Abstract
The author examines the core problem of existence, the dread of nonbeing, from the standpoint of object-relations theory and subsequently demonstrates that the experience of enlightenment, emerging from religious mysticism, may be seen as the resolution of this basic human problem. The investigation of the experience of enlightenment is pursued from the perspective of Buddhism, a subject with which the author is most familiar.
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References
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It should be pointed out that Winnicott's notion of the inherent bisexuality of human beings that he refers to as the female and male elements, which correspond to the concepts of being and doing, respectively, have parallels in the Hindu and Buddhist Tantric schools and in the creation myths of the Puranas. In the Hindu Tantric schools, for example, Being (Shiva) precedes Doing (Shakta). In fact, they go so far as to assert thatShiva, the being of the universe, is creator only because he has with himShakta, the creative principle, that is, doing. Frequently, this imagery is portrayed by a demonic goddess dancing on the back of a passive Tranquil God.
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Ibid..
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Ibid..
Segal, H.,Introduction to the Work of Melanie Klein. London, Heinemann, 1964.
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op. cit., p. 24.
Ibid..
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Ibid., p. 24.
Ibid..
The term enlightenment has many shades of meaning in Buddhism. But we shall mean by it, “seeing into one's self-nature.” This should not be understood dualistically, that it is something that sees and something that is seen. Rather, it is a nondualistic experience in which the process of seeing, the seer, and seen are one.
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Zen Buddhism is most explicit in this regard; its students are told often that the readings of the Sutras do not lead to enlightenment. We may recall the example of Hsian-Yen, which was taken from the Zen literature. Zen was founded outside the scriptures, by direct transmission from mind to mind. Anyone even vaguely familiar with Buddhism will realize that because of this, while Zen continues to flourish, most of the other schools of Buddhism have shown decline because they sank into scholasticism.
My father's translation.
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Here we are not using being and doing in the way Winnicott (Gruntrip,op cit.) used the terms, which we reviewed at the beginning of this article. The Buddhist notions of being and doing, as used here, are deeper and are often said to be beginningless. In one sense, Winnicott's being aspect still emphasizes a potential ego. Further, Winnicott's being aspect is not object-free, since it depends for its sense of well-being on the object. The being element of Buddhism is totally object-free.
Prajna is the active faculty ofNirvana consciousness, ofBuddha-nature. It is the faculty by which nondualism is perceived in its entirety.
It is only because of our dualistic consciousness that we may define this as ego loss or transformation etc., but to the enlightened person, who views this nondualistically, this is not the case. In this regard, the author's Zen master repeatedly emphasizes that the ego andBuddha-nature are one.
Seng Ts'an,Buddhist Texts through the Ages, trans. E. Conzè, I. B. Horner, D. Snellgrave, and A. Waley: New York, Harper & Row, 1964, p. 295. Reprinted with permission of publisher.
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Neki, J.S., “Sahaja: An Indian Ideal of Mental Health,”Psychiatry, 1975,38, 1–10. Neki, J.S., “Guru-Chela Relationship: The Possibility of a Therapeutic Paradigm,”Am. J. Orthopsychiatry, 1973,43, 755–766.
Additional information
Ashok Kara, Ph.D., is a psychologist at the Southeast Memphis Mental Health Center and is also in part-time private practice.
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Kara, A. The ego dilemma and the Buddhist experience of enlightenment. J Relig Health 18, 144–159 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01535372
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01535372