Zen Buddhism and the Reality of Suffering

This book offers an accessible guide to the role that Zen has played and, alongside Buddhism, might play in both Eastern and Western attempts to alleviate mental suffering.  Since its beginnings 2500 years ago, the central belief of Buddhism has been that what we perceive as “reality” is a mental representation; a religious belief which has since been substantiated by the evidence of neuroscience. The work and progress of clinical medicine, psychiatry and psychology have attempted to alleviate the sufferings of life, but the current approaches to mental health in psychiatry, the neurosciences and cognitivism don't fully address the complexity and mutual inter-relationship of the variety of factors involved in mental suffering, and its non-linear and chaotic aspects. Zen Buddhism, on the other hand, encourages access to reality, and so this book will explore, scientifically, the ways in which it’s guiding principles can be deployed to support and enhance Western, clinical solutions to mental strife.

1. Prologue.- 2. Buddhism, a religion beyond religions.- 3. Zen, beyond Buddhism.- 4. Zen moves West.- 5. Psychology discovers Zen.- 6. The mind and the natural world; Buddhism, science and the reality of reality.- 7. Science, and the natural world; The puzzle of complex non-linear and chaotic phenomena.- 8. Mindfulness East and West, cognitive therapies and biological psychiatry.- 9. Zen meditation in an open public mental health institution.- 10. Epilogue.

Tullio Giraldi is full Professor of Pharmacology and Eminent Scholar at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Trieste, Italy. He is also a Visiting Professor at King's College London, UK. He remains active as a teacher and tutor at the University and Department of Mental Health of the National Health System in Trieste. Giraldi is an ordained lay Rinzai Zen monk, in the Engaku Taino and Yamada Mumon Roshi lineage. He has authored several books, over 170 articles and contributions to many international congresses.