Buddhism
This is a religion that has a large following worldwide. For many, Buddhism is a way of life and not just a religion. It can be said to be a philosophy since the word philosophy means the love of wisdom and Buddhism in a nut shell is; leading a morally upright life, being mindful and having an awareness of thoughts and actions and developing wisdom and understanding. Psychology deals with the investigation of the human mental activities. This kind of information is important for the psychologists in the investigation of the personality of individuals (Hayes & Smith, 2005). Buddhism investigates the psychological character of people therefore it is a psychology. Buddhism is a form of treatment for psychological problems since it has developed an effective manner of describing the functioning of the human brain.
At deep levels of behavioral problems, Buddhism can examine and make diagnosis of the situation at hand. This is another reason why it is regarded as a form of highly advanced psychology. Basically, psychology deals with the identification of human problems. Buddhism has it’s believes that the main reason for human suffering is the brain’s actions. It gives prescriptions of how the mind functions. Pure mind make a pure person and the vice versa is true. Buddhism sees the mind as constantly looking for power, love and fortune and this leads to calculations that may be discriminative (Frank, 1981). The means that the brain controls the rest of the body, therefore all actions are courtesy of the mind.
People nowadays believe in medicine for treatment but Buddhism argues that medicines treat the symptom of illness but the real illness is in the mind. Buddhism has been able to comprehensively explain the science of mental health. This Buddhist type of psychology has been able to adapt to various needs of the people and has been of great help to them.
References
Frank, E. (1981). Guide to the Buddhist Religion. Boston: G. K. Hall.
Hayes, S & Smith, S. (2005). Get out of your mind and into your life: The new Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
Zürcher, E. (1962). Buddhism, Its Origin and Spread in Words, Maps, and Pictures. Leiden. New York: St. Martin's Press.
