ABSTRACT
Jay Haley describes how he was introduced to Zen Buddhism by Alan Watts and then used Zen as a model to understand the paradoxical therapy of Milton H. Erickson, M. D. Haley compares Zen parables with Erickson’s cases to illuminate the process of change. This chapter discusses the nature and influence of Zen on the ways of changing people in Western therapy, particularly in relation to the strategic approach best represented by Erickson. Traditional therapy was based on a theory of psychopathology. The goal of Zen is satori, or enlightenment, which is assumed to come about in relation to a teacher who, when successful, frees the student from a preoccupation with the past or the future. In the 1950s, the cybernetic revolution was influencing the field of therapy by introducing the ideas of self-corrective systems. Zen Buddhism had its origins in India and traveled through China before being introduced into Japan in about 1200 when Zen monasteries were established there.
