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The Present research paper emphasis on impact of vipassana meditation on psychotherapy and humanistic psychology as we know the significant of Buddha teachings were model for the modern therapies have bonds both with religious systems and with scientific theories humanistic Psychology. Areas that were once considered too mystical, such as meditation and psychedelic experiences are now viewed with more respect, as one can see in noting the serious work on Transcendental Meditation and LSD and Humanistic therapy. There are three groups of therapies. The first group emphasises cognitive and emotional processes, and includes Rational-Emotive Therapy and Feeling Therapy. The second group of therapies emphasizes activity and behavioral processes, including Transcendental Meditation, Implosive Therapy, Behavior Modification and Assertiveness Training, while the third group of therapies emphasizes biological processes. The goal of most therapies is to help the client improve his or her functioning in some way. But the type of functioning considered important for therapeutic change varies widely. For example, for Cohen, whose LSD Therapy is used as an adjunct to psychoanalysis, the goals could be to retrieve inaccessible unconscious material to alter superego functioning. In contrast, behavior therapists usually have a specific goal, such as the elimination of fear as in Implosive Therapy or a decrease in a child’s tantrums as in Operant Therapy. Other approaches prescribe goals that may fall somewhere along the continuum from the very general, abstract type of change prescribed by Cohen, to the particular, well-defined change of the behaviorists. For example, moving roughly from the general to the specific: the Gestalt therapist Yontef strives for Awareness in his clients; Karle, Woldenberg, and Hart hope to have clients live from their feelings; Glasser encourages a successful identity; Ellis desires the elimination of disordered thinking and Cotler helps clients assert their rights.

What is Vipassana?

Vipassana means to see things as they are; to see things in their true perspective, in their true nature. It is, in essence, a technique of self-observation and self-exploration.

The objective of Vipassana is to purify the mind. All human actions emanate from the mind, and a pure mind by nature is full of love and compassion. Sustained practice of Vipassana brings about total transformation of the human personality.

From the psychological point of view, Vipassana can be described as a technique of non-verbal, self-administered psychoanalysis (in a detached manner), as it sets in motion the process of disintegration and tension release. One is able to operate on one’s own mind and observe it as a witness. To the extent one develops an attitude of equanimity, one prevents further tying of psychic knots, resulting in releasing of tension, mental peace and purification of the mind from raga-dosa (craving and aversion).

I believe that the Vipassana meditation technique offers an alternative, not necessarily to replace the interpersonal encounter that is the core of psychotherapy, but as a valuable technique of reducing tension, broadening awareness and making life more meaningful and pleasurable, and thereby, fulfilling the goals of all therapies.

The key to successful therapy lies in creating psychological and physiological conditions that optimise the natural tendency of the nervous system to stabilise itself. And it is possible to achieve this through Vipassana.

Vipassana can offer relief from stored up anxiety and conflict very systematically, without the need to have these sensations verbalised. There is no need to receive interpretations from a therapist. The student has been trained to be a detached observer of his or her own feelings and sensations, which are impermanent in nature.

Whereas psychotherapy may help the individual to gain intellectual insight into the sources of stress, all too frequently the old fears persist on a visceral level, and the patient remains discouraged. But Vipassana gives an opportunity to get rid of old fears even at a visceral level.

Too often traditional psychotherapy or psychoanalysis keeps the patient preoccupied with the dark side of human nature, by bringing the oedipal wishes and primitive impulses to the conscious level. To remind anyone of such things will only result in lowering his consciousness. Towards the end of his life Freud found that the very act of verbalising unpleasant thoughts brought resistance to their interpretation. Rather than “digging into the mud of a miserable past,” one’s vision should be enlarged to “the genius and the brightness of man’s creative intelligence.”

Through the practice of Vipassana, one learns that the territory of the mind is far more extensive than Freud realised. Brain researchers too have identified the enormous capacity of the human nervous system. This untapped potential can be identified through Vipassana meditation.

Vipassana perhaps makes an excellent adjunct to individual therapy, group therapy and family therapy. Like other forms of psychotherapy, it helps in the release of stress and in the maximisation of psychological growth and integration. As the well known psychotherapist Fritz Perls explains: “If you are centred in yourself, then you don’t adjust anymore, then you assimilate, you understand, you are related to whatever happens, without a centre, there is no place from which to work, achieving a centre, being grounded in oneself, is about the highest state a human can achieve.” So if we want to experience this centre, the first thing we have to do is close our eyes, turn inward, and then take advantage of this Vipassana meditation technique for recentring, coming home to ourselves.

