Zen, Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

Throughout time, human beings have explored various methods to address existential questions about their personhood and existence, spanning both the material and metaphysical realms. Logical approaches like philosophy and psychology, alongside spiritual avenues like religion, have given rise to therapies and practices aimed at deepening our understanding of our existence. In the forthcoming paragraphs, I will delve into psychoanalysis, a Western psychological therapy, and Zen Buddhism, an Eastern religion and philosophy. Both methods emphasize different levels of consciousness, guiding us to access and be aware of these levels for a more harmonious life. I will highlight the similarities in their goals and origins, followed by an exploration of the differences and limitations of psychoanalysis compared to Zen. Additionally, I'll propose a way to integrate ideas from both schools in a therapeutic setting, emphasizing the relevance of Zen in contemporary psychology..

Psychoanalysis and Zen levels of consciousness

In the late nineteenth century, a pivotal figure in psychology, Sigmund Freud, proposed a theory aiming to explain the roots of human behavior. Freud's theory, encompassing various elements, centered on the differentiation between consciousness, preconsciousness, and unconsciousness, along with the ego, superego, and ID. According to Freud, every human mind harbored three levels of awareness: the level of consciousness, involving "everything a person is aware of at a given moment in time"; the preconsciousness, comprising "memories that can be easily brought back into awareness"; and the unconsciousness, encapsulating "everything that a person is unaware of at a given time" (goodtherapy.com).

Freud further introduced the Ego, the part of the mind that seeks to control and rationalize urges and desires; the superego, focused on morality and righteousness; and the ID, existing in the unconscious and driven by the pursuit of pleasure. For example, when you are making a decision to eat another piece of cake your ID would be the part of you fantasizing and reaching for the cake while the ego is trying everything to resist this urge based on the fact that you are already ate 3 pieces. Meanwhile the superego goes on and on about how you always tend to find yourself In situations of overindulgence and that you will never lose weight and be successful if you continue these behaviors. This groundbreaking psychological insight shed light on a profound reality – there is more to our being than what meets the eye. Logical conscious thinking merely scratches the surface, and to genuinely comprehend our motivations and conditions, a deeper exploration is required. This endeavor to bring what lies beneath the surface into our awareness is the essence of psychoanalysis.

“The main goal of psychoanalytic therapy is to bring unconscious material into consciousness and enhance the functioning of the ego, helping the individual become less controlled by biological drives or demands of the superego.” (Goodtherapy.com)

Where does the process of desire, criticism, and ideal begin? In Freudian's view, it originates at the self. His theory of "self-object" suggests that the self perceives the other as serving the self, emphasizing the self as a distinct entity. According to this theory, individuals possess the capacity for narcissism and narcissistic object relation, leading to a perpetual separation from the object in their awareness.

The self-object theory not only constrains therapeutic methodologies but also limits consciousness levels, evident in Freudian psychoanalysis, which encompasses only consciousness, subconsciousness, and unconsciousness within the individual.

In Zen philosophy, consciousness transcends individual boundaries and selfhood. The concept of "anatman" or No-Self is fundamental in Buddhist philosophy, asserting that consciousness is interdependent and exists universally. D.T Suzuki, a prominent Zen scholar, describes this boundless consciousness as The Cosmic Unconsciousness.

“what we generally call the relative field of consciousness vanishes away somewhere into the unknown, and this unknown, once recognized, enters into ordinary consciousness and puts in good order all the complexities there which have been tormenting us to greater or lesser degree”. (Suzuki, Zen and Psychoanalysis)

In short, this form of consciousness is not contingent on a separate entity and permeates everything once released from the conceptualization of self. Carl Jung, a Western psychology pioneer and Freud's student, describes this state as an empty consciousness open to influences beyond ego-like consciousness. He notes that in this state, the ego is overwhelmed, leading to the interpenetration of self and other, erasing limitations and separations. The ego becomes synonymous with the surrounding environment.

Suzuki illustrates this level of consciousness by stating, "To know the flower is to become the flower, to be the flower, to bloom as the flower and to enjoy the sunlight as well as the rainfall." The consciousness within our divided self is inseparable from the flower we observe or the rain we disregard.

