Buddhist Psychology （New release in September 2025 / 2025年10月新刊）
――Six Methods for Freeing the Mind from Cognitive Bias [English version]
Author: Takao Nishida
Editor: Midori Nishida
English Translator: Team Hokusai
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◎ About this book
This book liberates readers from the outdated preconceptions about "Buddhism"
and reinterprets it from the perspective of "cognitive psychology."
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♠ ♥ ♣ ♦ |
When people think of Buddhism, they often imagine temples, Buddhist statues, chanting, rituals for good fortune, funerals, and cemeteries. The image of Buddhism in Japan is dominated by these traditional aspects. However, this is only one facet of Buddhism. When Buddhism is studied academically, through its history and scriptures, it reveals itself as a treasure trove of wisdom for navigating life, offering insights into the workings of the human mind and guiding people towards a fulfilling life free from suffering–a timeless wisdom from Buddha. This book explains the excellent cognitive psychological aspects inherent in Buddhism. The author argues that "Buddhism is not a religion about praying for favors, but rather aims to cultivate self-control and the ability to accurately interpret external events, and provides methods to achieve this." By tracing the history of Buddhism's introduction to Japan, the author refutes the common image of Japanese Buddhism as merely about rituals and funerals. Simultaneously, the book explores the commonalities between contemporary cognitive psychology and Buddhism, dissecting the structure of the mind and presenting "six methods" to free oneself from cognitive biases. While Buddhist lectures often use difficult terms like "impermanence," "non-self," "emptiness," "dependent origination," and "consciousness-only," this book provides clear and accessible explanations for modern readers, offering a fresh perspective on Buddhism through the lens of psychology. (This book is an edited version of the author's third lecture, "Freedom and Education–From a Buddhist Psychology Perspective," held by the citizen group "Teraso-ya.") 身体心理学は、心と体の相互関係を活用することで精神状態を改善しようとする、心理学における新しい潮流です。その出発点は、fMRI（機能的磁気共鳴画像法）の発明でした。fMRIは、磁力を用いて身体をスキャンし、体内で何が起こっているかをリアルタイムで表示する医療機器です。例えば、怒りを感じると、血流は扁桃体に集中します。優しさを感じると、神経伝達物質であるオキシトシンが分泌されます。身体と心は独立して存在するのではなく、切り離すことのできない形で結びついており、脳の領域は精神状態に対応しています。本書は、こうした心と体の相関関係に焦点を当て、身体的なアプローチを通して精神的な苦痛に対処する方法を提案します。実践的な方法として、マインドフルネス呼吸法、怒りのコントロール、セルフハグ、軽いジャンプ運動など、身体の知性を目覚めさせるためのツールを紹介します。身体が脳に影響を与え、精神を活性化させる力を活用することで、身体心理学はその可能性を明らかにします。著者は、この原稿の着想源となった講演の中で、驚くほど率直にこう述べている。「肉体は賢明だが、脳と精神は驚くほど愚かだ。」 |
-About the Author
Takao Nishida was born in Tokyo in 1954. He is a psychologist, certified public psychologist (kōnin shinrishi), and a certified school psychology supervisor. He currently serves as president of the NPO Saitama DARC (Drug Addiction Rehabilitation Center)and board member of Kokoro Free School, a general incorporated association. His professional activities focus on educational and psychological support for junior high and high school students, as well as counseling and coaching for youth in need of safe spaces and personal growth.
Specializations: Somatic Psychology,Coaching Psychology
Selected publications:
•Harnessing Stress: A Self-Coaching Approach (Chigensha)
•Thirty Questions on Adolescent Counseling (Chigensha)
•The Pandemic as Psychological Warfare (Chigensha)
•The Educational Crisis and Integral Human Studies (co-author, Society for Integral Human Studies)
•Codependency: The Disease of Self-Loss (co-author, Chūōhōki)
•Just for Today: What Is Drug Addiction? (ed., DARC)
•Somatic Psycholagy:The Skill to control own body and mind (ed., Chigensha)
•The Philosophy of Spirituality (trans., Chigensha)
•The Mindful Parenting Workbook (trans., Chigensha)
And numerous scholarly articles on adolescent mental health and the philosophical foundations of educational care.
