Prologue

The prologue will present an introduction to the themes treated in the book, which attempt to provide a guide for the demanding travelling through Buddhism, and the disciplines which later also attempted to deal with the sufferings, as well as delusions and illusions, which accompany the human life trajectory. This challenging goal will be considered through the direct experience of the author with the practice of Zen Buddhism, psychotherapy and experimental and clinical scientific academic research. Personal views will be avoided, as well as argumentations based on logic, inferences, appearances, speculation and verisimilitude. The best, and most generally accepted positions by renowned recognised authorities in their own field of competence, will be considered and referenced. These general grounds will be followed by the report of the experience of introducing Zen meditation into the psychiatric communities of mental care of the National Health System in Trieste, Italy. Mental health institutions are a highly symbolic and real place to encounter existential sufferings, and these experiences are a sort of Zen mission for patients and the students training for their care at the University Campus.