ABSTRACT
When we speak of Buddhism and psychotherapy, it is usually taken for granted that Buddhism is one of the representative religions of the East, while psychotherapy is a technique for healing mental diseases based upon modern psychology as one of the sciences developed in the West. Most discussions about Buddhism and psychotherapy therefore presuppose, implicitly or explicitly, the following diagram:
The axes of the East and the West and of religion and science intersect with each other. Judeo-Christianity and Buddhism are located respectively in the position of Western and Eastern religion, while psychotherapy is found in that of Western science. According to this diagram, both Judeo-Christianity and Buddhism are in the upper half, classified as religions, while both Judeo-Christianity and psychotherapy are in the left half belonging to the West. Because for Western people monotheism has been a historical factor without which they cannot conceive of Western culture, their discussions about Buddhism and psychotherapy refer, though not always overtly, to the connections that each has with Western religion. Westerners don’t connect Buddhism and psychotherapy simply with each other. When they speak of psychotherapy, of Buddhism, or of their mutual relationship, one can usually assume that some attitude toward Western religions is an underlying presupposition. In other words, their perspective on Buddhism and psychotherapy is more or less related to Western monotheism. On the one hand, this doubtless implies a limitation.
