Abstract
With enlightenment the Buddha recognized the interdependence of conditions causing suffering as inextricably linked, arising and decaying together. These insights are depicted in Tibetan Buddhism as the ‘Wheel of Samsara’ and the Twelve–link Chain of Interdependence, a mandala of four concentric circles containing symbols representing karmic existence, suffering and transcendence. At another level, however, it represents a model of addiction and its substrates.
Following an account of its symbolism, the value of the mandala as a model of consciousness in addiction will be presented. Clinical experience of its use in managing substance abusers in early recovery will be presented, supported by a review of the literature. This model can assist recovering addicts in understanding how sensations and perception arising in moment-to-moment awareness trigger craving, grasping and repetitive behavior. This can be complemented and greatly deepened by mindfulness practice.
The inevitability of impermanence and suffering and the futility of maladaptive attempts to avoid them are embedded in the model providing further valuable existential insights for these patients.
Samsara, the realm of worldly existence, means, ‘flowing together’. Mind in Buddhist psychology resembles the Jamesian stream of consciousness increasingly embraced by contemporary psychotherapists. This model presents a more optimistic view of addiction as a process in dynamic flow, not a fixed disease state, where the future is birthed in each moment and addiction can be managed one breath at a time.