"By knowing the flower I know myself. That is, by losing myself in the flower I know myself as well as the flower." Suzuki

)

. Methodology and Practices

Now that we grasp some of the disparities in how Zen and psychoanalysis perceive the self and the world, let's examine how their practices and methods, designed to attain higher states of well-being and connectedness, embody these distinctions. I'll primarily discuss free association and Zen meditation, also known as zazen, along with koans—an experiential practice combining cognition levels and deeper consciousness states.

Free association, a therapeutic technique, encourages patients to speak freely without censorship, aiming to uncover unconscious levels by bypassing conscious thought. This raw and authentic speech, devoid of rationalization, unveils repressed memories through symbolic language. For example, if someone experienced abuse in a barn growing up by a close family member, during the free association process they might state words at random such as “The red cow” or some sort of symbolic language that represents the event in the patient's unconsciousness. In contrast, Zen practices, such as zazen, focus on becoming whole with space and time. In the words of Master Dogen the founder of Soto zen school of japan,“Sit in kekka-fuza with body, sit in kekka-fuza with mind, sit in kekka-fuza of body-mind falling off.” (Dogen). Unlike conventional meditation, zazen aims for correct posture and mind to harmonize with the whole, eliminating cognitive activities that obscure the present moment, hence the idea of “body-falling off”. Emptying the mind aligns the body and mind with the world and consciousness.

(If you have ever dropped in to moments of deep meditation or stillness you may know what it feels like to have the “body fall off”)

Accompanied by zazen, koans challenge practitioners to abandon reason and language, promoting emptiness to reach profound insights. Similar to free association, koans aim to transcend individualistic thinking and live with ambiguity and paradox. When the cognitive mind is empty, answers come from the cosmic unconsciousness.

Free association emphasizes language and conceptualization for individual harmony, focusing on understanding the reasons behind suffering. On the other hand, Zen methodology reduces emphasis on cognitive agency, abandons reasons, and achieves a direct end to separateness. While both methods are useful, their goals differ. Psychoanalysis aims to understand the roots of behavior and desires, continuously uncovering means without a direct end. In Zen, harmonization leads to an end of the individual, reaching true emptiness, where the end and means become one—an eternal truth.

In the material world, psychoanalysis helps individuals understand unconscious influences. However, it remains a perpetual process because the unconscious will forever pick up on memories, experiences, and stimuli occurring to the individual. It will never fully reach the end, and the process will continue. In Zen, harmonization marks the end, merging means and end into a direct and eternal truth.

Zen, psychoanalysis and modern day psychology

In the following section, I would like to introduce the uses of both Zen and psychoanalysis in modern-day psychology. The goal of modern-day psychology is to help individuals live more meaningful lives, which can take various forms depending on the individual. For someone whose life is hindered by past events, it might involve reframing and coming to terms with those events. If someone is grappling with anxious attachment to future events, it could mean helping the patient live more in the present moment. Many of these challenges stem from a "neurotic preoccupation that defines and limits subjective reality" (Thomson, 539).

When something occurs, whether consciously or unconsciously, it shapes our perspective on the world by conceptualizing new experiences with past ones. This process contributes to the formation of beliefs, memories, and various aspects of our lives. Additionally, individuals often live in alignment with their biases, particularly confirmation bias—the tendency to affirm ideas that confirm our narrative or belief while disregarding evidence that contradicts our pre-existing beliefs. Placing our individual agencies in this process ultimately distorts our reality, leading us further away from ultimate truths.

In an example involving a therapist-client interaction, confirmation bias and an overdependence on one's narrative are evident. The therapist, speculating if the client felt criticized, interpreted situations on a tape through this lens, even when signs of criticism weren't present. The initial narrative colored the therapist's perception, hindering an accurate understanding of the client. As the author notes, "the therapist became engrossed in his own intentionality of understanding his patroness transference dynamics, and the overemphasis on his small self prevented him from seeing his actual patient accurately" (Thomson, 539).

This situation reflects a common human tendency—personalizing situations, which, on a more intense scale, leads to suffering and prompts individuals to seek psychotherapy for a better life. From a psychoanalytic standpoint, these tendencies stem from the unconscious and desire for pleasure (libido). Through methods like free association, practitioners bring these tendencies to the surface, understand the projections, and address them in therapy. By bringing the unconscious to consciousness, individuals gain insight, helping them avoid repeating harmful actions in the future.

.

