Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful explanation of Buddhism for Westerners
Review: 'Thoughts without a thinker' provides an excellent explanation of the psychology of Buddhism for Westerners. For those seeking self-knowledge and spiritual development, it gives a totally different view of the understanding of self and how to achieve it. Having turned away from Western religions, I found the ideas in this book fascinating, thought provoking, and appealing. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Very Insightful - On Buddhism and Western Psychology
Review: I've read much on psychology and Epstein's book is one of the best from several angles. It cleared up many misperceptions about Buddhism, and revealed its potential value. It also did a wonderful job of presenting the case for introducing a spiritual component into Western Psychology, which has been sadly lacking, and possibly accounts for the pervasive ineffectiveness and limitations of psychology as it is practiced. E.g., the references to work by many psychologists (Freud, Winnicott, etc.) were illuminating:
... Suspending the Critical Faculty in treatment.
... Absence of psychoneurotic illness maybe health, but it is not life.
... Even the best therapy can only return us to a state of "common unhappiness." I recommend this book highly to lay people, and even more to professionals. As healers, they owe it to their clients. It's time to turn back the tide of analytical processes that have swamped the psychological practices, and usher in fresher methods that promise more enlightened treatments. Epstein's book provides a great direction if one will follow the behest, "Don't look at my hand, look where I am pointing!"
Rating:
Summary: "Wandering through the Wheel of Life."
Review: A friend loaned me this book, and from the notes in its margins, it looks like it has passed through many hands before mine. "It's Epstein's best book," my friend explained, "and it changed my life." Mark Epstein is a graduate of Harvard Medical School, and this book is his result of twenty years' experience in both Western psychotherapy and Buddhist meditation (p. x). In the Dalai Lama's Foreward to Epstein's 1995 book, and in his own more recent books including THE ART OF HAPPINESS (1998), STAGES OF MEDITATION (2001), and AN OPEN HEART (2001), he tells us the "purpose of life is to be happy" (p. ix). However, as Epstein reveals in his insightful book, clinging to the self causes suffering. Whereas attachment, aversion, delusion, and faulty perceptions not only cause suffering, they also offer the potential for "release" (p. 16). "We are locked into our minds," Epstein writes, "but we do not really know them. We are adrift and struggling, buffeted by the waves of our minds, having not learned how to float" (p. 17). (Perhaps this is what my own Zen teacher meant when he once told me that I "think too much.") To find enlightenment, the Buddha encouraged us to become as lamps unto ourselves (p. 40), and Dogen observed that, "to study Buddhism is to study the self" (p. 20). This is also the premise of THOUGHTS WITHOUT A THINKER. Epstein has organized his book into three parts, the Buddhist psychology of mind (pp. 11-102), meditation (pp. 103-155), and therapy (pp. 157-222). In Part I, he demonstrates how Buddhist teachings are the key to understanding the psychology of mind (p. 41), and how those teachings are "less about religion (in the Western sense) than they are a vision of reality containing a practical blueprint for psychological relief" (p. 45). In Part II, Epstein examines the basic Buddhist meditation practice of "bare attention." Meditation, he explains, promotes the therapeutic goals of integration, humility, stability and self awareness (p. 129). In Part III, using non-technical terminology, Epstein integrates Freud's practice of psychotherapy into Buddhist teachings. In the end, Epstein's book is not so much a "feel-good" book about finding happiness in our lives, as a feel-real book well worth reading. G. Merritt
Rating:
Summary: "Wandering through the Wheel of Life."
Review: A friend loaned me this book, and from the notes in its margins, it looks like it has passed through many hands before mine. "It's Epstein's best book," my friend explained, "and it changed my life." Mark Epstein is a graduate of Harvard Medical School, and this book is his result of twenty years' experience in both Western psychotherapy and Buddhist meditation (p. x). In the Dalai Lama's Foreward to Epstein's 1995 book, and in his own more recent books including THE ART OF HAPPINESS (1998), STAGES OF MEDITATION (2001), and AN OPEN HEART (2001), he tells us the "purpose of life is to be happy" (p. ix). However, as Epstein reveals in his insightful book, clinging to the self causes suffering. Whereas attachment, aversion, delusion, and faulty perceptions not only cause suffering, they also offer the potential for "release" (p. 16). "We are locked into our minds," Epstein writes, "but we do not really know them. We are adrift and struggling, buffeted by the waves of our minds, having not learned how to float" (p. 17). (Perhaps this is what my own Zen teacher meant when he once told me that I "think too much.") To find enlightenment, the Buddha encouraged us to become as lamps unto ourselves (p. 40), and Dogen observed that, "to study Buddhism is to study the self" (p. 20). This is also the premise of THOUGHTS WITHOUT A THINKER. Epstein has organized his book into three parts, the Buddhist psychology of mind (pp. 11-102), meditation (pp. 103-155), and therapy (pp. 157-222). In Part I, he demonstrates how Buddhist teachings are the key to understanding the psychology of mind (p. 41), and how those teachings are "less about religion (in the Western sense) than they are a vision of reality containing a practical blueprint for psychological relief" (p. 45). In Part II, Epstein examines the basic Buddhist meditation practice of "bare attention." Meditation, he explains, promotes the therapeutic goals of integration, humility, stability and self awareness (p. 129). In Part III, using non-technical terminology, Epstein integrates Freud's practice of psychotherapy into Buddhist teachings. In the end, Epstein's book is not so much a "feel-good" book about finding happiness in our lives, as a feel-real book well worth reading. G. Merritt
Rating:
Summary: "Wandering through the Wheel of Life."
