About
Daniel P. Brown (1948–2022) was a clinical psychologist at Harvard Medical School and a meditation teacher specializing in the Mahamudra and Dzogchen traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. He studied with some of the greatest Tibetan masters of the 20th century and authored 'Pointing Out the Great Way,' a comprehensive guide to the Mahamudra meditation stages. He was also an expert in clinical hypnosis and attachment theory, and integrated contemplative practice with psychotherapy.
Teachings
Books
Winner of the 2018 International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) Pierre Janet Writing Award. A comprehensive treatment approach for the repair and resolution of attachment disturbances in adults, for use in clinical settings. With contributions by Paula Morgan-Johnson, Paula Sacks, Caroline R. Baltzer, James Hickey, Andrea Cole, Jan Bloom, and Deirdre Fay. Attachment Disturbances in Adults is a landmark resource for (1) understanding attachment, its development, and the most clinically relevant findings from attachment research, and (2) using this understanding to inform systematic, comprehensive, and clinically effective and efficient treatment of attachment disturbances in adults. It offers an innovative therapeutic model and set of methods for treating adult patients with dismissing, anxious-preoccupied, or disorganized attachment. In rich detail, it integrates historical and leading-edge attachment research into practical, effective treatment protocols for each type of insecure attachment. Case transcripts and many sample therapist phrasings illustrate how to apply the methods in practice. Part I, "Foundational Concepts," features a comprehensive overview of the field of attachment, including its history, seminal ideas, and existing knowledge about the development of attachment bonds and behaviors. Part II, "Assessment," addresses the assessment of attachment disturbances. It includes an overview of attachment assessment for the clinician and a trove of practical recommendations for assessing patients' attachment behavior and status both outside of and within the therapeutic relationship. In Part III, "Treatment," the authors not only review existing treatment approaches for attachment disorders in adults, but also introduce an unprecedented, powerful new treatment method. This method, the "Three Pillars" model, is built on three essential clinical ingredients: Systematically utilizing ideal parent figure imagery to develop a new positive, stable internal working model of secure attachment Fostering a range of metacognitive skills Fostering nonverbal and verbal collaborative behavior in treatment Used together, these interdependent pillars form a unified and profoundly effective method of treatment for attachment disturbances in adults—a must for any clinician. In Part IV, "Type-Specific Treatment," readers will learn specific variations of the three treatment pillars to maximize efficacy with each type of insecure attachment. Finally, Part V, "A Treatment Guide and Expected Outcomes," describes treatment in a step-by-step format and provides a success-assessment guide for the Three Pillars approach. This book is a comprehensive educational resource and a deeply practical clinical guide. It offers clinicians a complete set of tools for effective and efficient treatment of adult patients with attachment disturbances.
A profound guide to living and dying with awakened awareness, Cloudless Mind: Volume 2 bridges timeless Buddhist wisdom and modern psychology to turn insight into real transformation. Cloudless Mind: Conversations on Buddhahood, Volume 2 delves deeper into the lived experience of awakening, expandin
Every Wednesday Night, for over six years, Dan Brown answered questions by students and colleagues about positive and negative experiences in life and mind, integrating the perspectives of both Western psychology and Eastern traditions of spiritual practice -- most notably Vajrayana Buddhism, Dzogchen, and then the Bon tradition. While Dan had no idea what questions might be asked on any given night, he answered them often with rather astonishing detail, while also making his answer relevant and helpful to the person asking the question. The basis of Dan’s knowledge and communication was not from scholarship. His history of treating people psychologically for over 40 years, with a long-time focus on trauma, as well as teaching Buddhist meditation with a high Lama appointed to teach with him by H.H. the Dalai Lama for 15 years, and then on his own using the style of “pointing out” while teaching, and with oversight by living lineage masters, for another 30 or more, gave him a basis of understanding founded in direct experience, in relationship to others, both as a healer and a teacher.
For readers of modern spirituality and contemplative psychology, a profound collection of Daniel P. Brown’s beloved Wednesday night dialogues that guides seekers, meditators, and therapists toward clarity and awakening. A rare and illuminating guide to the awakened mind, Cloudless Mind captures the essence of Daniel P. Brown’s beloved Wednesday night teachings, blending Buddhist wisdom with Western psychology for profound personal transformation. For over five decades, clinical psychologist, meditation teacher, and Harvard Medical School faculty member Daniel P. Brown helped thousands navigate trauma, spiritual growth, and the path to awakening. In this extraordinary collection of his weekly dialogues with students, Brown distills complex Buddhist teachings into clear, accessible insights that resonate deeply with modern seekers, meditators, and therapists alike. Rooted in the Tibetan Dzogchen and Mahamudra traditions and enriched by Brown’s expertise in attachment and trauma, Cloudless Mind explores the nature of mind, identity, suffering, and enlightenment, offering readers practical tools and timeless wisdom for living with clarity, compassion, and presence. The Cloudless Mind Collection renders Eastern wisdom accessible to the Western mind in a way that few books can. Whether you're new to meditation or a seasoned practitioner, this powerful compendium offers guidance and inspiration to help you realize your own innate potential for freedom.
This important volume applies hypnotic principles to the specific challenges of behavioral medicine. Drawing from extensive clinical evidence and experience, the authors describe how hypnobehavioral techniques can help in the treatment of psychophysiological disorders.
by Bru rGyal ba g. Yung drung. (2017), translated by Geshe Sonam Gurang and Daniel P. Brown, Ph.D. under the guidance of His Holiness the 33rd Menri Trizin for the Pointing Out the Great Way Foundation
Many books have been published in recent years on the topic of mahamudra, or meditation on the fundamentally clear nature of the mind. This book is different in the systematic way it draws from a variety of source texts in order to construct a complete, graded path of practice informed by an underst
The book presents a detailed discussion of the research in the development of a variety of attention skills in infants, children, adolescents, and adults; the alerting system, the orienting attention system, and the executive attention system. The second chapter reviews the varieties of dysfunctional attention in the modern Western world, with emphasis on the vulnerability of children to: mindlessness, distracted concentration, the problem of apportion attention across tasks, mind-wandering, reactivity, lack of coherence of mind, lack of sufficient working memory, and poor metacognitive skills. Emphasis is given to n]how multimedia, video-gaming, web browsing, and mobile devices affect attention in children. The third chapter reviews a wide range of intervention studies on training mindfulness, concentration, training to reduce mind-wandering, the effects of multitasking, and reactivity, and training to increase metacognitive skills, working memory, and executive functions. The argument is made for the importance of training sustained concentration and distraction resistance over other attention skills. The remainder of the book gives detailed instructions for training concentration skills in children, adapted to developmental age: early preoperational children (ages 4-6), late preoperational children (ages 7-9), concrete operational children (ages 8-12), and adolescents (age 13 plus). These instructions have been adapted from standard Buddhist concentration training, from Asanga's Nine Stages of Staying [Concentrated], modified and adapted for Western children according to developmental age and context. The book also includes field research on how concentration and working memory training is traditionally taught to children in Tibet and Nepal.
The Twenty One Nails is the companion teaching to the Six Lamps. It is designed to "nail" the realizations of twenty one perspectives on the natural state, such as cutting through delusion and purifying mistakes of practice; establishing the path of dharmadhatu exhaustion; recognizing awakened awareness, the universal ground, the three-fold embodiment of enlightenment, the pure realms of the sacred mandala as right here, and the five primordial wisdoms; and developing the full measure of stable enlightenment. The translation includes the root text teachings transmitted from Tapihritsa to sNang bzher Lod po, as well as a detailed explanatory auto-commentary by sNang bzher Lod po.
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