Here's a book I am enjoying immensely. Batchelor wrote an earlier book called Buddhism Without Beliefs, in which he sets out the non-religious, or secular, aspects of Buddhist psychology. This more recent book looks specifically at what is probably the major problem of human existence: the "problem of evil" and especially the awareness that we humans have, that we are often the authors of our own destruction. Those of us who struggle with addiction or alcohol dependence are perhaps more acutely aware of this problem, than most other people.
In this newer book, Living With the Devil, Batchelor points out the somewhat surprising commonalities between Buddhist and Judeo-Christian (and Islamic) thought about evil, as mythologized or personified in a demonic figure. Buddhists call the demonic figure "Mara." Mara is the one who came to the Buddha, on the eve of his enlightenment, and tried to entice him from his path. On each occasion, the Buddha recognized what was happening and simply said: "Mara, I see you," and that was all that was needed for Mara to disappear... for a while, anyway.
(Of course, there are obvious parallels between the way that the Buddha was tempted by Mara, and the way that Jesus was tempted by the devil, some 500 years later...)
Within contemporary cognitive-behavioral theory, we have an approach similar to the Buddha's: we teach ourselves to be acute and compassionate observers of our own thoughts, feelings, and impulses. Often, when we take this "observational" stance, the impulses and desires that previously felt so compelling can be endured, withstood, and they will fade away.
Here are a couple of brief excerpts from this book:
In this newer book, Living With the Devil, Batchelor points out the somewhat surprising commonalities between Buddhist and Judeo-Christian (and Islamic) thought about evil, as mythologized or personified in a demonic figure. Buddhists call the demonic figure "Mara." Mara is the one who came to the Buddha, on the eve of his enlightenment, and tried to entice him from his path. On each occasion, the Buddha recognized what was happening and simply said: "Mara, I see you," and that was all that was needed for Mara to disappear... for a while, anyway.
(Of course, there are obvious parallels between the way that the Buddha was tempted by Mara, and the way that Jesus was tempted by the devil, some 500 years later...)
Within contemporary cognitive-behavioral theory, we have an approach similar to the Buddha's: we teach ourselves to be acute and compassionate observers of our own thoughts, feelings, and impulses. Often, when we take this "observational" stance, the impulses and desires that previously felt so compelling can be endured, withstood, and they will fade away.
Here are a couple of brief excerpts from this book:
"Gotama's [the Buddha's] struggle with Mara and Jesus' with Satan point to a common awareness that to be fully human entails coming to terms with a diabolical power that seems to stand in the way of our realizing meaning, truth, and freedom.... The devil is the contradictoriness of our nature. As soon as we make a foolhardy commitment to 'enlightenment' or 'salvation,' we start being torn apart by diabolic forces we only dimly understand and can scarcely control. For when we choose to follow a path that Buddha described as 'going against the stream,' we choose to confront those fears and desires that hiterhto we had either repressed or acted out."
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