Review: A friend loaned me this book, and from the notes in its margins, it looks like it has passed through many hands before mine. "It's Epstein's best book," my friend explained, "and it changed my life." Mark Epstein is a graduate of Harvard Medical School, and this book is his result of twenty years' experience in both Western psychotherapy and Buddhist meditation (p. x). In the Dalai Lama's Foreward to Epstein's 1995 book, and in his own more recent books including THE ART OF HAPPINESS (1998), STAGES OF MEDITATION (2001), and AN OPEN HEART (2001), he tells us the "purpose of life is to be happy" (p. ix). However, as Epstein reveals in his insightful book, clinging to the self causes suffering. Whereas attachment, aversion, delusion, and faulty perceptions not only cause suffering, they also offer the potential for "release" (p. 16). "We are locked into our minds," Epstein writes, "but we do not really know them. We are adrift and struggling, buffeted by the waves of our minds, having not learned how to float" (p. 17). (Perhaps this is what my own Zen teacher meant when he once told me that I "think too much.") To find enlightenment, the Buddha encouraged us to become as lamps unto ourselves (p. 40), and Dogen observed that, "to study Buddhism is to study the self" (p. 20). This is also the premise of THOUGHTS WITHOUT A THINKER. Epstein has organized his book into three parts, the Buddhist psychology of mind (pp. 11-102), meditation (pp. 103-155), and therapy (pp. 157-222). In Part I, he demonstrates how Buddhist teachings are the key to understanding the psychology of mind (p. 41), and how those teachings are "less about religion (in the Western sense) than they are a vision of reality containing a practical blueprint for psychological relief" (p. 45). In Part II, Epstein examines the basic Buddhist meditation practice of "bare attention." Meditation, he explains, promotes the therapeutic goals of integration, humility, stability and self awareness (p. 129). In Part III, using non-technical terminology, Epstein integrates Freud's practice of psychotherapy into Buddhist teachings. In the end, Epstein's book is not so much a "feel-good" book about finding happiness in our lives, as a feel-real book well worth reading. G. Merritt
Rating: 
Summary: .
Review: Although not a book dealing strictly with Buddhism, the manner in which important Buddhist principles are interwoven with Western psychotherapy makes for an especially palatable, accessible overview and introduction to the subject for Western readers. I'm not crazy about the "case histories" either, another review mentioned them I think, but it's a minor qualm and they do serve their purpose. Overall the writing is clear and characterized by a modesty that gives the book a cozy and inviting feel; but it does this without becoming inappropriately simplistic or trite, taking care that the reader does not fall victim to many of the common misunderstandings of Buddhism, and Zen thought. A reader who is already very familiar with Buddhism would likely find this book refreshing and pleasant, while a reader who isn't as familiar might find it a very profound and, due to the tie-in with psychotherapy, relatively practical introduction to the subject indeed. I knew only a little about Buddhism when I picked up this book, and the book served to stimulate and propel that interest greatly. All in all, an intelligent, interesting, and accessible book. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A little too clinical...
Review: An excellent book on Zen Buddhism and the healing properties of meditation as it relates to Psychotherapy. I read this book after finishing the author's second book Going to Pieces without falling apart. I found that a little easier to stay with. This first book, while enormously informative, does become clinical at times. You get the sense he was writing it for his colleagues so they could bring the healing message of meditation into the mainstream. I suggest the second book first and then read this if you feel you need more answers. The subject is dense and wide. It requires just as much attention as you are willing to give it.
Rating: 
Summary: A mixed bag
Review: Epstein's book is certainly a solid treatment of Buddhist thinking and psychology. He does an excellent job in connecting many of the bohemian-seeming Eastern concepts into a Western framework. However, one must always be careful when procuring information on "psychology" from a psychiatrist. Epstein's bent is consistently psychoanalytic. Had he gone so far as to mention that this perspective is only one of many (and notably, one held by a rapidly shrinking minority of psychotherapists), this book would have been an entertaining read on the combination of psychoanalysis and Zen. This oversight is particularly noteworthy as many behavioral psychologists (now comprising the bulk of evidenced-based psychotherapy practitioners) have been incorporating Eastern philosophy into their practice for at least the last 20 years. Notable among them are Marsha Linehan, Steve Hayes, and (more closely tied to Zen) Jon Kabat-Zinn. Overall, this is a well-written book. Readers will enjoy it if taken with a grain of salt and the understanding that Epstein's view represents a minority. If you are looking for an even-handed treatment of the incorporation of Eastern and Western psychology, I strongly recommend reading works by a psychologist.
Rating:
Summary: Valuable information, genuine inspiration.
Review: Here is a book, scholarly but not intimidating, to educate and inspire psychotherapy clients and psychotherapists alike. Mark Epstein presents extremely comprehensible introductions to traditional modern psychotherapy and Buddhism, and then weaves the two together with --- among other things --- the words of Sigmund Freud and the Buddha. As a psychotherapist and author (Embracing Fear, HarperSanFrancisco) who believes that trying to keep spirituality out of psychotherapy is like trying to keep hot dogs out of the ball park, Thoughts Without A Thinker will become a reference point for my work helping clients and readers to identify, walk toward, and ultimately through, their greatest fears. It is rare for an author to be able to balance so much valuable information with an inspirational message, but Mark Epstein has done it. Read this book and you feel better and be smarter.
Rating:
Summary: A worthwhile read
Review: I found the first six chapters of this book well worth reading. Chapter seven takes a turn for the worst, however, as the author begins the challenge of comparing and contrasting buddism and psychotherapy. The book becomes confusing, tangential, and requires more effort to understand than is gained in insight. I felt the book would have benefited from further discussing how I can change the perceptions of my emotions to experience my emotions in a new way. Instead the book takes me on a rollercoster of theories and examples that further confuse me,and falsely claim the practice of transference in psychotherapy as the missing component of buddism in the Western World. None the less the first six chapters are well worth reading and inspire me to further learn about buddism (and myself, or rather, my false selves).
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