Was Buddha the First ACT Therapist? Exploring Ancient Roots of Psychological Flexibility

In this episode of The Practitioner’s Heart, psychologist and Buddhist practitioner Poh Gan explores the powerful connection between Buddhist teachings and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Long before ACT introduced concepts like psychological flexibility, acceptance, defusion, and self‑as‑context, the Buddha was teaching remarkably similar principles 2,600 years ago. She links ACT's functional contextualism (focusing on what works within context) to the Buddha's teaching of dependent origination (the 12 links of causal conditions), describing how suffering arises from ignorance through sense contact, feeling, craving, clinging, becoming, birth and then aging, sickness, grief, and death, and how intervening - especially between feeling and craving via mindful awareness - can interrupt the chain, similar to functional behavioural analysis (A-B-C) and systemic thinking. 

Through timeless Buddhist stories — including Kisa Gotami’s journey through grief and Huike’s encounter with Bodhidharma — we uncover how the Buddha taught acceptance, mindfulness, values, and compassionate action in profoundly experiential ways.

If you’re a therapist, counsellor, psychologist, or healer navigating burnout, compassion fatigue, or a busy mind, this episode offers grounding, clarity, and a deeper sense of meaning in your work.

What You’ll Learn:
• How ACT and Buddhist psychology share the same core processes
• Why the Twelve Links of Causal Conditions/ Dependent Origination reflect functional contextualism
• How Kisa Gotami’s story beautifully illustrates acceptance and defusion
• How suffering arises through memory, labelling, and attachment
• Why Huike’s story is the ultimate teaching on self‑as‑context
• How therapists can embody openness, awareness, and engaged action
• How Buddhist wisdom supports modern clinical practice and therapist wellbeing

Timestamps
00:00 – Welcome to The Practitioner’s Heart

02:09 – Why compare Buddhism and ACT?

03:55 – ACT's foundation: Functional Contextualism and the Buddha's "master of context" view

04:28 – Twelve Links of Dependent Origination explained

08:10 – Where to intervene: feeling and craving, breaking the chain (the ABC parallels)

11:20 – Pillar 1: Be Open: acceptance + delusion (Kisa Gotami and grief)

16:45 – Defusion in modern terms: memory, labelling, and EMDR parallels with Buddhist teachings

18:29 – Pillar 2: Be Aware: present moment awareness + self-as-context (Huike & Bodhidharma)

23:53 – Pillar 3: Be engaged: alues, committed actions & the Bodhisattva ideal

26:58 – The Noble Eightfold Path as committed action

About the Host
Poh Gan is a psychologist, Buddhist practitioner, parent, and fellow human with a busy mind and a deep passion for awakening and compassionate service. She supports therapists in integrating practical Buddhist wisdom into daily life and clinical practice.

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Disclaimer
This podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only. It is not a substitute for therapy, clinical supervision, or professional training.

Transcript

Was Buddha the First ACT Therapist? Exploring Ancient Roots of Psychological Flexibility

[00:00:00] Hey, welcome to the practitioner's heart offering practical Buddhist wisdom for therapists and healthcare workers. If you are keen to deepen your practice beyond the theoretical understanding of Buddhism, if you are finding it hard to calm your little active mind after therapy work. I welcome you to join me to dive a little deeper.

Each episode I'll be sharing some common issues that therapists may face when integrating and practicing awareness, compassion within themselves, and also supporting clients. I'll be sprinkling some pearls of wisdom that I've learned from my master and teachers that will be helpful as internal resources.

I'll also be interviewing other therapists who are on these spiritual paths together to share their experiences of how they practice wisdom and [00:01:00] compassion in their daily lives. I want to let you know that you're not alone. You are part of a bigger community who aspire for greater soul alignment, growth and awakening that we can strike a balance of juggling our busy modern life as therapists with a clear mind and an open heart. I hope to inspire more practitioners to explore deeper spiritual meaning and purpose on our path to enlightenment. I'm your host Poh Gan, a psychologist, a Buddhist practitioner, a parent of two children, a fellow human being with a busy mind.

But with a great inspired vision for collective awakening. Let's [00:02:00] begin.

 I'm so glad that you chosen this time to spend with me. Today, I wanted to take a journey back in time to 2,600 years ago and to uncover the ancient roots of a very modern therapy.

We are going to explore the stunning parallels between the teachings of the Buddha and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or ACT. It is a connection that goes far beyond the simple use of mindfulness. It is a shared understanding of the very nature of the human mind and the root of our suffering.

Many of us know about the philosophical roots of ACT but my hope is that for our time together [00:03:00] to uncover these ancient roots, the tools that you use every day in your practice will feel less like clinical techniques, but more like expressions of a timeless, profound wisdom. Why people say that ACT is a way of life?