“However, Still another form of trying to heal the suffering of separateness lies in build-ing up one's own Ego, as a separate, fortified, indestructible thing. One then experiences oneself as one's own property, one's power, one's prestige, one's intellect.” (Suzuki, Zen and psychoanalysis)

In contrast, Buddhism and Zen aim to transcend individual agency, offering a new way according to the truth of the present moment. Zen delves into deeper levels of suffering, focusing on reaching the original mind to eliminate craving and desire. The goal is not to necessarily cure the narrative of the individual to then live a better life, the goal can be thought of as freeing the agent of “myth of the isolated mind” to then see each situation as it is and live according to the dhamma (truth) and not hold onto any narrative of individual identity. By reaching the original mind, suffering inevedibitly falls, because craving or desire for a certain narratives cessetes.

“He is evidently not he nor is he not he, as we have in the world of opposites, When this not he falls, he does not know that it is he or not he. When all is over the original mind comes back to itself back to its own consciousness and that is the awakening of “one thought” or ``ichinen.” (Suzuki)

The path of Zen is to transcend the limitations of ordinary life and become closer to the divine or the buddha nature of all beings. It is a spiritual process, and therefore not all of the Zen philosophy can be beneficial for someone seeking psychological help, and should not be reduced to a method in psychotherapy because of its deep teaching and traditions. “Reducing zazen to a therapeutic technique would be like describing the Eucharist as a food: the proposition may be strictly true but without considerable elaboration it would lead to a gross misunderstanding of the subject” ( Thomson, 532). Though there are specific elements to the practice that hold utility in modern psychology. What Zen is trying to encourage the practitioner to do is stop putting so much emphasis on cognition to solve the problems, and rather to drop into the unknown, live there peacefully and drop the dependence on the self to solve problems. As Rumi a famous poet once said

“Maybe you are searching among the branches for what only appears in the roots.”

By getting to the roots of the issue, and understanding that these characteristics of human suffering are innate in all of us we understand the fact that Dukkha is inevitable (first noble truth). We all categories, we all confirm our biases, we all experience adverse emotions at one point or another. This understanding can make it much easier to have compassion for ourselves and others, And with true compassion suffering cannot exist and the individual will hopefully reach a place of peace without the need for other practices.

In a therapeutic setting, ideas and principles from Zen can be used, however it might be very difficult to try to explain to a person who has little to no understanding of Buddhist philosophy that there is no self and no ego. In some cases, this would do more harm than good to the patient, and could potentially lead them to take on a nihilistic view of existence, making their suffering worse. Because of this, therapists and spiritual guides alike should provide a process that could eventually lead to this understanding by first using psychoanalytic methods to align the individual with their own unconscious, educate them on their tendencies through therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy, and eventually unfold to them the truth of Zen if the patient is open and prepared to know. One must first build up their identity to eventually free themselves from it.

The similarities between Zen and psychology are vast, however the differences make the two modalities something that must be carefully assessed in order to merge the principles in a clinical setting. The role of all levels of consciousness on an individual has a very heavy effect on the truth of their life, and to truly reach a steady state of well being practitioners and patients alike must understand what lies in these different levels. Through all of the methodologies; free association, koans, zazen, these levels of consciousness have the potential to come into the patients awareness and hopefully invoke truth in them which will overcome their intrusive suffering in form of neurosis and other mental health problems by limiting attachments to the causes and conditions created by the illusive self.

Resources

“About the Free Associations Method.” Free Associations Method, https://freudfile.org/psychoanalysis/free_associations.html.

Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro, and Carl G Jung. “Foreword .” An Introduction to Zen Buddhism.

Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro, et al. Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis. Souvenir Press, 1974.

Team, GoodTherapy Editor. “Psychoanalysis / Modern Psychoanalysis.” GoodTherapy, GoodTherapy, https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/psychoanalysis.

Thomson, Roger F. “Zazen and Psychotherapeutic Presence.” American Journal of Psychotherapy, vol. 54, no. 4, 2000, pp. 531–548., https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.2000.54.4.531.

“Zen Kōans: Learning to Live with Ambiguity and Paradox.” Muse, 5 Oct. 2020,https://choosemuse.com/blog/zen-koans-learning-to-live-with-ambiguity-and-paradox/.

