Book Review: Kalyāṇamitra: A Model for Buddhist Spiritual Care by Sanford, Monica

Monica Sanford's Kalyāṇamitra: A Model for Buddhist Spiritual Care is an important addition to the growing library of texts that support Buddhist contemplative care and chaplaincy. This book, which provides a theoretical framework for the training of Buddhist chaplains, is the first in a pair of volumes. Volume II promises to focus on the practical elements of skill-building and an overview of the profession in the North American setting.

While Sanford opens by announcing that her book is for those considering a career in Buddhist chaplaincy, it is also clearly useful for those in the midst of training, and I can imagine that it would be useful for the experienced spiritual caregiver as well. The final chapters, “The Three Prajñās Framework” and “Kalyāṇamitra, or Spiritual Friendship” offer an argument for and path to spiritual friendship with appropriate textual exploration that is ripe ground for reflection for Buddhists at all points in their vocation. For those early on their journey of Buddhist chaplaincy this book begins at the beginning—with a discussion of the Four Noble Truths and their applicability to the reality and alleviation of suffering before exploring what Buddhist spiritual care is and where and how Buddhist chaplains work.

At its core Sanford's text is built upon a set of interviews with a diverse group of Buddhist chaplains, as well as a substantive exploration of key texts of the canon. She uses these primary sources to build out a description of what Buddhist spiritual care looks like from the perspective of practitioners, as well as outlined in the dharma.

The heart of this book is found in the presentation of her theoretical framework and argument for spiritual friendship as the pinnacle of Buddhist spiritual caregiving. This framework lays out how the Buddhist spiritual care provider moves from novice to spiritual friend through a development of wisdom grounded in praxis. “The Framework includes four iterative stages: self, student, chaplain, and Kalyāṇamitra, or spiritual friend. At each stage, one proceeds through the three Prajñās of gaining wisdom by listening, contemplating, and practicing at [sic] in successively more refined ways” (81). Sanford argues that spiritual friendship, or Kalyāṇamitra, embodies the goal of Buddhist spiritual caregiving; in this capacity the chaplain walks the path with careseekers as a friend, rather than a spiritual authority; spiritual friends help careseekers to make meaning of their experience. Spiritual friends never cease listening, contemplating, and practicing toward their own awakening.

In her appendix on research methods, Sanford enumerates the five hypotheses that she worked with to develop her framework; the five hypotheses offer a particularly interesting breakdown of the developmental nature of her framework from Self to Kalyāṇamitra, or spiritual friend. In fact, I read “Appendix A: Research Methods” before I read the text and feel that having this foundation added to the depth of my reading. The material in the appendix may offer a helpful foundation if you are someone who is coming to the text with an established Buddhist practice, formal training in contemplative care, and/or a scholarly perspective.

Kalyāṇamitra: A Model for Buddhist Spiritual Care is a hybrid text committed to pedagogical effectiveness. It does not hew to a single expected form in academic publishing or found in the bulk of texts on Buddhist contemplative care. This book breaks the expected norm. Of course, it includes familiar modes of academic writing, like well-documented arguments, a literature review, an appendix, and tables and lists, but it also includes useful questions for reflection, selections from participant narratives, transcripts from interviews, a table for the reader to use for recording their own Three Prajñās work, and, delightfully, her core argument is included in the form of a Pāli sutta with explication. The way that Sanford moves between types of writing within her text is refreshing. My suggestion for this text is to add a comprehensive glossary to the second edition. As a text for individuals early in their training or even for those considering it, a glossary of terms seems like a must.

Lastly, I would recommend this book for anyone who is about to embark on Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), particularly if one is entering a program that is not explicitly Buddhist. Sanford outlines how most CPE programs train students in ways that do not always sit easily with Buddhist worldviews. Through her interviews with Buddhist chaplains and chaplains-in-training, she explores many of the interactions that can be fraught for the novice chaplain. This book offers both an alternative framework of praxis, but also lays out a series of real experiences that will support the CPE intern, who is often the only Buddhist in the cohort.