-About the Editor
Midori Nishida, Ph.D., is an editor and author specializing in comparative culture and Japanese literature. She was awarded the Ruikotsu Prize by the Chūgai Nippō newspaper for her essay Makoto and the Messiah: Kunitake Kume's Theory of Cross-Cultural Encounter. After serving as a lecturer at Shibaura Institute of Technology, Gakushuin University, and Taisho University, she now works independently in publishing and scholarship.
Her works span both academic and popular writing, reflecting a deep interest in narrative, folklore, and the experiential edge of spirituality. Her publications include:
•Writing with Structure: A Guide to Japanese Composition
•Logical Composition Methods
•Strange Encounters, Vol. 6: A Modern Retelling of Hirata Atsutane's "The Rebirth of Katsugorō" (ed.)
•Discovering the Self: High School-Based "Participant-Centered Research" with Dr. Shinichiro Kumagaya of the University of Tokyo (ed.)(all from Chigensha Publishing)
She is also the author of:Supernatural Encounters with Sai Baba
•Miracles of Embrace: The Saint Amma(Tokuma Shoten)
•Journeys Among Shamans(Hikaruland)
Nishida's work often bridges the realms of religion, psychology, and ethnography, with a persistent curiosity for stories that shape–and unsettle–our perception of reality.
●Table of contents
-Preface
Chapter 1 :What Does "Freedom" Really Mean?
▌ Freedom doesn't mean doing whatever you want
▌ In a Diverse Society, True Freedom Requires Self-Regulation
▌ Buddhism as a Science of the Mind–Without the Intervention of God
▌ The Bodhisattvas Enshrined in Temples Are Not Gods, but Humans in Pursuit of Enlightenment
▌What Is Enlightenment, Really? A Different Perspective on the Buddha's Quest
Chapter 2: Yogācāra and Cognitive Psychology
▌ The World Is Formed Through Relationships–Not Fixed Realities
▌ Impermanence Means That Everything Is in Constant Flux–Not That Life Is "Empty" or Meaningless
▌ Non-Self Doesn't Mean "You Don't Exist"–It Means the Self Exists Through Relationship and Process
▌ Dependent Origination Means That All Things Arise Through Relationships–and Evolve Through Further Relationships
▌ Emptiness Means That All Things Exist Through Conditionality–Not as Independent Entities
▌What Is "Yogācāra"? A Buddhist View That the World Is Only as We Perceive It
▌Turning Delusion into Insight: The Meaning of Tenmei Kaigo
▌When Ancient Buddhism Meets Modern Science: How Yogācāra and Cognitive Psychology Arrived at the Same Truth
▌Yogācāra: The Philosophy That Says Only the Mind Truly Exists
▌Three Reasons Our Minds Deceive Us – and What Buddhism Knew All Along
Chapter 3: Our Minds Are Vulnerable to Propaganda
▌Propaganda: How Public Messaging Can Hijack Our Thinking
▌We Are Wired for Persuasion: Why the Human Mind Is So Easily Controlled
▌Liberty, Freedom, and the Buddhist Path to Inner Liberation
Chapter 4 Buddhism as a Method for Mental Hygiene
▌Buddhism as a path for psychological healing and development.
▌The Limits of Translation: Why Japanese Buddhism Took a Unique Path
▌A Religion for the People–Except in Japan: How Buddhism Was Delivered from State to State
▌Buddhism in Japan: A Tool of State Power, and Later, a Comfort to the Masses
▌Why We Misunderstand Buddhism: A Legacy of Political Power and Translation Filters
▌When Translation Fails: Why We Misunderstand the Buddha's Core Teaching on Suffering
Chapter 5: Liberation from Birth Aging, Illness, and Death – What the Buddha Truly Sought
▌A Prince Who Did Not Know That Humans Age, Fall Ill, or Die
▌The Buddha Lived in Comfort–So Do We. But the Questions He Asked Remain Ours
▌After Enlightenment, the Long Walk: The Buddha's Final 45 Years on the Road
▌What Matters
▌The Buddha Did Not Conquer Death–And That Was Never the Point
▌Buddhism Is Not Pessimism. It's a Method for Liberation.
