Asian Healing Traditions in Counseling and Psychotherapy

Roy Moodley, Ted Lo, Na Zhu

• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781483371450
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychologie
• Subtopic: Conseil en psychothérapie

Asian Healing Traditions in Counseling and Psychotherapy explores the various healing approaches and practices in the East and bridges them with those in the West to show counselors how to provide culturally sensitive services to distinct populations. Editors Roy Moodley, Ted Lo, and Na Zhu bring together leading scholars across Asia to demystify and critically analyze traditional Far East Asian healing practices—such as Chinese Taoist Healing practices, Morita Therapy, Naikan Therapy, Mindfulness and Existential Therapy, Buddhism and Mindfulness Meditation, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy—in relation to health and mental health in the West. The book will not only show counselors how to apply Eastern and Western approaches to their practices but will also shape the direction of counseling and psychotherapy research for many years to come.

1 Confucianism and Healing

Kwang-Kuo Hwang

Four paradigmatic philosophers seem to have emerged from 600 BC to AD 200 in four places: (1) Ancient Greece, (2) the Middle East, (3) India, and (4) China. They created cultural systems common to each area without any direct transmission of ideas from one region to another. Confucianism established by pre-Qin Confucianists (Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi) has gradually become a transcendental formal structure for sustaining the lifeworld of Chinese people.

This chapter explores the historical and cultural origin of Confucianism. It discusses the Chinese worldview model of equilibrium, as well as Confucian ethics for ordinary people. The chapter also considers the differences between the relative ethics of five cardinal relationships (wu lun) and the absolute ethics of three bonds (san gang). A description of illness representations and conceptualizations of health, Confucian practice of self-cultivation and its implications for psychological healing and psychotherapy will also be discussed.

Historical and Cultural Origin of Confucianism

Confucius (551–479 BC), the most respected educator in Chinese history, was born in the state of Lu (now Shandong Province) during the turmoil of the Spring and Autumn period (772–484 BC) in ancient China. His father, a mid-rank official, died when he was 3 years old. Confucius worked as a shepherd and as an accountant for a noble family. He was very interested in the rites and institutions that prevailed in a much earlier period of Chinese history during the Zhou dynasty (1122–256 BC) and devoted himself to the study of the traditional Zhou culture. During Confucius’s lifetime, feudal princes were frequently trying to usurp the throne. He hoped to restore social order by advocating a return to the morality of loyalty and the ethical system of filial piety. Confucius began his career as a public teacher at the age of 22. His fame gradually increased, and it is said that he attracted 72 disciples and more than 3,000 students, which earned him a good reputation and made him well known.

In 517 BC, Duke Chao of Lu engaged in an open quarrel with three hereditary ministerial families in the state, who were continually encroaching on the authority of their feudal ruler. Confucius fled into Chi, the adjoining state, to avoid the prevailing disorder. After the rebellion was suppressed, he returned to the state of Lu at the age of 51 and obtained a position in the government. He was forced to resign after 3 months as he failed to persuade the king to destroy three castles constructed by feudal princes. From the age of 54, he toured with some of his disciples around various states for a period of 14 years, hoping that his political advocacy might be accepted by other feudal kings.

Confucius identified himself as an educator whose mandate was to rectify the world by teaching virtues. In attempting to restore the feudal social order of the early Zhou dynasty, he spent a lot of time researching and recording rites and music for ceremonies and other occasions expressing one’s dedication to family, country, and state. He also edited poems and classics collected from various states, including Lu, Zhou, Sung, and Chi. He wrote a history of Lu, titled Spring and Autumn. In his late years, he annotated 10 supplements to the oracular text The I Ching, which is considered the most ancient Chinese book of philosophy and cosmology. All of these were used as teaching materials.