Buddhism is a way of life. When you understand the parallels why it is so relevant to our daily experience and our state of being, you will understand why Buddhism is not a religion, or maybe it is beyond a religion, but a practice. A practice to break the cycles of our mind's habitual tendencies, moment to moment, to return home to ourself, our true nature.

So let's start with the foundation of ACT, a philosophy [00:04:00] called Functional Contextualism. It means that we focus on what works. The function of the behavior to create a meaningful life. And we understand that no behavior or thought can be understood outside of its situation, the context that it is in.

And the Buddha was the ultimate master of context. Why is that so? One of his psychological model, so to speak, is called 十二因缘法 or the 12 links of causal conditions or dependent origination. It is the Buddha's detailed explanation about how suffering arises and how it can be undone. It is the explanation, the engine of samsara, this world that we are in, that we are all [00:05:00] in this cycle of birth death and rebirth, birth, death and rebirth and the cycle continues.

Starting with ignorance, a fundamental misperception of reality that arise from an unclear state. We don't know why we do it. We create karma through our thoughts, words, and actions. These are the mind‘s habitual tendencies. This formation, conditions the stream of consciousness that enters a new life.

The mind body organism develops the six sense organs, the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, body, and mind. And when these six sensory organs come into contact with the sense objects, what's around us, like how the [00:06:00] eyes see the form of an object, and the ears hear the sound, like how you can hear me right now,

this contact gives rise to a feeling that is pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. The feelings then give rise to craving. We crave to hold on to the pleasant feelings and wanting to get rid of unpleasant feelings. Craving develops into intense clinging to sensory pleasures to opinions and thoughts and views and a clinging to a sense of self.

We form more opinions, differentiation, likes and dislikes, preferences and these habitual tendencies become our sense of self. This is who I am as a person. This is my personality, some people may [00:07:00] say, but these are the fundamentals of, um, explanation of RFT relational frame theory of how this construct of self is created in terms of how we relate to ourselves and others across time and space dimensions, isn't it? Um, for those who are practicing ACT, you will understand, the RFT is the basis of ACT and a lot of the techniques derived from RFT. Anyway, back to the, 十二因缘法, the 12 links of causal conditions.

So when we started to have clinging, these clinging fuels that process of becoming, ensuring that the future existence and the continuation of the cycle, these in essence leads to birth into a new life. Then the birth inevitably [00:08:00] leads to aging, sorrow, pain, sickness, grief, and death. The entire chain is then repeated.

To break the cycle, one must break a link, a link between the 12 links. One of them is to cultivate awareness and wisdom to truly understand this nature of suffering that we all experience. Another critical point of intervention is between feeling and craving. So through mindful awareness, we can learn to experience the feelings without automatically reacting with craving or aversion.

This stops the chain reaction in its tracks. This is parallel to functional behavioral analysis, antecedent, behavior, and consequences. Most of the psychologists, or [00:09:00] therapists would be familiar with the A, B, C and the function of the behavior, right? So the Buddha has talked about all of these 2,600 years ago.

It lays out this entire context, not as a philosophical exercise, but a practical guide. He showed us that if we can intervene at a key point, if we can learn to just be with the raw feelings or safeguard our six senses without automatically reacting with craving and attachments, then we can break the entire chain. We can change the function of that moment and stop suffering before it even begins. This is functional contextualism, right? Another aspect that is important to recognize is that [00:10:00] Buddha's teachings are systemic in nature. The causal conditions that he talked about are complex, ever changing, interact with one another, and you have to understand the holistic system that influence the behavior.

Okay, so, this is just a simple understanding about why I think Buddha is a functional contextualist, and let's frame our next part of the exploration around these three core pillars of psychological flexibility, that ACT is built upon being open, being aware, and being engaged. And I'll be using some of the stories from the Buddha's time and also Zen tradition to illustrate these three psychological flexibility.

[00:11:00] We'll see that, how these three processes, which we use in our clinics every day were masterfully taught through profound stories and deep psychological insights centuries ago. So let's begin with the first pillar. Be open. In ACT, being open means making room for painful feelings and unhooking from painful thoughts.

It is a combination of acceptance and defusion. It is the radical move of dropping the rope in that tuck of war with our inner experience. For the ultimate lesson in acceptance, let's turn to the story of Kisa Gotami. This young woman had only one child whom she adore and love, and when the boy fell ill [00:12:00] and died, she was consumed by this grief, so powerful that she refused to believe that he was gone. So she picked up his small body and carried him through her village, going from house to house, begging everyone she met for medicine that could bring her son back to life. This is a story in Buddha's time. Yeah. And the villagers saw her madness and her pain and some scorned her, some other people pitied her, but no one could help. Finally a wise old man saw her in desperation and told her that, "I cannot give you the medicine, but I know a physician who can. Go to the Buddha!" and Kisa Gotami rushed to the Buddha and then laid her son's dead body at his feet. " Lord Buddha, she cried " Can you [00:13:00] give me medicine that will heal my boy?"

