{"id":93,"date":"2011-01-15T15:10:00","date_gmt":"2011-01-15T15:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2011\/01\/review-of-mixing-minds-the-power-of-relationship-in-psychoanalysis-and-buddhism\/"},"modified":"2011-01-15T15:10:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-15T15:10:00","slug":"review-of-mixing-minds-the-power-of-relationship-in-psychoanalysis-and-buddhism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildfoxzen\/2011\/01\/review-of-mixing-minds-the-power-of-relationship-in-psychoanalysis-and-buddhism.html","title":{"rendered":"Review of Mixing Minds: The Power of Relationship in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
<\/a><\/div>\n

This is a new book by Pilar Jennings, a psychoanalyst who has studied Buddhism<\/a> mostly in the Tibetan tradition. A friend mentioned it to me and it grabbed my attention.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The chapter that interested me most is \u201cAsian Monastic Teachers and the Western Psyche\u201d which is about how Asian teachers and Western students tend to misinterpret each other based on our world views. Having studied with Japanese teachers for years, I resonated with a lot of what Jennings says. For example,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not uncommon for Western students to bring a pervasive psychological narrative to their Buddhist<\/a> teachers, who will in turn respond through a karmic narrative\u2026or with an emphasis on morally based choices specific to the more communal cultures from which they come.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Like this:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

Reminded me of an old Katagiri story. Someone who had been in therapy for years but was still deeply suffering with his life came to Katagiri Roshi and shared his churning psychological stew for about 30 minutes. The fellow then asked what Katagiri had to say about it.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d said Roshi, \u201cthe most important thing is that it really is no problem.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The man later reported that he left the meeting relieved. That\u2019s not so much an example of coming from a karmic or moral perspective, though, but more like seeing things from a different, perhaps broader perspective.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Most Zen students these days, however, like maybe 90% in the US, study with Euro-Americans. I\u2019d say even most of the teachers had Euro teachers. But that doesn\u2019t matter so much \u2013 the dharma<\/a> is coming from a couple thousand years in so-called Asian culture (which is hardly a monolith but anyway\u2026) so we\u2019ve got to deal with that where ever our teacher is coming from.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One miss is how the Western psyche is about the I-me-mine ego and the Asian perspective is much more a \u201cwe-go,\u201d as Jennings cleverly puts it. The communal \u201cwe\u201d is more important than the individual. Much has been written and said about all that and there may be ways in which empathy and a sense of interconnectedness are more accessible from the we-go organization of self.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But maybe not. Seems to me to be more of a alternate organization than a step up. We Western\u2019s often idealize the \u201cwe-go\u201d and try to play that we have that organization when we don\u2019t. So its just another false self.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Better is to see what the self is, any way one organizes that bugger, than replace it with somebody else\u2019s way. That can be a mask on top of a mask. But that could be just me.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jennings also tells an interesting story of Joseph Goldstein doing koan work and her last chapter, \u201cHealing Goals in Buddhism and Psychoanalysis: Enlightenment and Integration\u201d that I haven\u2019t gotten around to writing about yet and this is already too long and I\u2019ve got to go and get my son.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So I may have more blogslop on this topic later. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a new book by Pilar Jennings, a psychoanalyst who has studied Buddhism mostly in the Tibetan tradition. A friend mentioned it to me and it grabbed my attention.\u00a0 The chapter that interested me most is \u201cAsian Monastic Teachers and the Western Psyche\u201d which is about how Asian teachers and Western students tend to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nReview of Mixing Minds: The Power of Relationship in Psychoanalysis and Buddhism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is a new book by Pilar Jennings, a psychoanalyst who has studied Buddhism mostly in the Tibetan tradition. 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