Psychology & Buddhism.pdf

Buddhist Empowerment 175
and societal levels. To advance our understanding of the processes and structures
through which empowerment may work at these levels, I will draw from my case
study of a particular Buddhist faith community to describe: (1) how Buddhist philosophy
and practice may promote stress resistance and empower persons to feel
in control of their lives; (2) how Buddhist-inspired organizational structures and
processes may promote collective empowerment at the community setting level;
and (3) how socially engaged Buddhism of various types seeks to promote
empowerment at the societal level. Where possible, Buddhist approaches will be
examined from a psychological perspective, noting their consistency with
Western psychological theory and research. The goal is to inform our conceptual
models, enrich our understanding, and guide future research.
Over the past 12 years I have studied the United States branch of a lay
Buddhist society, the Soka Gakkai International (SGI)-USA. Based on the Nichiren
school of Mahayana Buddhism, the Soka Gakkai is a form of engaged Buddhism
that has been described as a social movement for world peace (Hurst, 1998; Prebish
& Tanaka, 1998). It has grown rapidly in the 32 years it has been outside of Japan
to include 177 countries and territories around the world, and claims
a membership of approximately 12 million, including over 300,000 in the United
States (Eppsteiner, as cited in Hammond & Machacek, 1999; McCloskey, 2001).
The Soka Gakkai holds the distinction of being “the largest and most racially
diverse Buddhist organization in America” (Chappell, 2000, p. 299). This organization
was selected for case study because of its exemplary efforts in developing
empowerment at the individual through the societal level, and because of my
in-depth knowledge of its teachings and organizational practices. Using participant-observation
methodology, interviews, and doctrinal analyses, I have
examined the stress buffering and empowerment potential of this faith community
(Dockett, 1993, 1999a, 1999b). To begin, it is important to clarify what
empowerment is and briefly examine its historical origins.
The Concept of Empowerment
In its essence, empowerment is a process that enables people, organizations,
and communities to gain control over issues of concern to them (Rappaport,
1987). However, empowerment has many meanings because it is a multilevel and
multifaceted concept. It can be applied at the level of the individual, the organization,
the community, and the society. Depending upon the level involved, the
empowerment values, goals, processes, and outcomes may differ. This can be
seen in the following definitions.
Individual empowerment or “psychological empowerment” focuses on
increasing one’s feelings of value, self-efficacy, and personal control
(Zimmerman, 1995), This includes gaining access to resources and