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Self-Assertion and Self-Negation in Buddhist Psychology

Department of Education, University College, P.O. Box 78, Cardiff CF1 1XL, Wales, U.K.

Many Western psychologists find the Buddhist teachings on the self difficult to understand. Even humanistic psychologists sometimes feel a conflict between humanistic concepts such as self-esteem and self-acceptance and the Buddhist view of anatta or not-self. What is the point of encouraging self-esteem and self-acceptance if in reality there is no self to be esteemed or accepted? And if there is no self, does this mean annihilation on a personal identity level? And if it does, surely this is a way of arousing the individual's fears and anxieties rather than of laying them to rest? This article attempts to show how this conflict can be reconciled and how in a practical and straightforward way Buddhist psychology helps us build a model of the self that allows a profound realization of true human nature.

Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Vol. 27, No. 2, 175-195 (1987)
DOI: 10.1177/0022167887272005


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