Additional information
by Seiso Paul Cooper (Author)
In this book, Cooper brings together psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism by offering a comprehensive and integrated model, described as "The Realizational Model", that is consistent with the core concepts of Soto Zen Buddhism and psychoanalytic practice.
Focusing primarily on Soto Zen Buddhism as presented in the original writings of the Japanese scholar monk Eihei Dōgen (1200-1253), and supported and elaborated by relevant contemporary scholarship in relation to the writings of the British psychoanalyst, Wilfred Bion (1897-1979), this book addresses the issue of how can one understand, assimilate, and integrate conceptions of the human mind that originate in the 13th and 20th centuries, as they are visited and inflected by the unconscious preconceptions of a 21st-century perspective. Expressing authentic Buddhist tradition within the frame of psychoanalytic thinking, and supported by online guided audio meditations that accompany the text, this work offers a uniquely interdisciplinary perspective of invaluable clinical significance.
Case material garnered from 35 years of psychoanalytic practice as well as examples from daily life support the abstract concepts discussed in the text, rendering it equally relevant for psychoanalysts and psychotherapists, as well as students of Zen wishing to explore its practical applications.
Author Biography
Seiso Paul Cooper is a licensed and nationally certified psychoanalyst, ordained Soto Zen priest, and transmitted teacher in the Soto Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki and Dainin Katagiri. He is a member of the Soto Zen Buddhist Association and the American Zen Teacher's Association. He is the cofounder and guiding teacher: Two Rivers Zen Community; founder: Realizational Practice Studies Group; former Dean of Training, National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis; faculty, training analyst, and supervisor: Institute for Expressive Analysis, Metropolitan Institute; a member of the editorial board: Psychoanalytic Review; and award-winning author: Zen Insight, Psychoanalytic Action: Two Arrows Meeting (2019) and The Zen Impulse and the Psychoanalytic Encounter (2010). He maintains a private psychoanalytic psychotherapy and supervision practice in Montpelier, Vermont. He has presented his work on Buddhism and Psychoanalysis internationally. He currently organizes, facilitates, and leads silent retreats in the formal Soto Zen style, especially tailored for mental health professionals both at retreat centers and online.