And the Buddha, looking at her with infinite compassion did not dismiss her. He said, "I can help you, but to make the medicine I need one ingredient. You must bring me a single mustard seed," and Kisa Gotami was like, oh, filled with hope in her heart, and it's like, "I will get it, lord Buddha." But the Buddha said, "You must bring it from a house where no one has ever lost a loved one where no child, spouse, parent, or friend has ever died. So Kisa Gotami was like, "Okay, I will do that," and she eagerly went to the first house.

"The Buddha sent me for a mustard seed to [00:14:00] cure my son," she said. The woman of the house was happy to help, but when Gotami added the condition, the woman face fell. Like, "Oh, I'm sorry. The living are few, but the dead are many. We lost our father just last year." Gotami went to the next house, and the next, and the next.

Everywhere she went, the story was the same. One family has lost a daughter, another had lost a husband. Another, a dear friend. There was no one single home untouched by death. As the day went on, the reality of the situation began to dawn on her, her personal isolating grief started to dissolve into a vast shared ocean of human sorrow.

She realized that her loss was not [00:15:00] unique, it was universal conditions of life. So from the sharp, unbearable agony of "Why me," softened into a compassionate understanding of actually "My experience is just like everyone else". Then she finally understood. Then she took her son's body to the grave yard, and returned to the Buddha, empty handed.

The Buddha asked gently, "Did you bring the mustard seed?" And then she replied, "No, Lord Buddha. The people of the village have told me the living are few, but the dead are many. The lesson is learned. My grief blinded me to the truth that all that is born must pass away." Her [00:16:00] heart began to open to the universal truth of impermanence.

The Buddha knew he could not simply lecture her on impermanence. Her grief was too raw. So instead, he gave her a task, a behavioral experiment, that allowed her to discover this profound truth for herself through her own direct experience. He guided her from a state of isolated suffering to a state of shared, compassionate understanding, which is the foundation of true healing, and that is the very heart of acceptance.

Yeah. What about the other half of openness, defusion, unhooking from our thoughts? I remember one of the phrases that my grandmaster Venerable Master Sheng-Kai, when he explained the Heart Sutra, he [00:17:00] said, 痛苦是因为记而来的, suffering comes from memory and labeling. The suffering isn't the event. It is the story, the label, the memory that we fuse with, and hence in ACT, we have a range of exercises to defuse from the stories, labels, and memory that we fuse with. And perhaps this is exactly why modern trauma informed therapy like EMDR, target memory. EMDR doesn't erase the memory, but it helps the brain reprocess how the memory is stored, neutralizing its emotional charge, so it no longer hijacks the present moment. The goal, whether through ancient insight or modern technique, it is the same, to change our [00:18:00]relationships with the stories of our past, to defuse from them so that they're no longer define our present moment and the choice that we make at this present time.

So, yes, I hope you can see the parallels between, how Buddha is probably a very ACT therapist at his time.

Part two, let's talk about, be aware. The second pillar is awareness, being present and connected with our authentic True Self. In ACT, this means contact with the present moment and self as context.

It is about learning to notice our experience without being swept away by it and connecting with the part of us that does the noticing, [00:19:00] the part of us that is constant, ever present. There is no story that illustrate this more dramatically than the founding of Zen tradition in China. I am not sure if you're familiar with this, but, um, I will try my best to share this.

So a general called Huike, he was a general at the time. He has been through many wars. He's one of the, um, uh, very courageous soldier and general that have fought in many wars at the China time. He was tormented by trauma and an unquiet mind. So, upon hearing that the master, the first patriarch, Bodhidharma and the [00:20:00] first person that established Zen tradition in China, upon hearing that the first patriarch body Dharma was very wise and he wanted to approach this master and search for this master so that he can help him. So, when he eventually found him, master Bodhidharma was meditating in a cave, in a winter, where it was like a snowy cave for days. General Huike stood outside in the freezing snow, but BodhiDharma ignored him.

So to prove his absolute sincerity and desperation, Huike took his knife and cut off his left arm and presented it to the master. The snow around him turned red. There's all blood. And seeing this incredible resolve and conviction, [00:21:00] BodhiDharma was touched and he finally turned to him and asked, "What do you seek?"

And Huike clutching his bleeding arm and pleaded, "My mind is not at peace. Please master, pacify, calm my mind," and BodhiDharma's response was a master stroke of psychological genius. He looked at him and he said calmly, "Bring me your mind and I'll pacify it for you." Huike was taken aback and he looked inward searching frantically for this mind, this mind that was causing him so much pain.

