
packages. He first says, “I’m not
talking about the ‘Supernatural’ or more exactly metaphysical parts of
Buddhism—reincarnation, for example, but rather the naturalistic parts: ideas
that fall squarely within modern psychology and philosophy”; second, “there’s
no one Buddhism, but rather various Buddhist traditions, which differ on all
kinds of doctrines”; third “I’m not getting into super-fine-grained parts of
Buddhist psychology and philosophy;” fourth, “‘true’ is a tricky word;” and
fifth and finally, “Asserting the validity of core Buddhist ideas doesn’t
necessarily say anything, one way or the other, about spiritual or
philosophical traditions” (xi-xii). This
two-page note shows this marriage of Buddhism and psychology is precisely the
book I have been searching for a long time.
I have so many
annotations and marginalia it will be difficult to sort out some of the core
ideas Wright addresses. Here is a timely
example. Robert writes, Technologies of
distraction have made attention deficits more common. And there’s something about the modern
environment—something technological or cultural, or political or all of the
above—that seems conducive to harsh judgment and ready rage. Just look at the tribalism—the discord and
even open conflict along religious, ethnic, national, and ideological
lines. More and more, it seems groups of
people define their identity in terms of sharp opposition to other groups of
people” (18).
Wright attended a
week-long meditation camp to sharpen his core ideas of meditation. He writes, “focusing on your breath isn’t
just to focus on your breath. It’s to
stabilize your mind, to free it of its normal preoccupations so you can observe
things that are happening in a clear, unhurried, less reactive way” (20). By “things that are happening,” he means
feelings inside your mind, such as sadness, anxiety, joy and so forth.
Wright talks about
feelings extensively. He asks the
reader, “Have you ever been visited by the fear that something you said to
someone had offended her? And has this
person ever been someone you weren’t going to see for a while? And has it been the case that you didn’t know
her very well, it would have been awkward to call her or to send an email to
make sure you hadn’t offended or to clarify that no offense was meant? That feeling itself […] is perfectly natural”
(34). Shortly after reading this
chapter, I bumped into an old friend I had not seen for decades. As we talked over coffee, I toyed with the
idea of apologizing for an unfortunate remark long ago. I decided to mention the incident, but she
had entirely forgotten all about it. She
said with a laugh, “We ere kids! It is
inconsequential. Forget about it.” The relief I experienced was wonderful.
Robert Wright’s Why Buddhism is True is a marriage of
Buddhism and Psychology for an amazing journey into mind, memory, and all the
associated joys and sorrows we all experience.
5 stars.
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