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