Living Buddhism: Mind, Self, and Emotion in a Thai Community

Julia Cassaniti’s 2015 book Living Buddhism: Mind, Self, and Emotion in a Thai community reflects her time spent in a rural town in Thailand. Within this small community, Buddhism is the majority religion and is very important to the personal and social lives of the people. The more time Cassaniti spends with her host families she learns the main influences of their thinking. Buddhist principles that they lived by included ideas about the way everything changes, and nothing is permanent, and that because of this attachments cause suffering. Within the field of psychology emotions like anger, fear, sadness, and joy are thought to be experienced in universal ways. Cassaniti’s fieldwork determines that within this rural Buddhist community emotions are not expressed or felt the same way as many emotional models. Acceptance and letting go are valuable concepts that are inherent in the lives of the people she encounters and interviews. Sadness and anger are felt but the words that describe them are not present within the Pali language and the way they are felt is not in line with western understanding. Modern western mental wellness relies generally on positivity, medical practices, and social interactions. These are valuable no doubt, but the work presented by Cassaniti presents value in other forms of mental wellness. The way loss and pain are dealt with in Mae Jaeng, the town she stays in, is through acceptance. Understanding that things cannot change and letting go of the idea that they will allow the ability to move on from suffering. Interweaving some of the principles represented in the book into western psychiatry and mental health programs could be valuable.Towards the end of the book, Cassaniti discusses her friendship with a man named Sen, who after losing a family member fell deeply into alcoholism. The events that unfold are tragic but very powerful. Sen is hospitalized, it was thought he would only live a few weeks because of the condition of his liver. His family believed that his refusal to move on was causing him to remain sick. Two notes made by Cassaniti that I found to be important was the fact that the family did not fail to act because they were following their beliefs too strictly, but it was because they weren’t. they could not accept the situation that Sen needed their help. As Sen recovers fully, he tells Cassaniti that he was able to make it this far because he had finally let go himself. The narrative Cassaniti presents is very good at demonstrating how practicing Buddhism impacted people's lives and mental states. Overall, this book is great and engaging, with strong implications about mental wellness, emotion, and religion being intertwined. It is also a good look at how culture and religion shape the psychological states of the people who adhere to it. I enjoyed reading Cassaniti's work and found the lives and practices of the people she lived with to be genuine and powerful.

Very happy with product and price

Julia Cassaniti's treatment of Buddhism in Thailand maintains the integrity of a scientist, while also bringing us into her studies at a personal level. She does not separate the two, which doesn't detract from her book at all--it only adds to it. It's clear she's written the book fo people that have some knowledge of cultural psychology or anthropology--which I have none of either--but even in the sections where she delves into abstract theory she does so without leaving us behind. She always brought her conversation back to her subjects, which are the most interesting part of the book. Their stories of village life make the book really worth reading. I would have learned something without the psychology. I don't say that to detract from her study, only to say that she clearly loves the people she works with. She has a good relationship with all of them.The reason why this review is a four, rather than a five, is because her psychological arguments often delved into the abstract and sometimes didn't have resolution. I wanted to see her opinion. That being said, her stories about Thailand are personal, warm, and I want more of them.

A beautiful, well-written story of a young woman's spiritual transformation; a brave new perspective on the principles of Buddhism.

I read the book for an Anthropology class and compared to the few ethnographies I have read, this is one of my favorites. Even if you are not an aspiring anthropologist like myself, there are still many nuggets of interesting ideas and beautiful stories in Cassaniti's novel. The price was rather pricey for such a small book and a college student, which is why I gave it four stars. Nonetheless, the book is a great and fast read.

Great book

One of the best ethnographies I've ever read. Interesting, accessible, and eminently thought-provoking, this ethnography is a must-read for anyone interested in human emotion. Reading this book blew my mind and completely changed the way I view affect and the role of culture in human experience.