A Comparative Study of Self-conception in Psychanalysis and the Buddhism [精神分析与佛学自我观的比较研究], Master thesis, Religious Studies, Anhui University, Hefei, Anhui, China 2014.
- 佛学发源于古老的印度社会,而精神分析则在现代性的背景下产生,两者共通之处首先在于认识自己的心灵并将这种认识付诸实践。现代性造成的传统价值崩溃,使个人不断地感到某种缺失,也引发了现代社会各种各样的精神问题。以1957年在墨西哥的座谈会为标志,国际心理学界开始愈发重视对禅宗和佛学的研究讨论,弗洛姆、霍尼等新精神分析学派试图在佛学中寻找对解决现代人心灵问题具有启发意义的观念和实践方法,两种传统在此处开始交汇。本文选取了佛学传统中三个较有代表性学派与精神分析学中对深层心识有独到见解的三个学派,比较其自我观的框架与核心概念,进行初步的交流和沟通。以弗洛伊德为代表的精神分析学派首先提出潜意识的概念,认为能意识到的那部分自我是不完整的。经典精神分析的自我观可以从人格地形结构中得到说明,本我要求本能冲动的满足,超我代表着社会的道德律令,而自我就努力在其中起调解作用。与社会习俗观念不相符的潜意识内容往往被压抑,精神分析的目标就在于解除抑制作用,释放潜意识的能量。禅学的真实自我是>自性<,自性是宇宙本体,万物之源,修行的目标就在于明心见性。顿悟和抑制解除的类似之处在于,抑制的解除释放潜意识中固着的能量,将潜意识纳入意识的范围,而顿悟打破原先的自我界限,两者都是无明转明的过程。荣格开创的分析心理学的自我框架将人格分为意识、个人潜意识、集体潜意识三个部分。他首先提出集体潜意识的概念。集体潜意识不是由被压抑和遗忘的个人经验构成,而是具有遗传性的,超越个体的心理基础。集体潜意识的内容主要是对应于人生各种典型情境的原型。分析心理学的目标是>个体化<,让人格围绕>自性<这个新的中心重新建立。唯识学认为万法唯识,一切心理物理现象的根源都在阿赖耶识之中,是八识自体变现的结果。阿赖耶识与集体潜意识的概念有很多相近之处,种子和原型同在说明有一种超越个性的心理基础,普遍存在于所有人身上,引发相似的行为方式。以拉康为中心的后结构主义精神分析,提出>镜像理论<,认为自我是建立在一种虚假的统一性之上。拉康用三界理论来说明主体的结构,想象界,象征界和实在界。精神分析的目标不仅是消除症状更在于发掘并承担主体的真相。而中观学则指出,原始佛教所说的无我是真我非有假我非无的辩证统一,缘起故无我,缘起故性空而假有,因此真我、假我都是假名而已。拉康的镜像理论可以与中观学的假我相比较。色受想行识五蕴和合而成的我,并没有真实恒定的体性。而主体在镜像中试图抓住的那个破碎、无力的自我,在象征界中经过父法的认同而永远被划上斜线的自我,也是在他者的欲望中建构的,虚幻不实的主体。精神分析与佛学通过不断地相互学习交流,在当代实践中已经产生了一定程度的互补作用。佛学给精神分析提供了对于心灵的深刻洞察和更为宽广的视域,也给精神分析提供了一种价值观念。现代社会那种不断消费、占有和扩张的自我是空虚无力的,只有寻求本真的自我才能带来精神的解脱与自由。而精神分析则在有我的层面对佛学进行补充。在进行深层的禅修之前,首先需要处理好早期的心理创伤和建立一种健全合理的生活、和谐的人际关系,否则禅修反而会成为一种自我防御的方式。精神分析的科学态度和不断质疑的思考也将佛学的思想从古代社会建制所形成的权力结构中解放出来,更好地为今人服务。现代性语境下形成的自我是漂浮无根,自我膨胀而又虚弱无力的,它的典型症状包括伦理道德责任的缺失、精神的疏离感和焦虑感等等,而现代西方社会的消费文化又助长了这种趋向。对比精神分析与佛学自我观的过程中,我们看到将生命之树重新扎根的一种可能性,寻求本真的自我,而不是外在符号中虚假的自我,才能获得对生命的真实理解和更深层次的幸
- Buddhism originated in ancient Indian society, and psychoanalysis derived from modern western world. There is a resemblance between the two lines, which is knowing yourself and putting this knowledge into practice. Because of the collapse of traditional values caused by Modernity, people constantly feel a certain loss, and a variety of mental problems have occurred in modern society. The forum in Mexico held in1957is a sign that the world of psychology has developed a great interest in Zen Buddhism. Karen Horney, Erich Fromm and other psychologists from Neopsychoanalytic Schools tried to find inspiring ideas and practices in Buddhism to solve the mental problems of people. And these two traditions finally came to an intersection. - In this paper, we select three representative schools of Buddhism and three psychoanalytic schools which had deep insights in subconsciousness, and we will compare the theoretical frameworks and core views of self-conception in order to establish a preliminary comprehension and communication between Buddhism and Psychoanalysis. - Classic psychoanalysis, represented by Freud, first states the concept of the subconscious. They think that the conscious part of human mind is incomplete. Freud’s self-conception can be depicted in his terrain structure of personality. Id requires satisfaction of the instinctive impulse, Superego represents moral imperative, while Ego makes great efforts to mediate. Subconscious contents inconsistent with social customs are often repressed. The goal of psychoanalysis is disinhibition and releasing the energy in subconsciousness. To Zen Buddhism, the true self is the noumen that is the source of all things, and spiritual practice aims at finding one’s true self. A sudden enlightenment and disinhibition are similar. Disinhibition releases the fixed energy in subconsciousness, making subconscious ideas clear to the mind, and a sudden enlightenment breaks the boundaries