Contemporary Applications of Confucian Healing

Abstract

The pre-Qin morphostasis of Chinese culture for self-cultivation had been utilized to develop various types of psychotherapy. The goals of Morita therapy are the recognition of facts, obedience to nature, focus on the present, the increase of spontaneous activities, the decrease of self-focused preoccupation, the elimination of indulgence in moods and emotions (kibun honi), the withholding of value judgments, the reduction of intellectualizing, the cessation of escape into a sick role, and the cultivation of a humble (sunao) mind. According to Naikan therapy, an individual’s psychological problems are rooted in distorted interpersonal relationships with significant others. Constructive living therapy assumes that with the uncontrollability of feelings and emotional states, a client’s energy should be logically redirected toward behavior and action. By practicing methods of self-cultivation, an individual undergoing Taoist Healing for Authentic Self may return to the state in which that person moves with the rhythm of the universe, similar to a foetus moving in a mother’s womb.

The author was supported by a grant from Ministry of Science and Technology, Republic of China, 106-2410-H-037-004-MY2.