▌Buddhism Without a God: A Practice of Self-Liberation
Chapter 6:Yogācāra and Cognitive Psychology
▌Thirty Verses on Consciousness: Vasubandhu's Vision in Poetic Form
▌"All Is a Projection of the Mind – Without Inherent Substance"
▌The Coin Experiment That Sparked a New Understanding of the Mind
▌Synchronicity in Shadows: Kurosawa's "Rashomon" and the Birth of Cognitive Psychology
▌Patterned Minds and Patterned Machines: How AI Echoes Human Cognition
Chapter 7: Discovering the Deep Mind–Manas and Ālaya in Yogācāra
▌How Sensory Input Constructs Consciousness
▌What exactly is Manas?
▌Ignorance of the Self–The Subtle Tyranny of Ego's Whispers
▌False Certainty: "Because I Think, I Must Truly Exist"
▌Conceit (): "I'm better than them–I'm exceptional."
▌Possessive Attachment (): "She's mine. I won't let anyone else have her."
▌The Ālaya Consciousness: The Storehouse That Governs the Self
▌How Did Buddhism Discover the Ālaya Consciousness?
▌The Ālaya Consciousness: A Torrential Underground Stream Beneath the Mind
Chapter 8: The Roots of Manas and Ālaya–Built from a Lifetime of Dukkha
▌Accumulated Dukkha as the Seed of Manas
▌The Suffering of Hostile Encounters – Living with People You Can't Stand
▌The Agony of Parting – When the Mind's Deepest Layers Turn Against Us
▌The Suffering of Unfulfilled Desires: When Effort Meets the Wall of Reality
▌The Heaviness of Being: A Buddhist View on the Five Aggregates and the Weight of Suffering
▌What, Then, Are We Supposed to Do?
Chapter 9: The Six Faces of Mental Defilement – Understanding Our Negative Bias
▌What Are Bonnō(Kleshas) ? A Buddhist Lens on the Negative Bias
▌Greed: "I Only Have 10 Trillion Yen–It's Not Enough Yet."
▌Anger: Evolution's Gift, Misapplied
▌Ignorance: "Not Knowing That You Don't Know"
▌ Arrogance: Like Sun Wukong on Buddha's Palm
▌ Doubt: "It Sounds Strange–But They're Famous, So It Must Be Right…"
▌False Views: "Juvenile Crime Is Rising!" (It's Actually Declining)
Chapter10:The Eleven Traits of a Beautiful Mind – Cultivating the Positive Bias
▌What Does It Mean to Have a Beautiful Mind?
▌The Method: How Do We Actually Build a Beautiful Mind?
Chapter 11: Six Methods for a Clean Mind – The Pāramitās
▌Six Ways to Purify the Heart
▌The Practice of Dāna : Generosity as Mental Strength Training
▌The Practice of Śīla:Training Self-Restraint to Purify the Heart
▌The Practice of K♥ṣ♠ānt i:Pati ence Isn't Endurance–It's the Wisdom to Know When to Walk Away
▌The Practice of Vīrya:Grit, Curiosity, and the Urge to Keep Going
▌The Practice of Dhyāna:The Art of Anchoring the Mind Against Inner Turbulence
▌The Practice of Prajñā: Unfolding the Seed of Buddha-Nature, Step by Step
-Afterword
- About This Book
This book is based on a public lecture titled "Freedom and Education: A Buddhist Psychological Perspective" delivered by psychologist Takao Nishida on January 30, 2022, at Takedera, a traditional Tendaishu temple in Hanno City, Saitama Prefecture.
The event was organized by Terakoya(a private school in the temple), a local civic group that hosts informal educational gatherings focused on topics related to learning and personal growth. According to the group's organizers, their aim is to create inclusive spaces–open to children and adults alike–where people can engage in face-to-face dialogue, even in the midst of a pandemic.