Interpretation of The I Ching

The reinterpretation of The I Ching by Confucianists has very important implications for its rationalization in ancient China. The I Ching was originally a divination text in ancient China. During the Spring and Autumn period (221–481 BC), Confucius and his disciples were said to have written the Shi Yi (十翼, Ten Wings) as well as a series of commentaries on The I Ching. The Confucianists’ interpretation of The I Ching had transformed it into a “philosophical masterpiece” of Confucian philosophy and cosmology.¹ Meanwhile, Laozi’s (or Lao Tze’s; 604–531 BC) interpretation had helped the post-Warring States Taoists to develop Chinese organic sciences.²

The Chinese Worldview Model of Equilibrium

The works of these schools (Confucianism and Taoism) have contributed to the formation of a Chinese worldview model of equilibrium. Using the method of structuralism, anthropologist Li analyzed the folk religions, legends, and myths prevalent in Chinese society and constructed a Chinese worldview model of equilibrium.³ The word equilibrium used in Li’s model comes from the Confucian golden mean, in which the term was used to mean “to reach balance and harmony.” Li proposed that the most fundamental operating rule in traditional Chinese cosmology is to seek balance and harmony between humans and nature, humans and society, and humans and ego. The most ideal and perfect states in traditional culture all aim at such a state of balance and harmony. In order to reach these ideal states, it is necessary to maintain balance and harmony within each of the three systems. The equilibrium worldview model comprises balance and harmony within each of the three systems.

Harmony With Nature

The first level of harmony is harmony with nature, which can be expressed in two aspects: (1) time and (2) space. In Chinese folk belief, harmony of temporality is manifest in the explanation of one’s fortune in life in coordination with cosmic time. Four pairs of signs represent the time, date, month, and year in which a person was born. The two characters of each pair are adopted from 10 celestial stems and 12 terrestrial branches and are usually called eight characters. The eight characters that represent one’s birth time may determine one’s life experience or fate (ming). To many Chinese, fate is determined at birth. In coordination with cosmic time, an individual’s life experience will take on various changes as a consequence of good or bad luck. In the traditional system of Chinese belief, fate is unchangeable, while luck can be changed with the aid of various forces. Seeking harmony with temporality is revealed in this changeable fortune.

The second aspect of maintaining balance with nature is spatial arrangement. Ideas of spatial harmony are constructed on the concepts of yin and yang, the five elements (wu-hsin), and the eight trigrams (ba-gua). The combination of these factors constitutes a belief in geomancy (feng shui).

Harmony Within the Individual

Maintaining harmony within the individual can be divided into two parts: (1) internal substantial harmony and (2) external formal harmony. The former explains the harmony within the human body mainly by the dynamic equilibrium between the two opposing forces of yin and yang. Based on these concepts, a very complicated system of Chinese medicine and food has been developed. If an individual’s body is basically cold, that person should consume more hot foods to keep in balance, while a person whose body is basically hot should consume more cold foods. If the body overheats, more cold food or medicine will be needed to keep the balance and vice versa. The food that people should eat changes with the weather: More hot foods should be eaten in the winter, and more cold foods should be consumed in the summer to maintain the equilibrium of yin and yang within the body. The harmony of the external form is mainly represented in the use of one’s name. In the traditional Chinese theory of naming, names are not just signs or symbols; names entail a transforming force for the individual. Two aspects represent a person’s name. The first is related to the five elements; the second is the number of strokes required to write one’s name. Both show an individual’s search for balance in external forms.

Interpersonal Harmony

Harmony existing in a person’s social relationships is the steadfast goal of the Confucian value system, which itself is the ethical foundation of social order. Confucian theory of self-cultivation requires everyone to practice the doctrine of “exerting oneself” (zhong, 忠, literally, “loyalty”) and “putting oneself in the place of the other” (shu, 恕, “forgiveness”) in one’s five cardinal relationships (wu lun) between father and son, sovereign and subordinate, husband and wife, older and younger brother, and friends. Since the Martial Emperor of the Han dynasty (158–87 BC) accepted Dong Zhong Shu’s (179–104 BC) proposal to dismiss the hundred schools by revering Confucianism solely, the three bonds (san gang) had been frequently and closely linked to five cardinal ethics (wuchang), which delineated the absolute authority of the ruler over the minister, the father over the son, and the husband over the wife, and have had profound influence over Chinese culture in general. As the politicized Confucian ideology of control, the institution of three bonds was a deliberate attempt to utilize Confucian values for the maintenance of a specific social order. It is detrimental to human flourishing. On the contrary, the five cardinal ethics deliberated by Mencius with self-cultivation is not only compatible with but also essential to interpersonal harmony and personal growth.