Alvin Toffler has popularised the term “future shock” to describe the disastrous effect of the accelerating pace of the modern world on human life. The increasing rate of change and transience is producing shattering stress and disorientation in individuals, many of whom are being pushed beyond their ability to cope. Too much change too fast weakens the physiology and causes deterioration of emotional and mental well-being. No amount of material comfort is sufficient to reverse this damage. And we know that anxiety is the common denominator in almost all mental disorders.

While psychotherapy is the principle treatment for anxiety neurosis, either alone or combined with tranquilizers, it is expensive, time consuming and available only in cities. Today, vast numbers of individuals in our modern world who are not thought of as mental patients are suffering needlessly by failing to actualise themselves.

For such people, Vipassana will work as a preventive as well as a curative measure. It is easy to practice, does not need continuous professional attention and it is inexpensive. Vipassana should be incorporated into our psycho-therapeutic repertoire as it has many advantages over other psycho-therapeutic techniques, since it:

• Teaches one learns how to become a detached observer, keeping in mind the impermanence of feeling and sensation, happiness or unhappiness.
• Reduces tension and anxiety.
• Reduces violence and anger.
• Increases tolerance and understanding of difficult situations.
• Helps one to take appropriate decisions and action.
• Increases constructive activity.
• Increases work efficiency.
• Improves interpersonal relationships.
• Increases receptive, perceptive and cognitive abilities
• Develops the habit of appropriate introspection.
• Helps one regain composure through facing and solving one’s problems.
• Restores equilibrium by reducing stress and maximising the enjoyment of life. It may well offer a safe and plausible alternative to all forms of drug abuse.
• Improves communication.
• Encourages the resolution of emotional conflicts and allows for previously unacceptable aspects of the self to become integrated into the personality.
• Reduces the need for excessive sedation with tranquilizers.
• Normalises the sleep pattern.
• Enables one to feel fresh and alert.
• Gives one a feeling of inner happiness and lightness.

By allowing the individual to regain his vital centre of energy, satisfaction and stability, Vipassana can become the necessary antidote to future shock from the mental health point of view.

Humanistic Psychology and Vipassana:

The humanistic approach to healing was developed as a scientific field in the early 1960’s as a protest against the dominant theories of Psychoanalysis and Behavior Therapy. Both these approaches view man in a very mechanical and reductionistic manner and miss out the essential aspects of being human. Psychoanalysis views the basic nature of man as destructive and dangerous, to be kept in check by repression and psychological defenses. Behaviorists, on the other hand, view man as a passive helpless thing not responsible for its own behavior, and that a person is nothing but responses to stimuli and a mere collection of conditioned habits.

Humanistic Psychology views man in a positive and holistic manner. It has brought together ideas from many different cultures, times and traditions into the scientific framework and has enriched it. Most humanistic psychologists recognize the potential contribution of Lord Buddha to their theories and practice. Several authors including Jung1, Wilber2, and Suzuki3 have interpreted the Buddhist thoughts in the modern scientific context.

This article is an attempt to study the theoretical assumptions and postulates of Vipassana, and to examine their apparent similarities with the basic concepts of humanistic psychology.

 Humanistic Principles and Vipassana

The following are some of the themes and principles of the humanistic approach that I feel are held in common with Vipassana.

• Each individual has inner tendencies toward development of his potential and to achieve wholeness, which is described in humanistic terms as self-actualization.
• Behavior abnormalities are manifestations of blocking or distortion of personal growth. This is generally the result of distortions of reality through use of psychological defenses. Psychological interventions are a matter of removing these obstacles in the way of normal growth.
• Consciousness is the unifying force. Each individual is unique, whole and cannot be understood in parts using the laws of physics or medicine as is the case in psychoanalysis and behaviorism.
• It is natural for a pure mind to exhibit an innate capacity for love, compassion and altruism. These are blocked by certain emotional satisfactions that a person seeks out of ignorance.
• We live in a limited subset of our full potential. We are often unmindful of our embodied and feeling nature. We will live better if our present sensitivity in our ongoing experiencing is increased, i.e., if our awareness increases.
• For the Humanists, understanding of human behavior is best achieved through focusing upon the subjective experience of persons rather than the objective evaluation of behavior. Vipassana goes even further at the experiential level, with objective observation of bodily sensations.
• General critical dilemmas of life are not solved by intellectual exploration of the facts nor of the laws of thinking about them. Their resolutions emerge through conflicts and tumults, anxieties, agonies and the adventures of faith into unknown territories. Vipassana involves using suffering as a tool, by observing suffering objectively.
• Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. Individuals create their own meaning and are the makers of themselves and their destiny.
• There should be an emphasis on here and now. Whatever is important to a person emerges in his present experience. There is no need to analyze the past of a person in minute detail.

