Some 12-step recovery programs in Alcoholics Anonymous share similarities with the spiritual practices associated with Buddhism, leading to several books which bridge both concepts.
Examples include
- Kevin Griffin’s 2004 work
- One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the 12 Steps;
- Darren Littlejohn’s 2009 book The 12-Step Buddhist;
- Therese Jacobs-Stewart’s 2010 title Mindfulness and the Twelve Steps.
Buddhists believe that life can often be filled with suffering; meditation, spiritual and physical labor and good behavior are ways to relieve that suffering and reach Nirvana enlightenment or Nirvana. Their teachings come from Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha himself who attained Nirvana over two millennia ago in India.
The middle path
The Buddha sought a middle path between dogmatism and skepticism, encouraging personal experience while taking an open-minded approach to all forms of knowledge. Within ethics he advocated a threefold understanding of action – mental, verbal, and bodily. Additionally in metaphysics he challenged soul-based identities by emphasizing how everything arises or depends upon others.
He emphasizes the significance of morality and cultivating loving-kindness (metta) as foundational Buddhist principles. For instance, feeding hungry individuals is more meritorious than building temples; and taking refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha as well as abiding by the Five Precepts is even more advantageous.
One aspect of Buddha’s philosophy was teaching his followers about their karma–the sum total of their positive and negative actions–can have lasting repercussions, even here in this lifetime. Furthermore, he believed humans were born into an environment with multiple species and living things, each offering different chances for spiritual bliss; each individual must decide upon an approach best suited to them according to what we know and feel is right.