Psychology & Buddhism.pdf

174 Kathleen H. Dockett
This paucity suggests several things. First, there are probable limitations in the
way both religion and empowerment are being conceptualized, with “religion” being
associated more with individual development and “empowerment” with politicaleconomic
community development. To the contrary, however, religion’s potential as
a resource for the empowerment of individuals and communities is beginning to
receive attention. Notably, a sizable proportion of that attention is coming from community
psychologists who are studying religion and spirituality from the perspective
of empowerment (cf., Maton & Salem, 1995; Moore, 1991; Pargament & Maton,
2000; Rappaport & Simpkins, 1991; Speer, Hughey, Gensheimer, & Adams-Leavitt,
1995), prevention and health promotion (cf., Dockett, 1993; Maton & Wells, 1995),
community building (cf., Jason, 1997, 1999), and social change (cf., Cohen, Mobray,
Gillete, & Thompson, 1992; Dockeki, 1982; Dockett, 1999a). Kloos and Moore
(2000) provide a review of empirical findings within the framework of key constructs
of community psychology.
Second, Buddhist empowerment is clearly a neglected variable in the literature
of Western psychology. This is a serious omission given Buddhism’s long
and rich history of empowering individuals and transforming communities.
Several factors are responsible for this neglect, not the least of which is how
Buddhism is perceived and used in the West. In the United States, Buddhism has
been perceived more as a solitary quest for self-enlightenment than as a vehicle
for social reform. It has been used more as a personal psychotherapy (Imamura,
1998) than as a strategy for social and community change (Dockett, 1999a).
Yet there are schools of socially engaged Buddhism and Buddhist scholaractivists
deeply committed to macro level change through the application of
Buddhist principles to ethical, social, political, and economic problems (cf., Kotler,
1996; Thurman, 1999). These themes resonate with community psychology and it’s
goals of promoting well-being, increasing empowerment, and preventing the development
of problems of communities, groups, and individuals (Solarz, 2000).
Also noteworthy is the consistency in definitions of empowerment and
engaged Buddhism. Empowerment is described as a “construct that links individual
strengths and competencies, natural helping systems, and proactive behaviors
to social policy and social change” (Perkins & Zimmerman, 1995). Engaged
Buddhism is described as “the connection between personal and social-political
transformation, and its expansion of traditional teachings and practices to apply
to contemporary social settings” (Rothberg, 1992). These definitional commonalities
point to the possibilities of an exciting intersection between community
psychology and socially engaged Buddhism, suggesting the potential for a collaborative
partnership to inform the processes involved in empowerment and
social change (Dockett, 1999a). However to realize this potential will require, as
Marsella (1999) has noted, that Western psychologists become more open to
exploring paradigms that differ from their own.
The main thesis of this chapter is that Buddhism represents a potential
resource for empowerment at the individual, community-organizational setting,