While the journey may be long and harsh, so long as you keep going and never give up, then you’re already halfway towards your goal. Once you totally free your body and mind from addiction forever, then you will definitely have attained your nirvana. In the case of substance abuse, the focal point of a person’s addiction is usually drugs, alcohol, and the like. There’s a phrase in the Big Book that says something to the effect that God is either everything or nothing. Simply put, my higher power is everything (form), so I try to pay attention to everything that comes my way.
Many Paths to Spirituality
Members explain how Alcoholics Anonymous works and what to expect in meetings. Learn about sponsorship and home groups, and how the Twelve Steps can help you recover from alcoholism and live without drinking. A.A.’s primary purpose is for members to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety. Has been helping alcoholics recover for more than 80 years. A.A.’s program of recovery is built on the simple foundation of one alcoholic sharing with another.
Hear members share about recovery in A.A.
Dale enjoys writing about mental health and addiction so that more people can understand these highly stigmatized issues. When not working you can find Dale at your local basketball court. Hence, admitting you have a problem is a bold first step towards recovery.
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“If they require their employees to attend AA as part of a rehabilitation program, they must make sure that they allow for alternatives for their employees who have religious objections to AA.” Through Steps 6, 7, and 8, person is able to know the dangers of relapsing and conscientiously chooses not to stray from the right path anymore. Through Steps 3, 4, and 5, the person can make the needed adjustments to his lifestyle and activities. Through Steps 1 and 2, the person can begin to fully understand the cause of his addiction and commit to healing himself. Put together, these steps help create a mentally strong, upright, and disciplined individual. According to the Buddha, a person who does not overcome his worldly desires is doomed to repeat his unhappy existence through an endless cycle of death and rebirth – a condition known as samsara.
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In 2017, the Buddhist Recovery Summit was held in Washington State. It was apparent that many people attending had been AA members for years and credited AA with their own recovery; the point being, we do not have to choose between Buddhist groups and AA. I was re-reading “Koans for Troubled Times” by Joan Sutherland in Buddhadharma Magazine’s Spring 2008 issue when it dawned on me that Mazu Daoyi (709–788) and Shitou Xiqian (700–790), two famous Chan teachers of old, set an example for us today.
- Has been helping alcoholics recover for more than 80 years.
- With sharing that reflects the boundless range of belief (and non-belief) among A.A.
- The article also argues that Buddhist recovery manuals differ from classical Buddhism by emphasizing meditation at the beginning of the path, rather than placing it after training in giving and ethical discipline.
- Sober for 32 years now, this has not been my experience.
- I was re-reading “Koans for Troubled Times” by Joan Sutherland in Buddhadharma Magazine’s Spring 2008 issue when it dawned on me that Mazu Daoyi (709–788) and Shitou Xiqian (700–790), two famous Chan teachers of old, set an example for us today.
Several years ago I read an op-ed piece in a North American Buddhist magazine in which the author—never mind that he became sober through Alcoholics Anonymous—decided that AA is no longer a good fit for Buddhists to find sobriety. Sober for 32 years now, this has not been my experience. I fault the editor for printing the op-ed as written. It’s a good thing when they print pieces about Buddhist-based recovery programs; but not by denigrating AA, a program that has helped millions become sober over the past almost 84 years.
Buddhist recovery manuals, a genre that has emerged in the last 30 years, aim to use Buddhist ideas and practices to address the challenges of addiction. These books draw on classical Buddhist thought and Twelve-Step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous. Both of these influences share the framework of a step-wise path of transformation from a state of maladaptive compulsion to a state of freedom. This article analyzes the paths laid out by these Buddhist recovery manuals and compares them to classical Buddhist and Twelve-Step paths.
It’s the one word that can sum up the debilitating condition known as addiction. Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Is 32 years sober and the author of the book Three Buddhists Walked Into an AA Meeting…and got sober (CreateSpace 2016), and the blog The 12 Steps and Zen Koans. Let me tell you about one of my AA heroes, Indian Frank. He died a number of years back with 25 years of sobriety.
On other days and moments my higher power is nothing (emptiness). Ah yes, the Heart Sutra, “form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly form . Describes who rewarding recovery A.A.s are and what they have learned about alcoholism. For all who think they may have a drinking problem. Demonstrates through simple examples how A.A.
A.A.’s primary purpose is to help alcoholics to achieve sobriety. You can just sit and listen and learn more about recovery, or you can share about your situation. Anyone with a desire to stop drinking is welcome, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, income, or profession. You don’t have to pay anything to attend.
Around that same time, some 91 per cent of Americans considered themselves Christian. Of course the Big Book would come off with a Christian tone. I’m disappointed, however, to see few magazine articles and opinion pieces by Buddhists who have found long-term recovery in AA. It’s in forums such as magazines where one can carry on (anonymously of course) meaningful dialogues about Buddhism and AA. I yearn to learn more about practicing the Buddhist Way and the Twelve-Step Way together.
Frank always lived in sober-living houses, in a small room of his own with a door. Then one day someone stole his doorknob! There in front of him was his doorknob-less door. This reminds me of The Gateless Gate, the title of one edition of the Mumonkan book of koans. https://rehabliving.net/alcoholism-rehab-types-of-treatment-for-alcoholism/ Just as we have experienced gateless gates opening to us, other doors continued to open for Frank even with his doorknob missing; but elsewhere doorknobs abound! AA is at a disadvantage here—because of its Twelve Traditions, it can’t take out advertising.
My Zen practice, a koan tradition in the Pacific Zen School, began 10 years later. There was a time when I would say I had two practices, but today my practice is Twelve & Zen, a blend of the two; a symbiotic relationship in which I practice the Twelve Steps and Zen Buddhism fully, without obstacles. Zen and the Twelve Steps have how to tell when alcohol is affecting your relationships given me a whole new reality, filled with purpose, joy, and gratitude. And I’m aware of quite a few other Buddhists with similar experiences at the Twelve Step meetings I attend. Theravada, Zen, Tibetan, and Nichiren, my friends have all found ways to mutually practice their particular Buddhist traditions and the Twelve Steps.