This was the third lecture Nishida gave under the Terakoya banner. His first, "Why Can't We End Wars?–The Mechanism of Propaganda," and his second, "Brainwashing–Principles and Techniques of Mind Control," each explored how our thinking is shaped, often without our awareness. The third installment, featured in this book, turns inward to examine the nature of freedom through the lens of Buddhist psychology.
A theme that runs through all three talks is the question: How can we create an educational environment where children are encouraged to ask their own questions, pursue their curiosity, and think independently? In this particular lecture, Nishida challenges the common perception of Buddhism in Japan as a religion of ancestral rituals and wish-granting prayers. Instead, he traces its historical and philosophical roots to present a strikingly modern view: Buddhism, at its core, offers a method for training the mind to interpret reality clearly and to regulate one's own behavior.
Bridging the gap between Buddhist thought and contemporary cognitive psychology, Nishida introduces six methods designed to free us from the unconscious biases that so often dictate our thoughts and actions. As the lecture unfolded, even participants who were initially skeptical about linking Buddhism and psychology began to recognize how deeply their own mental habits constrained their sense of freedom.
Despite the presence of seemingly esoteric terms like anicca (impermanence), anattā (non-self), śūnyatā (emptiness), pratītyasamutpāda (dependent origination), and vijñaptimātra (consciousness-only), the session sparked lively discussion. Several high school students in attendance posed insightful questions–some of which are addressed in this book.
–Edited by Midori Nishida
-Preface
"Oh no, I did it again. Why do I keep making the same mistakes?"
"I didn't mean to say that–why did those words come out? That's not how I really feel at all."
Almost everyone has known the sting of such regrets.
We tend to assume that all our actions stem from conscious intention. But if we pause to reflect on our daily behavior, we quickly see that this isn't always the case. At times, we act in ways that are directly opposed to what we truly want. We lash out at those we love. We intend to stop at one beer but end up finishing three. We tell ourselves we're on a diet–and then devour two boxes of chocolates.
The strange truth is this: we often fail to follow through on our own decisions. Though we believe ourselves to be singular and autonomous beings, we frequently act in ways that contradict our deliberate choices. Why does this happen?
Psychology explains this perplexing behavior in terms of the unconscious or subconscious mind. Beneath the surface of our awareness lies a vast and powerful domain–an accumulation of unseen impulses and buried memories–that quietly directs much of what we do. It is this submerged mental force that overrides conscious intent, often steering us in entirely unintended directions.
That is why, despite our resolve, we sometimes behave in self-sabotaging ways. We overeat, we overdrink, we engage in reckless or even destructive behaviors–including substance abuse and, in extreme cases, sexual misconduct. Even when we know such actions are harmful, our bodies and minds seem to act on their own. Take PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), now widely discussed: a single trigger can cause a past trauma to reassert itself in the present, powerfully influencing our actions without conscious input.
Yet remarkably, the insight that unconscious forces shape our behavior is not new. Nearly 1,700 years ago, the Indian Buddhist scholars Vasubandhu and Asanga articulated a sophisticated theory of mind known as Yogācāra, or the "Consciousness-Only" school of thought. Though often classified as a religion, Buddhism at its core is a rigorous science of the mind.
Yogācāra philosophy explains our inner conflict through two deeply embedded layers of consciousness: manas and ālaya-vijñāna. These closely resemble what psychology today calls the personal and collective unconscious. Manas is the inner ego-mind, the seat of habitual self-centered thoughts, while ālaya-vijñāna, the "storehouse consciousness," contains the latent impressions that accumulate over lifetimes and shape our perceptions and behavior.
This book explores the hidden causes–both psychological and philosophical–behind our inability to act freely and follow through on our own intentions. It is intended as a guide to help readers understand how we become trapped by unconscious biases, and more importantly, how we can liberate ourselves from them.
While the theories of psychology and Buddhist philosophy are not always simple, I've marked key insights in bold for easy reference. Even those who wish to skip the theory can benefit from Chapter 11, which outlines Six Practical Methods for overcoming inner constraints. Practiced regularly, even in small doses, these methods can bring us closer to the freedom we seek–not just as a concept, but as a lived experience.
It is my sincere hope that this book will serve not merely as information, but as a tool for real transformation.