 Transpersonal Aspects and Vipassana

Transcendent Dimensions: That what is seen is not all there is. Transcendence involves processes connecting individual consciousness to a larger spiritual ocean in which they participate. A harmonious contact with this “unseen world” and adjustment to it is beneficial.

Direct Insight: Intellect is merely an instrument to analyze and interpret the personal experience. The “direct insight”, which lies outside the realm of intellect is obtained by watching rather than thinking; by looking inside oneself; by observation.

The ego or individualized self is not the ground of human awareness. What a person thinks he is, is a belief to be undone. The concept of self is an illusion.

 Understanding Human Conditions

Freedom – Freedom is innate. The limitations and restrictions that a person feels in experiencing his or her freedom are often self imposed4. In Vipassana freedom is understood at two levels i.e. a) freedom of mind from defilements and b) total liberation.

Choice – Most people have little or no conscious awareness of their own role in the process of choosing. Availability of choice is a special distinguishing feature of human beings even though we virtually never utilize that opportunity for free choice.

Though at an abstract level we are totally responsible and free to make choices; at a given moment while introspecting, the choice is between “yes” and “no”. Either we surrender to the inner force or we don’t. What is offered for observation is beyond our control. Saying “no” to one’s mechanical behavior during the critical moments is an important feature of humanistic psychology5. It is not intellectual because it is a moment of will.

Surrender – It is not the object but the act of surrender which is more important. The object could be anything i.e. teacher, path, nature or one’s unconscious forces. The act of surrender helps the person give up his habitual ego-centric control over his life and thereby leads to release of potential from within.

Forgiveness – It comes with the realization that we are not perfect. It is described as a liberating experience in that it frees one from one’s entanglement with the past6 and restores the order that had been previously violated7. It involves letting go of the sense of clinging to the hurt and anger which is essential for healing and growth. Forgiveness converts the “hurt” into a pain shared with other human beings. Forgiveness can be readily effective only when performed with full awareness of internal body sensations.

Inner/outer worlds – The person directs his attention first towards the inner world of internal body sensations and later towards the outer world of external objects. This is not a question of priorities, with the inner world being emphasized at the expense of the outer. It is simply a realization that what we discover outside ourselves must inevitably be conditioned by what is there inside. With practice it is possible to be aware of the both simultaneously i.e. inner sensations and outer objects.

Authenticity – means acting in a manner which is in keeping with the inner realities. The humanistic approach helps people become more authentic by keeping the person constantly in touch with his inner realities. It reduces the gap between what the person thinks he is and what he really is8. Thus a person could be considered authentic if he or she practices Vipassana and acts out of “insight mode” (Paññā) rather than “reacting mode”.

Transcendence – The capacity to transcend, to throw off the burden of the past, is a unique characteristic of human existence. This is probably an element missing from most of psychology.

Volition – This has been described as a life-shaping force within the individual. The volition is influenced not only by the causative forces carried from the past but also by the goals a person seeks in future. This telenological (or goal oriented) view, as opposed to the deterministic view of psychoanalysis and behavior therapy, is central to most humanistic theories.

Meaning and Purpose in Life – After resolving the feeling of meaninglessness one achieves a sense of deep meaning in life. One feels a sense of responsibility to life, a calling to answer, a mission to accomplish.

Ultimately, however, one becomes indifferent to this meaning and gives up the search for meaning. This state should not be confused with meaninglessness as it is neither “meaningful” nor “meaningless”.

Passion – Man is responsible for his passion; it should not be used as an excuse for making wrong choices, as it is not insurmountable.

Death – All human beings know that they will die. This is not the same as truly accepting it. Once death has been truly accepted, life is enhanced by appearing more vivid and precious.

God – Humanists do not exhaust themselves in demonstrations of the non-existence of God. Nothing will be changed if God does not exist. We discover the same norms of honesty, progress and humanity. The real problem is not of God’s existence. Man should understand that a valid proof of the existence of God cannot save him4. Only he can save himself from himself. No doctrine can be more optimistic than this, since the destiny of man is placed with himself.

Humanistic Psychology makes it clear that life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to experience. This third force in psychology has thrown the doors of scientific psychology wide open. It has become an eclectic meeting ground for divergent influences like psychology of consciousness, existentialism, gestalt, client centred therapy, transpersonal, encounter groups etc., as they share certain core values and assumptions about human beings. It is hoped that the spiritual traditions of India will continue to enrich the modern scientific understanding of mankind.