Illness Representations and Conceptualizations of Health

Culture may shape not only patterns of emotional expression but also help-seeking behaviors when one experiences physical or psychological disturbances that are mediated by the concept of illness prevailing in that culture. In order to illustrate this point, a distinction should be made between the concepts of disease and illness. These ideas are underpinned by Confucianism. Disease is a pathological concept, while illness is a cultural one. In the modern concept of medicine, disease indicates infection by germs or a virus. It is a biological or pathological phenomenon that can be examined in a clinic or laboratory. Illness indicates the social recognition that one cannot appropriately carry out daily duties and that a series of acts must be taken to improve the situation. A person’s illness is meaningless unless the concept of that illness is recognized in that person’s culture. Disease means malfunctions of one’s physique. Illness implies this but also implies a threat to the individual’s social existence.⁴ In her field study in a village of northern Taiwan, anthropologist Chang discovered that the peasants’ illness behaviors were profoundly influenced by their concepts of illness.⁵ The peasants recognized a disease by examining their own feelings and thought that an illness meant that the body felt uncomfortable and painful and that the person could not work or rest: “A feeling of hurt is an illness” (p. 125).⁶ This statement points out that pain is an indicator of illness. A cold, minor cut or an incised wound is not illness. An illness means a feeling of discomfort inside the body; it makes an individual unable to assume the regularity of life.

Multiple Treatments

A disease may not be a necessary condition for seeing a medical doctor. It may depend on the extent of the seriousness of the disease. A slight disease is “feeling uncomfortable.” It just requires getting more rest and taking good care of one’s health. A serious disease is “feeling much discomfort, having to lie in bed and being unable to work, even move.”⁷ This condition causes one to see a doctor and to take medicine. Whether one sees a doctor also depends on the patient’s social status. Thus, Chinese people have a specific criterion for judging the seriousness of an illness. The peasants’ concepts about the cause of illness included the following:

1. Physique: congenitally weak and easily sick
2. Heredity: weak-minded with epilepsy that comes from the ancestors
3. Infection: cold, cough, or smallpox
4. Influence by external evil: god, ghost, geomantic omen, or changes of one’s fortune
5. Influence by internal evil: internal heat, virtual and weak circulation

Chang further indicated that people decide the way to seek medical aid after making a self-diagnosis and conjecturing the cause of illness. If the patient believes that the disease is caused by internal factors, the person will seek help from Western or Chinese medicine for curing the discomforts of the body. If a patient feels that the disease is caused by a supernatural power, after interacting with a doctor the patient may seek help from a witch doctor. A feature of Chinese patients’ medicine-seeking behavior is that they do not insist on seeing a doctor of Western medicine, Chinese medicine, or traditional therapy. They care only about the effectiveness of the treatment, leading to the multiple treatments.

Psychiatric Stigma and Shame

In Western countries, especially for the Catholics, confessions to a priest may be a part of people’s live...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Publisher Note
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• PART A The Ancient Art of Asian Healing Traditions
• 1 Confucianism and Healing
• 2 Taoism and Healing
• 3 Buddhism and Healing
• 4 Qigong and Healing (Based on Taoist Philosophy)
• 5 Ki (氣) and Healing
• PART B Integrating Asian Healing Traditions into Clinical Practices
• 6 Infusing Asian Healing Traditions Into Counseling Psychology
• 7 Integrating Asian Healing Traditions Into Psychotherapy
• 8 Integrating Asian Healing Traditions Into Biomedicine
• 9 Integrating Mindfulness, Meditation, Buddhism, and Therapeutic Practices
• PART C Asian Healing Traditions and Their Contemporary Formulations
• 10 Chinese Taoist Cognitive Psychotherapy
• 11 Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Asian Thought
• 12 Japanese Contemplative Practice of Naikan
• 13 Morita Therapy
• 14 Reiki Therapy
• PART D Asian Healing Traditions Inspire Creative Therapies
• 15 Tai Chi and Meditation
• 16 Hakoniwa: Japanese Sandplay Therapy
• 17 Oishii: Japanese Delicious Moment Therapy
• Conclusion: Integrating Asian Healing Traditions Into Counseling and Psychotherapy
• Glossary
• Index
• About the Editors
• About the Contributors