The Psychology of Zen

Today I am reading Chapter 3 “The Psychology of Zen” from V. Walter Odajnyk’s Gathering the Light. This Chapter discusses Zen meditation, which seeks to activate what Jung called the uroboric archetype of the Self: that is, the transcendent potential world of being that contains all the archetypes before they separate out and take on manifest form. In Zen this archetype is defined as Pure Consciousness or Formless Form. Odajnyk applies the insights of Jungian psychology to the interior developments that take place in the course of Zen meditation: the effects of the posture and the focus on breathing and counting; the work with a koan; alterations of the ego complex; and the nature of satori. During the course of the discussion, introduced is the concept of a "meditation complex" to account for the psychic structure and energy that appear when the ego gives up its unifying role of consciousness and before that role is taken over by the Self. (The term “complex” is used in the neutral way that Jung did, as a "feeling-toned cluster of psychic energy.") #zen #meditation #ego #satori #energy #koan

What is Meditation

Today I’m reading from Chapter 2 of V. Walter Odajnyk’s Gathering the Light: A Jungian View of Meditation which describes the psychological processes that take place during meditation. By directing psychic energy inward, meditation activates the complexes and the archetypes, with different forms of meditation activating different archetypes and giving rise to different experiences and results. The topics covered include attention; concentration; "deautomatization," the freeing up of psychic energy that normally flows into our habitual responses; the role of the ego complex during meditation; the loss of body sensations; visions of light; and the psychological limits of enlightenment. #meditation #zen #psychology #enlightenment