He searched and searched through his thoughts and his memories and his feelings of guilt and terror, but he could not find a single solid thing to grasp and present back [00:22:00] to BodhiDharma master. It was not an object, right? It was a process. So after a long search and he looked up and said, "I have searched for my mind, but I cannot find it."

BodhiDharma smiled, "There," he said, "I have pacified your mind for you." And in that moment, Huike had a direct experience of self-as-context, that innate Buddha nature. He realized that he was not his anxious thoughts or his painful feelings and trauma. He was the vast silent awareness in which those thoughts and feelings were appearing and disappearing.

He was the sky, not the storm. By being unable to find his mind, he found his true nature. He was in touch with his true nature. [00:23:00] The problem wasn't the thoughts. The problem was his identification with them as a "solid me" that was not at peace, me equal not at peace. When he saw that he couldn't grasp the mind, and it lost its power over him. And that is the ultimate goal of all mindfulness and defusion exercise to shift our sense of self from the content of our experience to the context in which it all occurs, right? So that's another story hopefully will help to demonstrate that the awareness piece that comes directly from the Buddhist context in the ancient wisdom.

Now let's talk about, be engaged. Finally, being engaged in ACT, [00:24:00] it means clarifying our values and taking committed action. It is about doing what matters. Yeah, because psychological flexibility isn't just about feeling good, it's about living a meaningful life, even in the presence of pain, because pain is inevitable, right? This is where some of the misconceptions about Buddhism fall away because some people might think that Buddhism is very passive, but the path is not passive at all. The goal is not a blissful state of detachment from the world. The goal is actually liberation for the sake of compassionate action in the world.

And I find that this idea best expressed in the bodhisattva ideal. A bodhisattva is [00:25:00] one who vows to attain enlightenment for the benefits of all living beings, and actively work towards cultivating the four immeasurables, the loving kindness, compassion, empathic joy, and equanimity in action. And the key here is action.

So the two stories that I have shared: after Kisa Gotami accepted the truth of impermanence. She didn't just go home. She actually dedicated her life to the path, eventually becoming an enlightened disciple who helped others. Her new value was wisdom and liberation. Her committed action was walking the path.

After Master Huike realized the empty nature of his mind, he didn't just retire in peace. He became the second patriarch of [00:26:00] Zen tradition, taking on the immense responsibility of carrying the teachings forward. His value was sharing the dharma and his committed action was his entire life's work. So for us as therapists, we are learning all of these and upon realizing all of these, acceptance and awareness, we started to take the action to help other people. We implement in our daily life so that we can have this openness within us and so that we can hold space in the therapy session for our clients.

This is the committed action, right? The other [00:27:00] Buddha's framework for committed action is the noble eightfold path, the right view, right intention, right speech, right action, and right livelihood. I think some of the psychologists like Dennis Tirsch, talked about wise intention wise speech instead of right, because right in our, um, thinking mind is going to turn into if there is a right, then there is a wrong, but anyway, that's a side story.

So the noble eightfold path is a comprehensive guide to living a life aligned with the values of wisdom, compassion, and integrity. It is about engaging with the world fully, but with skill and purpose, while continuing to practice awareness and openness.

So when we guide our clients to be open, [00:28:00] aware and engaged, we are not just using a modern psychological model. We're tapping into this timeless and profound human wisdom. We are inviting them onto a path of practice, walked by countless others for thousands of years, a path that show us that freedom is found, not by eliminating our own pain, and the fact is we can't eliminate the human pain and suffering, but by opening to it, by becoming aware of the space around it, by recognizing that this is a shared human experience and the nature of suffering itself, and returning home to our true nature, practicing moment to moment, while taking action in [00:29:00] the service of what we truly care about. So I hope you like this episode of illustrating using stories to demonstrate Buddha's time and how he was a skillful ACT therapist. So when you are calling yourself an ACT therapist and when you are practicing as such, I hope you know that you are living that truth in the Buddha's teachings 2,600 years ago.

Thank you for sharing this space with me today. May you keep your heart open, your mind steady, and take values based actions towards your own personal awakening and maybe, [00:30:00] maybe collective awakening for the benefits of humanity.

As we close our practice for today, I want to thank you for sharing this time. If this episode resonated with you, the most meaningful way to support the podcast is to share it, share it with a colleague, or live a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify. It helps our community to reach other people who need it.

Until next time. Keep your heart open, keep your mind clear and steady. Go be your amazing self as you awaken yourself and others.

See you next time.

Just a gentle reminder that our conversation [00:31:00] today is for inspiration and education only. It's not a substitute for therapy or clinicals supervision and our time together doesn't constitute a therapeutic relationship.