Clinical Psychologist
(photo November, 2006, Sri Lanka)

Dr. Kwee was born on the island of Java, Indonesia, where his family lived in the vicinity of the Borobudur. Em. Hon. Professor at the University of Flores, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a Visiting Scholar at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, he graduated from the Catholic University Nijmegen, Netherlands, and earned a doctorate in Medical Science at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Co-founder (with Em. Prof. Y. Haruki) and president of the Transcultural Society for Clinical Meditation (http://transcultural.meditation.googlepages.com/home) a non-profit organization based in Japan, he promulgates a cutting-edge “New Buddhist Psychology of Relational Buddhism” that moves beyond Theravada and Mahayana. Having served as a Board Member of the “Society for Constructivism in the Human Sciences”, he is currently an Associate of the Taos Institute (www.taosinstitute.net) and a professor at Taos/Tilburg PhD programs. Dr. Kwee was a “scientist-practitioner” for 25 years in a mental hospital in the Netherlands. There he served as a “chef de clinique” of an inpatient department for severe anxiety and depressive disorders; he also managed a private outpatient clinic for several years. Dr. Kwee treated and/or assessed more than 2000 clients in an individual setting and performed in numerous group settings. In addition, he co-/authored and co-/edited over 100 publications, articles, chapters, and 16 books, including Psychotherapy, Meditation & Health (1990), Western & Buddhist Psychology (1996), Meditation as Health Promotion (2000), Horizons in Buddhist Psychology: Practice, Research & Theory (2006), and Horizons in Buddhist Psychology: Relational Buddhism for Collaborative Practitioners (2010). Dr. Kwee also (co-)organized 11 international conventions, guest-lectured all over the world, and is presently dedicated to revamping the Buddhist teachings by developing and disseminating master classes to empower change activists – clinicians, coaches, teachers, managers – students, and the public at large. He is realizing his poetic views through the collaborative practice of traditional Buddhist meditations in the context of “Karma Transformation” which is based on a social constructivist “evidenced-based social-clinical-neuro-psychology” aimed at enhancing health, fulfill professional contentment, and nourish personal happiness. (Listed in Who is who in the Netherlands; Languages: Nederlands, English, Deutsch, Français, Bahasa Indonesia.)

BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY AND MEDITATION FOR EVERYDAY LIFE:  A 2 Day Master Class (seminar/workshop) The Buddha’s pivotal insight is that the human predicament of suffering is relational and rooted in these "3Poisons": greed, hatred, and ignorance, particularly ignorance regarding the illusion of self or soul and the delusion of the existence of god(s). This social vision is as valid today as it was 2600 years ago, since it is undeniable that greed is the root cause of global financial crises and that hatred is the root cause of terrorism in the world. The end result is Duhkha (fear, anger, sadness, depression, and premature death) unless we know how to modify these interactive relational performances with erudition and wisdom. Arising from relationships, Karma defined as intentional action concurs with “meaningful-thought-and-relational-performance” whose malfeasance is transformable by collaborative action and interpersonal practice. During his time the Buddha called himself a "Kammavadin", someone who deals with Karma and its transformation through discourse and dialogue. Dealing with emotional scenarios by detecting and modulating its cognitive, behavioural, volitional, and motivational causes in co-action, Buddhist Appreciative Inquiry mobilizes people to eradicate unwholesome anti-social affect and to exercise wholesomeness instead by embodying pro-social Sukha (happiness) in equanimity via the social meditations of loving kindness, empathic compassion, and shared joy.

This master class is on Karma Transformation which is the application of the Buddha's "Ennobling 8Fold Balanced Practice" as a positive psychological method. This boils down to a relational view on “cleansing our senses” and “turning on to reason” by the healing practice of Buddhist meditations eventually leading to a therapeutic effect, a meaning making experience and/or a significant move toward bliss and awakening. The hands-on training comprises power-point presentations and Chan/Zen “crazy wisdom” laughing/smiling exercises, which precede the authentic meditations of inter-being, organs, elements, death, repulsion, mindfulness, and emptiness, and also includes “singing meditation” and “out-of-the-box YinYang dialoguing”.

To view Dr. Kwee's manuscripts click here