Prescribing the Dharma: Psychotherapists, Buddhist Traditions, and Defining Religion. By Ira Helderman. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2019, x + 318 pp., ISBN 978-1-4696-4852-1 (paperback), $29.95.
Reviewed by Orly Tal
Richard K. Payne
Institute of Buddhist Studies, at the Graduate Theological Union
This article develops a perspective on the nature of Buddhist pastoral care by considering the needs of the bereaved. Differentiating the interpretive frameworks of different audiences and understanding different contexts of interpersonal relations are necessary for effective pastoral care. A distinction between the goal of realizing impermanence and the goal of resolving mourning is heuristically useful in theorizing Buddhist pastoral care. The discussion also seeks to underscore the value of upāya as a positive moral injunction on teachers, indicating the need to properly match their audience and to employ the textual tradition responsibly.
Buddhism and Psychotherapy Across Cultures: Essays on Theories and Practices. Edited by Mark Unno. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2006, 350 pages, ISBN: 978-0861715077 (paper), US $19.95.
Reviewed by Joshua Johnson
Buddhist Practice on Western Ground. By Harvey B. Aronson. Preface by Huston Smith. Boston and London: Shambhala, 2004. 253 pages. Paperback. ISBN 1590300939.
Reviewed by Amos Yong
Lack and Transcendence: The Problem of Death and Life in Psychotherapy, Existentialism, and Buddhism. By David Loy. Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Humanities Press International, 1996, 248 pages, ASIN 0391038605, US $49.95.
Reviewed by Michael F. Stoeber
The Authority of Experience: Essays on Buddhism and Psychology. Edited By John Pickering. London: Curzon Press, 1997, 250 pages, ISBN: 0700704558, clothbound ISBN: 0700704507, US $22.95, clothbound US $42.00.
Reviewed by Gay Watson
Psychotherapy and Buddhism: Toward an Integration. By Jeffrey B. Rubin. New York and London: Plenum Press, 1996, xi + 207 pages, ISBN:0-306-45441-6, US$39.50.
Reviewed by Harvey B. Aronson
The Five Aggregates: Understanding Theravāda Psychology and Soteriology. By Mathieu Boisvert, Editions SR Vol.17: Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion/Corporation Canadienne des Sciences Religieuses, Wilfred Laurier Press, 1995, xii +166 pages, ISBN: 0-88920-257-5, US$24.95.
Reviewed by Peter Harvey