Buddhist teachings bring non-theistic approach to recovery
Sober for four months after having battled alcohol addiction, it didn’t take long for Stephen Dansiger, PsyD, MFT, to recognize how the principles of Buddhism could aid in his recovery.
The teachings of Siddhartha Gautama—who eventually would become known as Buddha—centered on four noble truths:
- There is suffering.
- There is a cause of the suffering.
- There is an end to the suffering.
- There is a path that leads to the end of the suffering.
Addiction, Dansiger reasoned, is suffering taken to its greatest extent: an attempt to solve one’s problems with substances or behaviors, only to end up with more suffering.
“The tie to addiction becomes immediate and obvious with the second noble truth, which is that the cause of the suffering is craving, clinging, aversion—you can look at it as addiction,” says Dansiger, who has now been sober for 28 years. “I want more of what I like, and I want less of what I don’t like.”
Quickly after being introduced to the Buddhist teachings from 2,600 years ago, Dansiger realized he had found what he describes as “his spiritual jam.” Buddhist mindfulness has been instrumental in Dansiger’s sobriety, and it is an integral part of treatment at Refuge Recovery Centers, a program that includes detoxification, residential and intensive outpatient services in Los Angeles. Dansiger is the treatment center’s clinical director.
The eightfold path and the 12 Steps
The teachings of Buddhism and the 12 Steps, as traditionally understood within the addiction treatment field, have a complicated relationship.
Whether Buddhism is a religion or a philosophy—or neither—is a well-worn topic of discussion. By definition, religion is “a belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods,” per the Oxford English Dictionary, whereas philosophy is a study of the “fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline.”
In his 45 years of teachings, Buddha denied that he himself was God, and, as Dansiger explains, Buddha placed little value in metaphysical questions in general. The primary focus of Buddhism centers solely on suffering and the end of suffering. The fourth noble truth—the prescription that leads to the end of suffering—bears a resemblance to the 12 Steps in some respects, despite the latter’s understanding of the existence of a higher power, because each is a program of action that starts with right understanding or wisdom, Dansiger says. The prescription for ending suffering is known as the eightfold path, which are eight aspects of life that lead to enlightenment. The eight aspects of the eightfold path are of equal importance, and, despite the name, not sequential. (See accompanying chart below for a full defined list of the aspects in the eightfold path.)
Developed in the 1930s by Bill W. and Dr. Bob, the 12 Steps were conceived specifically to not be aligned with a specific religion. And yet, despite Buddhism not falling within the understood definition of religion and the 12 Steps not having a connection to any particular religion, a disconnect around religion still exists for many within the treatment field who possess a traditional orientation on recovery, says Jamie Marich, PhD, a trauma therapy specialist who practices EMDR therapy.
“The thing with AA and the 12 Steps is that, on paper, it’s very open minded—‘God of my understanding’ and all that,” says Marich, who is also a contributing writer for Addiction Professional. “But so many sponsors and treatment center providers are colored by the Christian experience of God that it bleeds through.
“To me, the teachings of Buddhism fit in beautifully here and can help recovering folks to work on a spiritual solution who have a hard time putting faith in a ‘God.’ Clients with traumatic experiences in Christianity can find the spiritual freedom of Buddhism to be very liberating for this reason.”
Of note: The language of the 12 Steps has been adapted by several resources into non-theist versions, which can be easier to follow for Buddhists.
Marich is not a practicing Buddhist, but says she has drawn strength from Buddhist-inspired mindfulness practice, and that it has taught her to trust the process.
“In some way, trusting the process can work instead of trusting a deity as a higher power,” Marich says. “That works for me and many of my clients on days when faith in a deity may not feel particularly strong.”
Beyond Buddhist teachings, Marich says she has observed resistance in regards to mindfulness practices, yoga and breathing practices, and EMDR therapy from treatment center executives and clinicians who are more traditional in their orientation.
“As professionals, we have a duty to explore all potential solutions that may help our clients find freedom from suffering,” Marich says. “There are a lot of solutions in Buddhism that can be gleaned if the field would be willing to put their biases and preconceived notions aside.”
Tools of recovery
Some Buddhist recovery programs exist as wholesale alternatives to the 12 Steps, with the Refuge Recovery program as one example. Many in recovery, however, have used Buddhist teachings as a supplement to their work through the 12 Steps.
In 2008, Kevin Griffin co-founded the Buddhist Recovery Network, which now serves as an online resource for people to find Buddhist recovery meetings around the world. Griffin, who has been sober for 31 years, says he worked the Steps to achieve sobriety. Prior to entering a 12 Step program, he practiced Buddhist meditation for five years. For his first five years working the Steps, Griffin says he kept his Buddhist meditation practice separate before eventually finding ways to integrate the two.
Doing so meant interpreting the 12 Steps in a less dogmatic way, Griffin says.
“I approached the 12 Steps as a…path that embodies certain elements of a spiritual path, so it’s not a dogma from my viewpoint. It’s much more of a description of a process,” Griffin says. “Understanding that process, then, can help you to avoid falling into the pitfalls of dogma—the right and wrong. If you understand the process, you see, ‘I need to work on these different aspects. I need to accept that I can’t control this. I need to have some kind of support, internal and external. I need to look at my failings. Maybe I need to make amends.’ All those standards of the Steps, but taking it out of the strict language and format.”
He says now that Buddhist practices and teachings have enhanced and supported his 12 Step work, as well as his general spiritual and personal growth. His philosophy, both in the creation of the Buddhist Recovery Network and in writing “One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps,” is to provide options for recovery, and not to say definitively that there is only one path.
“For all kinds of reasons, people get alienated by 12 Step programs. If they’re led to believe this is it, they walk away saying, ‘There’s no help for me,’ ” he says. “I want to keep the door wide for people in recovery and say there are many different tools.”
THE EIGHTFOLD PATH
The eightfold path of Buddhism, as defined by the Lion’s Roar Foundation, a publisher of Buddhist teachings and perspectives:
1. RIGHT VIEW: A true understanding of how reality and suffering are intertwined.
2. RIGHT RESOLVE: The aspiration to act with correct intention, doing no harm.
3. RIGHT SPEECH: Abstaining from lying, and divisive or abusive speech.
4. RIGHT ACTION: Acting in ways that do not cause harm, such as not taking life, not stealing, and not engaging in sexual misconduct.
5. RIGHT LIVELIHOOD: Making an ethically sound living, being honest in business dealings.
6. RIGHT EFFORT: Endeavoring to give rise to skillful thoughts, words and deeds and renouncing unskillful ones.
7. RIGHT MINDFULNESS: Being mindful of one’s body, feelings, mind and mental qualities.
8. RIGHT CONCENTRATION: Practicing skillful meditation informed by all of the preceding seven aspects.
SOURCE: www.lionsroar.com/buddhism-by-the-numbers-the-eightfold-path/
