ABSTRACT:
Neoyana is the third vehicle after Hinayana (small vehicle schools, from the 5th century BCE onward) and Mahayana (great vehicle schools, starting in the 1st century BCE) that applies the traditional Buddhist upaya' (skilful means) to adjust the Buddhist teaching to a new era or other cultures. Its core is the reproductive innovation and transformation of Theravada (teaching of the Elders) and Chan/Zen into a transcultural and postmodern Neo-Buddhist Psychology'. Constructivism is a metapsychology of our Zeitgeist harboring de-constructivism and contending the neurosemantic construction of reality. As yet de-construction exists as a philosophy of literary criticism, a fashion radiating a nihilistic outlook. This article draws basic elements for a de-constructive psychology out of the Nikayas (the Buddha's extant discourses in Pali). Its centerpiece is a de-constructing of self into not-self/no-self/non-self in the framework of NeoZEN, a clinical psychological approach to the Buddha's pristine words. Contrary to the proliferation of self psychologies, there is only one psychology of non-self. In constructive psychology self is an ego-story about self-organizing BioPsychoSocialSpiritual (BPSS) processes. NeoZEN's de-construction is an emptying of self that concurs with life's fleeting impermanence. To be is to become and leave behind selfSelfSELF/I-me-mine, the last of irrational identifications/constructs. A Buddha realizing pervasive emptiness constructs and experiences events in Co-Dependent Origination/Arising & Subsiding (CDOAS). Devoid of permanence, phenomena are ultimately empty. This does not mean that phenomena are conventionally non-existent. The episodic rise and fall of the pivotal khandhas and kamma are reformulated as cyclical recurrent sequences of our BASIC-I.D. (Behavior, Affect, Sensation, Imagery, Cognition, Interrelations, & body, modifiable by Drugs/medication). It is meditation-contemplation-concentration that accrues a peace of mind enabling one to surf on the flow of kindness/compassion. Enlightenment/seeing-things-as-they-really-are (STATRA) is only possible if our doors of perception are cleansed from within. A multimodal Cognitive-Behavior Therapy striving for an egoless state of being by abolishing most of the ego might be advised before embarking on a quest for bliss. A growing body of experimental data supports the salubrious effects of mindfulness as an adjunct in medico-psychological treatments and a prophylactic regimen. (Unless otherwise indicated the non-English terms are Pali; S = Sanskrit, C = Chinese, J = Japanese.)
