Brilliant Sanity: Buddhist Approaches to Psychotherapy
BRILLIANT SANITY is a rare feat.  This engaging and informative book is sure to become essential for psychotherapy scholars, acceptance and mindfulness researchers, and clinicians alike.  This is one not to be missed.-- DOUG MENNIN, Ph.D.  Yale University --Book CoverCelebrating contemplatively informed psychotherapy, this exciting volume contains a rich sampling of thought and practice that emerges out of the ongoing dialogue between the liberating tradition of Buddhist wisdom and meditation, and the modern healing tradition of psychotherapy.  I strongly recommend this work for those interested in expanding their vision through a variety of perspectives in the emergent world of contemplative psychotherapy.-Harvey B. Aronson, Ph.D., author Buddhist Practice on Western Ground, --Book cover, full versionFrom my first contact with Buddhism I realized it's virtual simpatico with the therapeutic process. Various elements in Buddhism rang a bell.The concept of immediacy as a form of dynamic transference; the self translating into the observing ego, and being receptive to induced feelings.I received the same psychological  nutrients as I had in the most significant moments of therapeutic leverage. I was at home in the arena of Buddhism and I was going west because there was so much more to gain. When I met Chöygam Trungpa, I knew I was in the presence of a Master. Almost everything he said I could fit into my treatment schema. I absorbed his incorruptable honesty in pursuing and confronting pathology and I made it part of the warp and woof of my professional functioning. The same spirit emanated from all his faculty and community, and above all they showed me the presence of resistance and habitual  patterns that hold us prisoner. This book opens the door to a vital appreciation of working with patients in the moment. To overlook it, is to overlook the essence of our craft.-  Louis Ormont, Ph. D.  Author of The Group Therapy Expereince --Book Cover, full versionMany patients arrive at psychotherapy seeking quick solutions for permanent, pain-free happiness, but both Freud and the Buddha knew that this was not essential human nature. This excellent book succeeds at a daunting task: the integration of Buddhist core values into Western psychotherapy practice and training. It provides the reader of multiple perspectives, yet it is remarkably well written and easy to read. One should not assume that an Eastern philosophy can be easily integrated into Western culture, and this is one of the most culturally sensitive psychotherapy books I've read. Openness of mind involves feeling pain; clarity means accepting things as they are, and compassion involves letting go of self-protection.  I recommend this book to all clinicians - Buddhist or not - interested in thinking more about how to help people uncover their brilliant sanity.-Eleanor F. Counselman, Ed.D., ABPP,  Harvard Medical School --Book Cover, full versionWhen Chöygam Trungpa started to train psychotherapists in Buddhist meditation more than thirty years ago, he envisioned a new therapy that would be informed by wisdom, compassion, and scholarship. This collection captures this vision. It brings forth the heart of Buddhism as applied to the contemporary practice of psychology. - The Sakyong, Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche, author of Turning the Mind into an Ally  and Ruling Your World. --Book Cover