American Journal of Mental Health Research
Archive
Psychotherapy by means of Ancient Meditation and Ordination Practices
Article Type: Research Article
Author: Sumedh Thero, Basant Kumar, Pran Suta Verma, Aditya Suman
Volume: Volume 1
Issue: Issue 1
Year: 2026
Keywords
Meditation
Vinaya rules
Psychotherapy
Initiation
Ego
Abstract
Ego theory posits that our personality consists of three interconnected aspects. The first is the (often referred to as
‘Pak’ in some contexts), which houses our primal desires and is driven by the pursuit of pleasure. Studies indicate
that meditation effectively helps manage chronic pain; individuals suffering from chronic pain who practice
meditation regularly are able to live with pain that is manageable. To understand the Buddhist perspective
on meditation, we must start from the beginning—specifically, the life of the Buddha, approximately 2,615
years ago. In recent decades, meditation has been studied within psychotherapy literature and incorporated
into psychotherapeutic treatments. As therapists who find meditation compatible with our Christian-based
treatment approach, we have successfully demonstrated the integration of meditation and psychotherapy.
Numerous scientific studies on meditation have been surveyed to evaluate claims regarding the effects of the
complex and multidimensional array of practices collectively known as meditation. Senior monastics observe
the Three Refuges and the Ten Precepts (or training rules). Male monastics are required to follow 227 Vinaya
rules, while female monastics must adhere to 311 Vinaya rules, as prescribed by our Dhamma teacher, Gautama
Buddha. It is also known that brainwaves—such as beta, gamma, theta, delta, and alpha—fluctuate in response
to our activities and mental states