Handbook of Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

   PDF

2. Introduction: Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health

   • William T. O’Donohue, Akihiko Masuda, Kayla Sargent

   Pages 1-15

3. Zen and Zen Buddhism: An Overview

   • Shudo Ishii, Akihiko Masuda, Kayla Sargent

   Pages 17-27

4. Zen and Japanese Culture

   • Akihiko Masuda

   Pages 29-44

5. Zen: Overview and Foundations

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 45-45

      PDF

   2. What Is Zen?: The Path of Just Sitting

      • Shohaku Okumura

      Pages 47-61

   3. A Brief Note on Zazen

      • Tairyu Tsunoda, Akihiko Masuda, Kayla Sargent

      Pages 63-65

   4. The Role and the Present Significance of Koans

      • Daiko Matsuyama

      Pages 67-75

   5. Zen and Body

      • Kenshu Sugawara, Akihiko Masuda, Kayla Sargent

      Pages 77-84

   6. Zen and Language: Zen Mondo and Koan

      • Takashi Ogawa, Akihiko Masuda, Kayla Sargent

      Pages 85-91

6. Zen: Everyday Living and Current Evidence

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 93-93

      PDF

   2. Zen and Desire

      • Kiyozumi Seijun Ishii, Akihiko Masuda, Kayla Sargent

      Pages 95-103

   3. Zen, Self, and Personality

      • Hidetaka Shuryu Okajima, Akihiko Masuda, Kayla Sargent

      Pages 105-113

   4. Every Day is a Fine Day

      • Mike K. Sayama

      Pages 115-124

   5. Zen and Forgiveness

      • Shoryu Bradley

      Pages 125-139

   6. Zen and Science: Zen as an Ethical Guideline for Scientists’ Conducts

      • Rosan Yoshida

      Pages 141-150

7. Application of Zen to Behavioral Healthcare Issues

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 151-151

      PDF

   2. Zen and Behavioral Health: A Review of the Evidence

      • Kenneth P. Kushner

      Pages 153-168

   3. Zen and Psychotherapy

      • Peiwei Li, Daniel Rodriguez Ramirez

      Pages 169-194

   4. Zen’s Thoughts on Psychopathology and Wellness

      • Akihiko Masuda, Kayla Sargent

      Pages 195-213

This comprehensive handbook presents a Zen account of fundamental and important dimensions of daily living. It explores how Zen teachings inform a range of key topics across the field of behavioral health and discuss the many uses of meditation and mindfulness practice in therapeutic contexts, especially within cognitive-behavioral therapies. Chapters outline key Zen constructs of self and body, desire, and acceptance, and apply these constructs to Western frameworks of health, pathology, meaning-making, and healing. An interdisciplinary panel of experts, including a number of Zen masters who have achieved the designation of roshi, examines intellectual tensions among Zen, mindfulness, and psychotherapy, such as concepts of rationality, modes of language, and goals of well-being. The handbook also offers first-person practitioner accounts of living Zen in everyday life and using its teachings in varied practice settings.

Topics featured in the Handbook include:


• Zen practices in jails.
• Zen koans and parables.
• A Zen account of desire and attachment.
• Adaptation of Zen to behavioral healthcare.
• Zen, mindfulness, and their relationship to cognitive behavioral therapy. 
• The application of Zen practices and principles for survivors of trauma and violence.


The Handbook of Zen, Mindfulness, and Behavioral Health is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians/professionals, and graduate students in clinical psychology, public health, cultural studies, language philosophy, behavioral medicine, and Buddhism and religious studies.

• Anger and Zen
• Anxiety and Zen
• Cultural adaptations of Zen
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Zen
• Dysphoria and Zen
• East and West perspectives on Zen
• Ethics and Zen
• Forgiveness and Zen
• Human desire, attachment, and Zen
• Japanese culture and Zen
• Language and Zen
• Psychopathology and Zen
• Psychotherapy and Zen
• Self-compassion and Zen
• Zen Buddhism and behavioral healthcare
• Zen and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
• Zen and mindfulness
• Zen koans and parables
• Zen meditation
• Zen, personality, and self

“It will make a welcome addition to the literature on mindfulness. I found it intriguing at many levels, and it will no doubt stimulate further theorizing and research. … The references are at the end of each individual chapter, and there is a good index for the book as a whole. … This book can be recommended for libraries.” (J. I. (Hans) Bakker, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 62 (40), October, 2017)

• Department of Psychology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, USA

  Akihiko Masuda

• Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Reno, USA

  William T. O'Donohue

Akihiko Masuda, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Clinical Psychology at University of Hawaii at Manoa. He was on the Georgia State University faculty between 2007 and 2016 (assistant professor 2007-2013; associate professor with tenure 2013-2016). Dr. Masuda was born and raised in Nagano, Japan, and moved to the United States for his psychology career. His primary areas of interest include acceptance- and mindfulness-based behavioral therapies, diversity, and Zen Buddhism. He is the author of more than 80 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. He is the editor of the book, Mindfulness and Acceptance in Multicultural Competency (New Harbinger, 2014).

William O’Donohue, Ph.D., is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno. He has published research on evidence-based practice in behavioral health, focusing on cognitive behavior therapy. Dr. O'Donohue has published more than 80 books and 300 journal articles and book chapters. He

has served as Principle Investigator on a number of grants that have focused on the transfer of technology to practice, including a grant investigating transferring integrated care to a variety of medical settings in Hawaii.

Policies and ethics