Buddhist Psychology (Abhidharma)

Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly; Abhidhamma (palikanon.com)

Gandhara is the seat of Greco-Buddhism

The West tries, following in the footsteps of the ancients, like the Greeks.

The ancient Greeks were greatly influenced by Buddhism as the culture of ancient Bharat/India (Greco-Buddhism, Bactria, Sogdiana, Scythia, Gandhara) led to the fusion of East and West.

 

There's Psychology Today, but what was psychology yesterday? Psyche is the self or soul or spirit, and -logy is "the study of."

The Original Buddhist Psychology (Beth Jacobs)

"Psychology" now refers almost exclusively to the mind (mano) in a way that leaves the spirit (breath) out of it. But it's still the self, the superficial ego, the enduring personality, the person, this identity or facade we're interested in finding by investigation.

Long before Greek thinkers asked deep questions, Indian sages and the Buddha (who was from Central Asia according to Dr. R. Pal) undertook a study of the self, which is to say the Five Aggregates clung to as "self."

The "mind" base is in the heart, so what is the head?

The Buddha and composers of the commentaries were extremely exacting. It's all laid out in the Abhidharma or "Higher Doctrine" or "the Buddha's Teaching in Ultimate Terms."

So lots of meditators are interested in every attempt to get a handle on the ego (which is an illusion), the meaning of life, cognition, perception, emotions, and the ultimate mystery -- consciousness.

• 1 in 6 Gen Z adults is LGBT, Gallup survey shows
• LGBT demographics of the United States (Gallup)
• Dr. Wendy Walsh's 10 LOVE HACKS! (Facebook)