Buddhism and the 12-Step Process: An End to Suffering

By John R. Mabry, PhD

We crave: a two-word analysis of the human condition. In the United States it is a drive responsible for our criminal consumerism, for our need to "keep up with the Joneses" even if the Joneses are plummeting lemmings. We are not satisfied. Nor can we quite figure out exactly what it is we lack that produces this ache of dissatisfaction. The American way of life has degenerated into a crisis of addiction, with most of us trying to fill the void within us with whatever promises to take away the angst of existence so common to us in the West, however temporarily. We crave something beyond our experience, and the pain of that longing haunts us in every lonely moment, every empty victory, every success or acquisition which can only disappoint us when the smoke of novelty clears and we find ourselves alone again with our dissatisfaction. The great Buddhist scripture, The Dhammapada, tells us that "from craving arises sorrow and from craving arises fear."1

What can we do? It is not an easy problem to solve. When we try to numb our pain chemically, we become addicted to the chemical, which will eventually kill us. When we try to smother it in the security of others' love we smother the love of our friends. For many in our culture, the Twelve Step process has been their salvation in regard to their addictions, both physical and emotional. It liberates from slavery to chemicals and security, and mostly by means of a transformation of perception.

This is not a new method, nor is it a new problem. In fact, it is the central issue addressed by the Buddha nearly 2,500 years ago in Northern India. He noticed that everyone who lived experienced pain. He also noted that nothing people tried removed the pain, but actually made the suffering more acute. He says, "Birth is suffering, old age is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; grief, lamentation, pain, affliction, and despair are suffering: to be united with what is unloved, to be separated from what is loved is suffering; not to obtain what is longed for is suffering."2 We can probably all attest to the truth of this, but the Buddha's great insight was to see the pain as a symptom of a greater underlying problem. The answer was not to numb the pain with chemicals or overwork, or to assuage it emotionally through others, sex, or compulsive religiosity but to reach behind the symptom to the disease itself: a misperception of one's place in the universe.

The Buddha, in his revelation of the Four Noble Truths and the subsequent Eightfold Path sheds much light upon this dilemma, even, and perhaps especially, for those of us reared in the West. And for many people in the last fifty years, the 12-step process has offered great hope, and not a little success in overcoming our compulsions and addictions, if not in eliminating our craving. That the two systems have much in common is not surprizing. Both speak deeply to the heart of the human condition. Tav Sparks, in his book The Wide Open Door, states that, "the Four Truths directly relate to the Twelve Steps. Accepting the truth of suffering, and that suffering is caused by addiction, is the action of the First Step. That there is a way out falls under the domain of the Second. And the Fourth Truth, or the Eightfold Way, corresponds to the rest of the Steps and 'how recovery works'."3

Just how do these two "systems of twelve parts" relate? Sparks seems to imply that there is a direct correlation, yet I think this is perhaps expecting too much. Let us explore this relationship, and see with what fidelity each of these systems mirror the wisdom of the other.

In brief, the systems are thus:

The Four Noble Truths (4)
1. There is suffering
2. Caused by craving
3. Relief is possible
4. via 8-fold path:6
a. Right view
b. Right resolve
c. Right speech
d. Right conduct
e. Right livelihood
f. Right effort
g. Right awareness
h. Right meditation

 

The Twelve Steps (5)
1. Admitted powerlessness
2. Belief in a Higher Power
3. Turned over our will to H.P.
4. Made a fearless inventory
5. Admitted defects to another
6. Ready to have defects removed
7. Asked H.P. to remove defects
8. Listed persons harmed/amends
9. Made amends
10. Continued inventory
11. Sought closeness to H.P.
12. Carry Steps to others

We can all relate to the first of the Four Noble Truths, I am sure. It echoes the first of the twelve steps, in that both identify that there is a problem. The first step is achieved when the addict admits to him/herself that they are suffering. As with so much in life, both systems agree that the first step to solving the problem is admitting that there is a problem to begin with.

