The Dynamic Psychology of Early Buddhism

Johansson explicitly describes the work as “a psychologist’s attempt” to understand what the Buddha meant by dependent origination and related psychological concepts. His analysis centers on a group of recurring early Buddhist terms—including avijjā, saṅkhāra, viññāṇa, nāma-rūpa, saḷāyatana, phassa, vedanā, taṇhā, upādāna, bhava, jāti, and jarā-maraṇa—which he interprets as components within a dynamic psychological system rather than as an abstract cosmological sequence. 

Methodologically, the book attempts to remain close to the Nikāya material while using psychological categories to clarify relationships among perception, consciousness, motivation, personality, cognition, and behaviour. Johansson repeatedly stresses that early Buddhist terminology must be interpreted functionally and contextually. He also distinguishes his inquiry from later scholastic Abhidhamma systematizations, focusing primarily on concepts recoverable from the early discourses themselves.

Table of Contents

• Preface

• The Psychological Background

• The One Reality

• The Dynamic Act

• Consciousness

• Growth and Development

• Perception and Feeling

• Motivation

• Personality

• The Influent

• The Intellectual Superstructure

• Understanding

• Summary

• Notes

• References

• Index of Technical Terms

• Index of Quotations from Nikāya Texts