Zen, Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

Throughout time, human beings have explored various methods to address existential questions about their personhood and existence, spanning both the material and metaphysical realms. Logical approaches like philosophy and psychology, alongside spiritual avenues like religion, have given rise to therapies and practices aimed at deepening our understanding of our existence. In the forthcoming paragraphs, I will delve into psychoanalysis, a Western psychological therapy, and Zen Buddhism, an Eastern religion and philosophy. Both methods emphasize different levels of consciousness, guiding us to access and be aware of these levels for a more harmonious life. I will highlight the similarities in their goals and origins, followed by an exploration of the differences and limitations of psychoanalysis compared to Zen. Additionally, I'll propose a way to integrate ideas from both schools in a therapeutic setting, emphasizing the relevance of Zen in contemporary psychology..

Psychoanalysis and Zen levels of consciousness

In the late nineteenth century, a pivotal figure in psychology, Sigmund Freud, proposed a theory aiming to explain the roots of human behavior. Freud's theory, encompassing various elements, centered on the differentiation between consciousness, preconsciousness, and unconsciousness, along with the ego, superego, and ID. According to Freud, every human mind harbored three levels of awareness: the level of consciousness, involving "everything a person is aware of at a given moment in time"; the preconsciousness, comprising "memories that can be easily brought back into awareness"; and the unconsciousness, encapsulating "everything that a person is unaware of at a given time" (goodtherapy.com).

Freud further introduced the Ego, the part of the mind that seeks to control and rationalize urges and desires; the superego, focused on morality and righteousness; and the ID, existing in the unconscious and driven by the pursuit of pleasure. For example, when you are making a decision to eat another piece of cake your ID would be the part of you fantasizing and reaching for the cake while the ego is trying everything to resist this urge based on the fact that you are already ate 3 pieces. Meanwhile the superego goes on and on about how you always tend to find yourself In situations of overindulgence and that you will never lose weight and be successful if you continue these behaviors. This groundbreaking psychological insight shed light on a profound reality – there is more to our being than what meets the eye. Logical conscious thinking merely scratches the surface, and to genuinely comprehend our motivations and conditions, a deeper exploration is required. This endeavor to bring what lies beneath the surface into our awareness is the essence of psychoanalysis.

“The main goal of psychoanalytic therapy is to bring unconscious material into consciousness and enhance the functioning of the ego, helping the individual become less controlled by biological drives or demands of the superego.” (Goodtherapy.com)

Where does the process of desire, criticism, and ideal begin? In Freudian's view, it originates at the self. His theory of "self-object" suggests that the self perceives the other as serving the self, emphasizing the self as a distinct entity. According to this theory, individuals possess the capacity for narcissism and narcissistic object relation, leading to a perpetual separation from the object in their awareness.

The self-object theory not only constrains therapeutic methodologies but also limits consciousness levels, evident in Freudian psychoanalysis, which encompasses only consciousness, subconsciousness, and unconsciousness within the individual.

In Zen philosophy, consciousness transcends individual boundaries and selfhood. The concept of "anatman" or No-Self is fundamental in Buddhist philosophy, asserting that consciousness is interdependent and exists universally. D.T Suzuki, a prominent Zen scholar, describes this boundless consciousness as The Cosmic Unconsciousness.

“what we generally call the relative field of consciousness vanishes away somewhere into the unknown, and this unknown, once recognized, enters into ordinary consciousness and puts in good order all the complexities there which have been tormenting us to greater or lesser degree”. (Suzuki, Zen and Psychoanalysis)

In short, this form of consciousness is not contingent on a separate entity and permeates everything once released from the conceptualization of self. Carl Jung, a Western psychology pioneer and Freud's student, describes this state as an empty consciousness open to influences beyond ego-like consciousness. He notes that in this state, the ego is overwhelmed, leading to the interpenetration of self and other, erasing limitations and separations. The ego becomes synonymous with the surrounding environment.

Suzuki illustrates this level of consciousness by stating, "To know the flower is to become the flower, to be the flower, to bloom as the flower and to enjoy the sunlight as well as the rainfall." The consciousness within our divided self is inseparable from the flower we observe or the rain we disregard.