The second of the Four Noble Truths also relates to the first step. Our suffering is caused by our craving. Our craving is so great that we are powerless to free ourselves from its grip. The great revelation of the Buddhist tradition, though, is that this craving is a result of our "buying into" the illusion of consensus reality. Consensus reality tells us that we are separate creatures with no visible (and so, no actual) connection; we are millions of individual selves all looking out for #1. We are ultimately alone, and in our panic and insecurity, we clutch at what we think we need to maintain our status quo, and to improve it if we can.

The Buddha's great discovery is that consensus reality is inaccurate. He perceived that we are all a part of the great dance of the universe, all members of a great Self, and not millions of tiny, separate selves after all. It is to admit that we have been under the illusion of our isolation, when in fact we are much, much more than we thought we were. This, for the Buddhist, is the recognition that there is a Higher Power. Once this truth is fully grasped, we can move on to the third truth: suffering can cease. When we spend all our energy grasping after what we think our little self needs, we perpetuate the cycle of our suffering. But if we can understand that all we ever need is provided by the universe (since we are the universe), we have need of nothing. Lao Tzu says "when we let go of everything, we have everything we need."7 This letting go is the active decision to trust the Universe, analogous to the Third Step, that of turning our will over to our Higher Power, for our Higher Power is sufficient to supply all that we require. Jesus told us to look at the flowers of the field and the birds of the air, they are provided for.8 A closer analog to this step in Buddhism is probably the Three Refuges. "The gateway to the Buddhist path of liberation is taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma [teachings], and the spiritual community, known as the Sangha."9 Once we have "let go" of our ego, of our trying to make it on our own, of our dependance on consensus reality, and allow ourselves to trust--to take refuge--in our Higher Power, we experience the beginning sensations of true freedom.

The next four steps are all of a piece. The Fourth Step is the making of a "fearless moral inventory." As Tav Sparks notes, this step is primarily about "becoming aware, or conscious of the circumstances of our past...."10 This is surely Right Awareness, "mindfulness of the body, sensation, s mind and mental objects,"11 Mental objects is the most relevant to us here, since it includes the "five hindrances: "lust, anger, sloth, restlessness, and doubt."12 Moral inventory, indeed. The Fifth Step, that of admitting these moral defects to our Higher Power and to another person, is another act of taking refuge, both in the Buddha and in the Sangha (or at least someone in the Sangha). Finally, we come to a place where we feel we can do without these questionable characteristics, and become ready to do without them. This is akin to Right Resolve, in which one renounces "the striving for gratification of the five senses, of the whole body or of the mind. It means the state of mind that is devoid of greed."13 Once resolved, we can ask our Higher Power to remove these defects, taking refuge, in effect, in the Buddha as we understand Him.

The next two Steps contain the listing of those whom we have harmed and the making of amends to them. This is a very difficult couple of steps, and surely requires Right Effort. Right Effort is especially appropriate here in that it involves efforts made with regard to karma. The making of amends is a way of eradicating karma, and helps to make us mindful of karma-inducing behaviors and their emotional consequences. Tav Sparks makes a very interesting point, that those involved in this kind of "deep" Step work "somehow get the feeling that they are healing not just themselves, but also an entire family or cultural pattern."14 This kind of karmic reparations go beyond this lifetime, and this "skin encapsulated ego" to heal much greater wounds. Right effort also involves "avoiding and overcoming unwholesome states of mind while developing and maintaining wholesome ones."15 This is a good example of Step Ten, where one continues their moral inventories. It is often called a "maintenance step" but this misses the importance of its potential for ever-greater awareness and resolve.

