Response to a Student’s Post: Buddhism

Your Reply should be about 100-words long AND include at least 1 specific example to support your observations.
to the writer:
Based on the lesson, I definitely think aspects of early Buddhism could be adapted for use in a Western psychological, counseling type setting. Buddha not only taught his students how to experience enlightenment but also stressed how every one of his followers needed to follow their own, individual path towards enlightenment. This means that one person cannot modify the path of another and expect to receive the same results (4-8). I believe that this method of teaching by a counselor is imperative for patient improvement. For example, certain therapies are undoubtedly successful for some people, but may make no difference for others. Also, Buddhism is already known to function similarly to meditation as a way of calming the mind (4-15) and meditation has been previously integrated into some counseling methods.
The early Buddhist psychological understanding of personal identity is based upon the idea of the Five Aggregates. These Five Aggregates are the sensory and mental processes that are constantly interacting to give rise to a sense of one’s self (4-9). We come across forms in life that affect us and cause us to create sensations. We then form conceptions to help us explain these sensations. Conceptions bring out volition or thoughts, opinions, and decisions. Together, form, sensation, conception, and volition interact to produce complete consciousness. In order to make progress towards enlightenment, one must understand Buddha’s point that our sense of self is a temporary process of these Five Aggregates.