Meditative Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis

Jeffrey B. Rubin, Ph.D. is a psychoanalytically oriented therapist in New York and a Sensei in the Nyogen Senzaki and Soen Nakagawa Zen tradition. He is the author of six books on the integration of Eastern and Western approaches to flourishing and self-transformation. Rubin has taught at various psychoanalytic institutes and meditation, yoga and growth centers around the country and abroad including the United Nations, Union Theological Seminary, the Esalen Institute, and the 92nd Street Y. His pioneering approach to therapy was featured in the New York Times magazine: www.nytimes.com/2009/04/26/magazine/26zen-t.html.

‘In this wise and humane book, psychoanalyst and meditation teacher Jeffrey Rubin shows how the complementary insights of psychoanalysis and Buddhism can be creatively combined in both therapy and daily life. This is a book that will benefit not only therapists—but also everyone seeking to transform legacies of pain and trauma, emerge from self-defeating relational patterns, and live rich, satisfying, and fulfilling lives.’Seth Zuihō Segall, PhD, clinical psychologist and Zen Buddhist priest. Contributing editor for Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, science writer for the Mindfulness Research Monthly, and author of Buddhism and Human Flourishing: A Modern Western Perspective (2020).‘Jeff Rubin has been at the forefront of the conversation between Psychoanalysis and Buddhism for many years. He reviews that conversation with his usual fluent style, thorough scholarship and open hearted personal and clinical candor that will benefit both experienced practitioners and interested newcomers. The book is particularly helpful because Rubin offers actual practice suggestions that bring together Buddhist mindfulness and the best of contemporary psychoanalytic invitations to greater emotional depth and intimacy.’ Mark Finn, PhD, clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst. Co-editor of Object Relations Theory and Religion (1992) and a contributor to numerous edited collections on Buddhism and psychotherapy, New York, and Manhattan.‘This thoughtful, provocative, insightful work illuminates the enormous potential of a genuine marriage between psychoanalytic and Buddhist traditions. Based on decades of experience as a gifted psychoanalyst and diligent meditation student, Dr. Rubin lucidly brings both traditions alive with a clear-eyed understanding of what each offers and lacks. Scholarly yet accessible, and full of relatable personal and clinical examples, this book will enrich the lives and practices of psychotherapists, meditation students, and psychotherapy patients alike.’Ronald D. Siegel, Psy.D. Author of The Extraordinary Gift of Being Ordinary: Finding Happiness Right Where You Are, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Part Time, Harvard Medical School'Jeffrey Rubin has the courage to look deeply at the intersection of Zen and psychoanalysis – not settling for a simple Venn diagram but asking hard questions about how each wisdom tradition can complement, penetrate, and complete the other. Meditative Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis will expand your thinking and breathe new life into your work with yourself and others.'Robert Waldinger, MD, professor of psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Roshi, Living Vow Zen.

• Part I Meditative Psychoanalysis 1. The Roots of Meditative Psychoanalysis 2. Deepening Listening: The Marriage of Buddha and Freud 3. The Incomparable Power of Human Understanding 4: Liberating Intimacy Part II. Examples of Meditative Psychoanalysis 5. Psychoanalysis and Zen: Partners in Healing 6. Dancing with Desire: Shining a Psychoanalytic Light on Scandals in Buddhism 7. Practicing Meditative Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy Part III. Meditative Psychoanalysis in the World: Love and Hate, Transience and Well-Lived Lives 8. Fools in Love: Zen and Intimacy 9. Hate Hides Where We Are Hurting: Psychoanalytic-Meditative Contemplations 10. Death, Transience, and an Ethics of Mortality 11. A Well-Lived Life: Psychoanalytic and Buddhist Perspectives Part IV: Recommended Resources