Hoàng-Ân
JOUNAL 11: On THE FOREWORD OF CARL G. JUNG
I am reading a book on Zen Buddhism. It is a book written by Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, a "Westerner" with an Eastern mind. He has been contributing explanations regarding Zen to Western understanding. The book's Foreword is written by Carl G. Jung, an "Easterner" with a Western mind. Their joined efforts aim at conveying the Eastern religious culture of Zen to Western thinkers. Daizetz Suzuki was a Japanese Zen Master and Scholar; Carl G. Jung was a renown psychiatrist who brought spirituality and beauty back into psychology: Jung brought poetry in to psychology, which is both a science and an art since its beginning was in Greek philosophy.
Using my background on the understanding of the mission of Zen, I found the book to be very scholarly and challenging. Since the audience of this book is for Westerners, here, Zen is being presented with a Western perception and rationale. My mind is being opened and expanded by the author's different approaches to the understanding of Zen. My first enlightenment from reading them, Suzuki and Jung, is that as an Easterner, I do not think the way the Westerners think. However, it is so enriching and exciting to finally awaking to the thought system of a totally different race of people. I do not mean race as in colors or nationalities. What I mean is a totally different set of mind belong to serious thinkers, who can meet and understand each other, regardless of any physical differences: because the foundations of their thought processes have the the same structures of Logic (as in Francis Bacon's "The Scientific Method" most students of College Computer Science 101 have the previlege to learn...*-())
Before reading this book, "An Introduction to Zen Buddhism". I thought of Zen as a system of training the mind to be clear and attentive to the here and now. A successful student of Zen will attain total concentration on a single task that s/he is performing. Her/his mind does not get distracted but is fully attentive to every minute detail and action s/he is committing her/himself to.
That understanding is correct, but it is superficial and oversimplified. Whether I understood Carl G. Jung's Foreword right or not, the purpose of Zen and its method are extremely complex and require extra-ordinary devotion and self-discipline. Zen practicing is not for the faint-hearted. Zen's mission is to open the mind completely--to illuminate human beings to their true Self, the inner person, the original person, and to offer them a totally new conciousness of clarity and certainty. The essential experience that Zen aims to achieve is called "satori." Satori can be understood as an awakening or enlightenment. At the moment a student of Zen achieves satori, her/his consciousness is opened to his whole unconsciousness: His true Nature which is comprehensive and pure will now be able to take hold of the ultimate perfect and true reality.
The first and main task that a student of Zen must practice to gain satori is to empty the contents of his consciousness; and direct his energy to experience a break through into his unconsciousness, the warehouse of past, present, and future experiences, knowledge, and potential. At satori, a human being is in harmony with her/himself and Nature at once and the same time. His consciousness attains the direct consciousness of the true consciousness of his object of attention. That is s/he knows exactly the meanings that are being conveying to her/him. More so, his reactions will be the product of Nature, which here means that of the universal system and also of his true and spontanious personality.
In order to attain satori, a student of Zen must rid of her rational way of thinking. It is by no means to think irrationally though. It is to empty the mind of all limitations. In order to think logically, one must limits oneself to a system of thinking. The mind must focus on one or only a few object of attention, then brainstorms for possibilities and uses elimination to arrive at some conclusions. These processes will definitely occurred at the beginning of the Zen lessons. However, they occurred simply to be rid of. The steps involved in logical thinking are barriers to attain satori. In order for the all pervasive materials of the unconscious to manifest themselves to a Zen student, s/he must first owning an empty mind.
Satori is very difficult for a Westerner to obtain. It might have been because Western culture is built on logical thinking. The thought process' foundation is based on rational reasoning being established one by one over the lifetime of a person. To ask him to forsake and even abolish this way of living is tremendously improbable. It is hard to imagine that the Westerners will accept the conception of meditating on the concept of emptiness.
