One nation in therapy

Abstract

WITH A SUBJECT SO OMNIPRESENT AS THAT OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL IN contemporary American culture, it helps to approach from a distance. Thus the following brief historical fable, in the form of a set of cross-cultural parallels from the history of religion. My fable concerns the transmission of Buddhism from the Indian subcontinent to three quite different cultures: in Tibet, where it only gained hold once trantric traditions of Buddhism assimilated themselves to existing forms and structures of Bon animism; in China, where and when, in the form of Ch'an Buddhism, it made its peace with Taoist thought; and in the contemporary United States, where, under the guidance of such Western teachers as Sharon Salzberg, Jack Kornfield, and Pema Chodron, thousands of newly minted practitioners resonate to an emergent synthesis of ancient dharmic teachings on impermance and noself' and various contemporary forms of personal growth work.' That Buddhism is only finally gaining a foothold in American culture today by blending its traditional soteriological agenda with various forms