The Eleventh Step is among the most powerful and important. Bill W. said of it, "the other steps can keep us sober and somehow functioning. But Step Eleven can keep us growing, if we try hard and work at it continually."16 This step is the key to recovery, because it is in really discovering our Higher Power, and our participation in it. For when we discover the limits of our True Self, we are able to return to our "skin encapsulated ego" with compassion and much greater understanding of its fear, and its pain. But most importantly, we have glimpsed where it is we are going and who we really are. This was, in fact, the breakthrough of the Buddha beneath the Bodhi tree. He glimpsed the Universe as it really was--and himself as part of it. As Buddhist scholar Hans Schumann writes of the Mahayana view, "Liberation is...to be achieved by the removal of the ignorance and by the realization of the Absolute."17

Once I perceive that the universe is Me, I am transformed. I am no longer small, nor alone. All of Creation is a unified body which rises and falls like waves on the ocean. What I think is me is just the result of a swell on the sea that circumstance has engineered. This swell will break and rejoin the body of the water from which it has, indeed, never been separated. Whatever happens to this body is of little consequence; it is not Me. The Universe in all its myriad forms that go on forever is the Eternal life of which I am a partaker. I am connected. I am One. The Mahayana Buddhist would call the Universal Self the Cosmic Buddha, much as Christians would call it the Cosmic Christ. The "Us" that is bigger than us. The "Us" that is the real us. This revelation is the beginning of our empowerment. This is "Right Meditation," which leads to "one-pointedness of mind,"18 to the unitive vision.

The second part of the Twelfth Step, reads "we tried to practice these principles in all our affairs," and this corresponds to all of the points along the Eightfold Path as a whole, including "Right Livelihood," which we have not touched on before. But the first part of the Twelfth Step, "tried to carry this message to others," is, as Sparks points out, is a kind of Karma Yoga, since "'service,' and 'carrying the message' are part of the [Twelve Step] program."19 This is the Buddhist ideal of the Bodhisattva, who denies him or herself her ultimate liberation until all beings are liberated.

I believe Tav Sparks' original assertion, as stated above, to be fairly accurate. The Twelve Steps indeed echo the spiritual wisdom of the ages, and, as we have seen, certainly resonate with the very foundations of the Buddha's teaching: if we can awaken to reality as it really is, (the primary goal in Buddhist practice. "Buddha" means "awakened") we learn to trust the universe, eliminating desire and with it our neurotic compulsion to satisfy our cravings which leads us to the abyss of addiction.

NOTES:

1 Juan Mascaro, trans. The Dhammapada, (New York: Penguin), p.66.

2 Mv I, 6, 19 Vin I p. 10=S 56, II 5V p. 421. Quoted by Hans Wolfgang Schumann, Buddhism, an Outline of its Teachings and Schools, (Wheaton: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1973) p. 39.

3 Tav Sparks, The Wide Open Door (Center City: Hazelden, 1993), p. 200.

4 Kenneth Crim, ed. The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1981), p. 264.

5 Sarpashana Sourcebook (Boulder: Vajradhatu Press, 1985), p. 134.

6 Schumann, p.67.

7 Lao Tzu, The Tao Te Ching. Chapters 7 and 22.

8 Matthew 6:25-26.

9 B. Alan Wallace Tibetan Buddhism From the Ground Up (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1993), p. 80.

10 Sparks, p. 59.

11 Schumann, p. 72.

12 Crim, p. 236.

13 Ibid., p. 235.

14 Sparks, p. 181.

15 Crim, p. 236.

16 Sparks, p. 77.

17 Schumann, p. 39.

18 Crim, p. 236.

19 Sparks, p. 165.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Bible

Crim, Kenneth, ed. The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1981).

Lao Tzu, The Tao Te Ching.

Mascaro, Juan, trans. The Dhammapada, (New YorK: Penguin).

Sarpashana Sourcebook (Boulder: Vajradhatu Press, 1985).

Schumann, Hans Wolfgang, Buddhism, an Outline of its Teachings and Schools, (Wheaton: The Theosophical Publishing House, 1973).

Sparks, Tav, The Wide Open Door (Center City: Hazelden, 1993).

Wallace, B. Alan Tibetan Buddhism From the Ground Up (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1993).