The Art of Happiness

Eventually, I had an opportunity to explore hisviews in greater depth, meeting with him dailyduring his stay in Arizona and following up thesediscussions with more extensive conversations athis home in India. As we conversed, I soondiscovered that we had some hurdles toovercome as we struggled to reconcile ourdifferent perspectives: his as a Buddhist monk,and mine as a Western psychiatrist. I began oneof our first sessions, for example, by posing tohim certain common human problems, illustratingwith several lengthy case histories. Havingdescribed a woman who persisted in selfdestructivebehaviors despite the tremendousnegative impact on her life, I asked him if he hadan explanation for this behavior and what advicehe could offer. I was taken aback when after a