The Trauma of Everyday Life

Continuing his work at the interface of Buddhism and psychotherapy, Mark Epstein analyses the transformational potential of trauma as an indivisible part of life that can be used as a tool for growth and for a deeper understanding of change. The book begins with a reflection on the sudden death of three men and the effect this had on their widows, observing that Buddhist teaching regards trauma or suffering simply as a fact of life: everything is burning. He recounts a striking incident with Ajahn Chah, who looks at a glass beside him, remarking that for him it is already broken (although not yet), hence the preciousness of every minute - an insight that one could also apply to human friendship in the face of the universality of death. Epstein sees the mind's capacity for self-reflection as a key to dealing with trauma, an insight that he uses with his dying father, who has little interest in Buddhism and spirituality and had avoided facing his own mortality. Overall, the book sheds light from Buddhism not only on the nature of trauma but on life itself.