"By knowing the flower I know myself. That is, by losing myself in the flower I know myself as well as the flower." Suzuki

)

. Methodology and Practices

Now that we grasp some of the disparities in how Zen and psychoanalysis perceive the self and the world, let's examine how their practices and methods, designed to attain higher states of well-being and connectedness, embody these distinctions. I'll primarily discuss free association and Zen meditation, also known as zazen, along with koans—an experiential practice combining cognition levels and deeper consciousness states.

Free association, a therapeutic technique, encourages patients to speak freely without censorship, aiming to uncover unconscious levels by bypassing conscious thought. This raw and authentic speech, devoid of rationalization, unveils repressed memories through symbolic language. For example, if someone experienced abuse in a barn growing up by a close family member, during the free association process they might state words at random such as “The red cow” or some sort of symbolic language that represents the event in the patient's unconsciousness. In contrast, Zen practices, such as zazen, focus on becoming whole with space and time. In the words of Master Dogen the founder of Soto zen school of japan,“Sit in kekka-fuza with body, sit in kekka-fuza with mind, sit in kekka-fuza of body-mind falling off.” (Dogen). Unlike conventional meditation, zazen aims for correct posture and mind to harmonize with the whole, eliminating cognitive activities that obscure the present moment, hence the idea of “body-falling off”. Emptying the mind aligns the body and mind with the world and consciousness.

(If you have ever dropped in to moments of deep meditation or stillness you may know what it feels like to have the “body fall off”)

Accompanied by zazen, koans challenge practitioners to abandon reason and language, promoting emptiness to reach profound insights. Similar to free association, koans aim to transcend individualistic thinking and live with ambiguity and paradox. When the cognitive mind is empty, answers come from the cosmic unconsciousness.

Free association emphasizes language and conceptualization for individual harmony, focusing on understanding the reasons behind suffering. On the other hand, Zen methodology reduces emphasis on cognitive agency, abandons reasons, and achieves a direct end to separateness. While both methods are useful, their goals differ. Psychoanalysis aims to understand the roots of behavior and desires, continuously uncovering means without a direct end. In Zen, harmonization leads to an end of the individual, reaching true emptiness, where the end and means become one—an eternal truth.

In the material world, psychoanalysis helps individuals understand unconscious influences. However, it remains a perpetual process because the unconscious will forever pick up on memories, experiences, and stimuli occurring to the individual. It will never fully reach the end, and the process will continue. In Zen, harmonization marks the end, merging means and end into a direct and eternal truth.

Zen, psychoanalysis and modern day psychology

In the following section, I would like to introduce the uses of both Zen and psychoanalysis in modern-day psychology. The goal of modern-day psychology is to help individuals live more meaningful lives, which can take various forms depending on the individual. For someone whose life is hindered by past events, it might involve reframing and coming to terms with those events. If someone is grappling with anxious attachment to future events, it could mean helping the patient live more in the present moment. Many of these challenges stem from a "neurotic preoccupation that defines and limits subjective reality" (Thomson, 539).

When something occurs, whether consciously or unconsciously, it shapes our perspective on the world by conceptualizing new experiences with past ones. This process contributes to the formation of beliefs, memories, and various aspects of our lives. Additionally, individuals often live in alignment with their biases, particularly confirmation bias—the tendency to affirm ideas that confirm our narrative or belief while disregarding evidence that contradicts our pre-existing beliefs. Placing our individual agencies in this process ultimately distorts our reality, leading us further away from ultimate truths.

In an example involving a therapist-client interaction, confirmation bias and an overdependence on one's narrative are evident. The therapist, speculating if the client felt criticized, interpreted situations on a tape through this lens, even when signs of criticism weren't present. The initial narrative colored the therapist's perception, hindering an accurate understanding of the client. As the author notes, "the therapist became engrossed in his own intentionality of understanding his patroness transference dynamics, and the overemphasis on his small self prevented him from seeing his actual patient accurately" (Thomson, 539).

This situation reflects a common human tendency—personalizing situations, which, on a more intense scale, leads to suffering and prompts individuals to seek psychotherapy for a better life. From a psychoanalytic standpoint, these tendencies stem from the unconscious and desire for pleasure (libido). Through methods like free association, practitioners bring these tendencies to the surface, understand the projections, and address them in therapy. By bringing the unconscious to consciousness, individuals gain insight, helping them avoid repeating harmful actions in the future.

.