of the ego. They both gain insights into subconsciousness, but at different levels. - Jung’s analytical psychology divides personality into three parts, consciousness, personal subconsciousness and collective subconsciousness. He brings up the concept of the collective subconsciousness, which is not composed of repressed and forgotten personal experience. It is based on inherited psychological contents beyond individual experience. The contents of collective subconsiousness are all kinds of prototypes corresponding to typical situations of life. The goal of analytical psychology is individualization, in the process of which, the personality re-establishes around a new center, Self. Vijbanavada considers that everything derives from the heart, whose transformation causes various kinds of psychological or physical phenomena. The concept of Alaya-vijnana and collective subconsciousness are very much alike. The seeds and prototypes indicate that a hereditary psychological basis exists in all human minds, which causes similar behaviors under specific situation. - Poststructuralist psychoanalysis, represented by Lacan, proposes >mirror theory<. They consider that the self is built on a false basis of unity. Lacan uses three realms theory which includes the imaginary, the symbolic and the real to illustrate the structure of the Subject. The goal of Psychoanalysis is not only to eliminate the symptoms but also to discover and bear the truth of the Subject. Madhyamaka points out that anataman means a dialectical unity of the real self and the false self. According to the theory of dependent origination, there is no invariable self, and the phenomenal world exists only in Conventional Truth. The real self and the false self are only pseudonyms. Lacan’s mirror theory can be compared with the conception of false self. The false self consists of substance, feeling, thinking, intention and consciousness. It doesn’t have real noumenon. And in the mirror theory, the Subject tries to grab the broken, weak self, which identifies with the Father’s Law. At the same time, a diagonal has been drawn on the self forever. The self is constructed in Other’s desire and therefore is unreal. Through continuous learning and communication with each other, Psychoanalysis and Buddhism have developed a certain degree of complementation. - Buddhism provides a deeper and wider insight into human mind and a set of values. The self busy consuming, possessing and expanding in modern society is empty and weak, only seeking the true self can bring us relief and freedom. Psychoanalysis supplies complement to Buddhism at the level of conventional reality. Before deep meditation, people need to deal with the psychological trauma formed in earlier stage of life and establish a reasonable way of life and a harmonious interpersonal relationship, otherwise meditation can be a new way of self-defensive. The scientific attitude and critical thinking in psychoanalysis also liberate the ancient Buddhism from power structure developed in Ancient Society, making it more understandable and useful to modern people. The self formed under the social context of modernism is always floating, rootless, self-aggrandizing and weak. The typical symptoms include lacking of ethical and moral responsibilities, spiritual alienation and anxiety, etc. And the global consumer culture encourages this tendency. At the process of comparing, we see a possibility of re-rooting the tree of life. Seeking the true self instead of identifying to the false one under external symbols brings us deeper happiness and a real understanding of life.