The Supreme Doctrine: Psychological Studies in Zen Thought (Second Edition)

History and anthropology make it abundantly clear that societies composed of individuals who think, feel, believe and act according to the most preposterous conventions can survive for long periods of time. Statistical normality is perfectly compatible with a high degree of folly and wickedness. In so far as he is a psychotherapist, the Oriental philosopher tries to help statistically normal individuals to become normal in the other, more fundamental sense of the word. This process of intellectual and psycho-physical adjustment to the Nature of Things is the supreme doctrine of Zen Buddhism, which Dr Benoit discusses in the light of Western psychological theory and Western psychiatric practise. This is a book that should be read by everyone who aspires to know who he is and what he can do to acquire such self-knowledge. From the Foreword by Aldous Huxley The Supreme Doctrine is a cogent statement of what Zen thought had to offer the practising Western psychiatrist. This is a book which assuredly still speaks for itself. T. H. Barrett, SOAS, University of London