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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
The Trees, My Lungs: Self Psychology And The Natural World At An American Buddhist Center, Daniel S. Capper
The Trees, My Lungs: Self Psychology And The Natural World At An American Buddhist Center, Daniel S. Capper
Faculty Publications
This study employs ethnographic field data to trace a dialogue between the self psychological concept of the selfobject and experiences regarding the concept of “interbeing” at a Vietnamese Buddhist monastery in the United States. The dialogue develops an understanding of human experiences with the nonhuman natural world which are tensive, liminal, and nondual. From the dialogue I find that the selfobject concept, when applied to this form of Buddhism, must be inclusive enough to embrace relationships with animals, stones, and other natural forms. The dialogue further delineates a self psychological methodology for examining religions in their interactions with natural forms.
Devotion To Tibetan Lamas, Self Psychology, And Healing In The United States, Daniel S. Capper
Devotion To Tibetan Lamas, Self Psychology, And Healing In The United States, Daniel S. Capper
Faculty Publications
This essay offers an alternative, self psychological model for understanding the possible healing dynamics of the guru-disciple relationship. Previous psychological studies often have interpreted the devotion of Americans to Eastern gurus as inherently enriching pathology for the disciple, yet this understanding does not helpfully explicate much data derived from more than two years of ethnographic fieldwork at a Tibetan Buddhist center in the United States. Instead, re-exploration of the dynamics of the transference and the vicissitudes of Buddhist practice for disciples reveals positive healing processes for some disciples as a result of guru devotion practice.
Scientific Empathy, American Buddhism, And The Ethnography Of Religion, Daniel S. Capper
Scientific Empathy, American Buddhism, And The Ethnography Of Religion, Daniel S. Capper
Faculty Publications
The expansion of the use of ethnography in the study of religion has led to substantial methodological confusion. The reflexive ethnographic efforts which exist commonly appeal to the need for ethnographer empathy for field subjects, although the nature and ethical ramifications of this empathy remain poorly explored. This essay offers a model of ethnographic empathy in terms of the methodological observations of Weber, Homans, and Kohut. Using a model of empathy in terms of a reflexive “evenly hovering attention” for data collection, possible gains in the field from this model are explored. These gains include overcoming obstacles to data collection …