Let Go! Theory and Practice of Detachment According to Zen

by Hubert Benoît

good book

Genres: Buddhism

277 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1954

About the author

Hubert Benoit (1904–1992) was a 20th-century French psychotherapist whose work foreshadowed subsequent developments in integral psychology and integral spirituality.[1][2] His special interest and contribution lay in developing a pioneering form of psychotherapy which integrated a psychoanalytic perspective with insights derived from Eastern spiritual disciplines, in particular from Ch'an and Zen Buddhism.[3] He stressed the part played by the spiritual ignorance of Western culture in the emergence and persistence of much underlying distress. He used concepts derived from psychoanalysis to explain the defences against this fundamental unease, and emphasised the importance of an analytic, preparatory phase, while warning against what he regarded as the psychoanalytic overemphasis on specific causal precursors of symptomatology.[4] He demonstrated parallels between aspects of Zen training and the experience of psychoanalysis. He constructed an account in contemporary psychological terms of the crucial Zen concept of satori and its emergence in the individual

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book a meditator will read. A difficult read but it's worth it. No author has schematized internal processes such as thought and consciousness in such lucid, empirical and encompassing way. This book is a hidden gem even for the psychological discipline. A present to humanity. Must be read twice to fully grasp

[Akhil Jain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reco by Osho https://oshosearch.net/Convert/Articl...

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a weird book full of idiosyncratic theories and confusing diagrams, not to mention belief in telepathy, as well as occasional interesting insights into Zen. I started skipping chapters towards the end, when he got into his ideas about divergent and convergent language. All the while, I kept thinking, maybe this makes more sense in French.

If you read one Benoit book, don't bother with this one. Read The Supreme Doctrine. If you're really interested in Benoit and have some time to kill, maybe it's worth slogging through this wackiness. I'm not sure it was a good use of my time.

[Nicholas Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A challenging book made slightly more difficult by a sometimes uneven translation. Benoit expands his ideas set out in the Supreme Doctrine and attempts to set out exercises in divergent thinking. Not as vital or focused as The Supreme Doctrine but a worthy follow-up read.