“However, Still another form of trying to heal the suffering of separateness lies in build-ing up one's own Ego, as a separate, fortified, indestructible thing. One then experiences oneself as one's own property, one's power, one's prestige, one's intellect.” (Suzuki, Zen and psychoanalysis)

In contrast, Buddhism and Zen aim to transcend individual agency, offering a new way according to the truth of the present moment. Zen delves into deeper levels of suffering, focusing on reaching the original mind to eliminate craving and desire. The goal is not to necessarily cure the narrative of the individual to then live a better life, the goal can be thought of as freeing the agent of “myth of the isolated mind” to then see each situation as it is and live according to the dhamma (truth) and not hold onto any narrative of individual identity. By reaching the original mind, suffering inevedibitly falls, because craving or desire for a certain narratives cessetes.

“He is evidently not he nor is he not he, as we have in the world of opposites, When this not he falls, he does not know that it is he or not he. When all is over the original mind comes back to itself back to its own consciousness and that is the awakening of “one thought” or ``ichinen.” (Suzuki)

The path of Zen is to transcend the limitations of ordinary life and become closer to the divine or the buddha nature of all beings. It is a spiritual process, and therefore not all of the Zen philosophy can be beneficial for someone seeking psychological help, and should not be reduced to a method in psychotherapy because of its deep teaching and traditions. “Reducing zazen to a therapeutic technique would be like describing the Eucharist as a food: the proposition may be strictly true but without considerable elaboration it would lead to a gross misunderstanding of the subject” ( Thomson, 532). Though there are specific elements to the practice that hold utility in modern psychology. What Zen is trying to encourage the practitioner to do is stop putting so much emphasis on cognition to solve the problems, and rather to drop into the unknown, live there peacefully and drop the dependence on the self to solve problems. As Rumi a famous poet once said

“Maybe you are searching among the branches for what only appears in the roots.”

By getting to the roots of the issue, and understanding that these characteristics of human suffering are innate in all of us we understand the fact that Dukkha is inevitable (first noble truth). We all categories, we all confirm our biases, we all experience adverse emotions at one point or another. This understanding can make it much easier to have compassion for ourselves and others, And with true compassion suffering cannot exist and the individual will hopefully reach a place of peace without the need for other practices.

In a therapeutic setting, ideas and principles from Zen can be used, however it might be very difficult to try to explain to a person who has little to no understanding of Buddhist philosophy that there is no self and no ego. In some cases, this would do more harm than good to the patient, and could potentially lead them to take on a nihilistic view of existence, making their suffering worse. Because of this, therapists and spiritual guides alike should provide a process that could eventually lead to this understanding by first using psychoanalytic methods to align the individual with their own unconscious, educate them on their tendencies through therapies such as cognitive behavioral therapy, and eventually unfold to them the truth of Zen if the patient is open and prepared to know. One must first build up their identity to eventually free themselves from it.

The similarities between Zen and psychology are vast, however the differences make the two modalities something that must be carefully assessed in order to merge the principles in a clinical setting. The role of all levels of consciousness on an individual has a very heavy effect on the truth of their life, and to truly reach a steady state of well being practitioners and patients alike must understand what lies in these different levels. Through all of the methodologies; free association, koans, zazen, these levels of consciousness have the potential to come into the patients awareness and hopefully invoke truth in them which will overcome their intrusive suffering in form of neurosis and other mental health problems by limiting attachments to the causes and conditions created by the illusive self.

Resources

“About the Free Associations Method.” Free Associations Method, https://freudfile.org/psychoanalysis/free_associations.html.

Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro, and Carl G Jung. “Foreword .” An Introduction to Zen Buddhism.

Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro, et al. Zen Buddhism and Psychoanalysis. Souvenir Press, 1974.

Team, GoodTherapy Editor. “Psychoanalysis / Modern Psychoanalysis.” GoodTherapy, GoodTherapy, https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/psychoanalysis.

Thomson, Roger F. “Zazen and Psychotherapeutic Presence.” American Journal of Psychotherapy, vol. 54, no. 4, 2000, pp. 531–548., https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.psychotherapy.2000.54.4.531.

“Zen Kōans: Learning to Live with Ambiguity and Paradox.” Muse, 5 Oct. 2020,https://choosemuse.com/blog/zen-koans-learning-to-live-with-ambiguity-and-paradox/.