Abstract

In the West, the field of counseling has been dominated by theories which seek to explain human nature according to the factors which are believed to bear a functional or causal relationship to adaptive and maladaptive forms of human being. Well-being as understood within the counseling field is firmly rooted in the ontological and epistemological structures which have arisen within the rationalistic tradition of Western philosophy. Perspectives which emphasize non-dualistic forms of well-being have been systematically excluded from consideration within the counseling field. This dissertation describes one such non-dualistic perspective, Zen Buddhism, and considers its implications for understanding well-being and for the theory and practice of counseling. ;The fundamental characteristic of Zen Buddhism is its emphasis upon the actualization of non-dualistic experience. From the Zen perspective, the common tendency is to equate reality with one's conceptions of reality. However, concepts are by nature dualistic and, in the Zen view, obscure the impermanent, non-dualistic foundations of experience. Clinging to concepts produces suffering since one's view of things and one's actions in accordance with that view do not correspond to things as they are concretely. In order to overcome suffering, Zen seeks, through the practice of meditation, the actualization of non-dualistic or pre-reflective experience through which the relative nature of things is directly perceived. ;Zen is seen as contributing to Western counseling in two ways. First, the Zen view that overcoming suffering involves the actualization of non-dualistic experience is clearly different from Western perspectives which consistently retain some form of primary dualism in their conceptions of human nature and well-being. Second, the Zen view that all things are relative renders theories relative as well and limits their application to specific contexts rather than as comprehensive explanations of human behavior