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Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 30, No.

4, Winter 1991

Zen a n d P s y c h o t h e r a p y : East Meets West on the R o a d to E n l i g h t e n m e n t


FRANCINE RASCO
ABSTRACT: Major psychoanalytic theorists have seen transcendental states as regressive and/ or unconscious, overlooking the similarities of purpose and process between psychoanalytic psychotherapies and contemplative religions. This article examines the similarities and differences between psychoanalytic psychotherapy and Zen and proposes that on the whole the similarities outweigh the differences and that some of the presumed differences have been based upon semantic misunderstanding.

What prompts a person to continue psychotherapy after the presenting problem, such as acute depression or anxiety, has resolved? Critics would say dependency on the therapist. Although dependency may be a factor, to attribute the patient's urge to continue only to that reason is demeaning to the individual and overlooks the more significant factor, that is, the drive for personal growth. The individuals participating in psychoanalytic psychotherapy often reach the realization, after their more acute symptoms have subsided, that dysfunctional aspects of their personalities not only contributed to the presenting problem and place them at risk for relapse, but also block their fulfillment in life. Through the self-understanding sought in psychotherapy, they achieve a degree of release from suffering and a healthier connection with the world similar to that achieved through the practice of Zen Buddhism. I propose that to a point the process of any therapy based upon psychoanalytic principles, whether psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic psychotherapy, fulfills in the West a function similar to the function of Zen in the East. Although there are other types of psychotherapy, the term as used in this paper refers only to those forms of therapy based on psychoanalytic theory and practice. At first glance it might seem fallacious to compare a psychological treatFrancine Rasco, M.D., is a psychiatrist in private practice in Worthington, Ohio. 277 9 1991 Institutes of Religionand Health

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ment for mental pathology to what is commonly considered by Westerners to represent a religious sect. However, as C. G. Jung noted, "Religions are psychotherapeutic systems. What are we doing, we psychotherapists? We are trying to heal the suffering of the human mind, of the human psyche or the human soul, and religions deal with the same problem. ''1 Although Buddhism is generally recognized as one of the world's major religions, Zen Buddhists describe their practice as a way of thinking and being, rather than a religion. Some will refer to it as a philosophy, while others disagree even with this comparison. D. T. Suzuki maintains, "Zen is not a philosophy, not a network of ideas, not the unfolding of a concept. As is stated by the Zen masters, it is directly or immediately pointing to the mind. ''2 Master Thich Thien-An has also written, "The way of Zen does not involve worshipping or praying to some supernatural being, but seeing into our true nature and realizing that our true nature is Buddha nature," that is, our own capacity to be an awakened being. 3 Whether we regard Zen as a religion, a philosophy, or simply as a way of being, Zen and psychotherapy both aim at cessation of suffering through self-awareness, and both ultimately lead to more effective functioning and healthier connection with the world. Buddhism, including Zen, purports to end suffering by extinguishing the self, while psychotherapy strengthens the self. However, I believe that this seeming difference merely represents a semantic difference, especially since the method of ending suffering is often described in Buddhist texts as detaching from the self, which has quite a different meaning than extinction. From a Western psychological perspective this detachment from self resembles the development of a healthy self in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, which one achieves by enhancing and developing ego strength, then recognizing pathologic defenses and relinquishing them in favor of resolving the underlying neurotic conflicts. Only then can one transcend these conflicts in the self. Some think that the enlightenment achieved through meditation is a higher state of mind than any achieved through other processes, while others view it as a parallel method of developing consciousness, rather than a higher one, with which I would agree. 4 Although not every individual in psychoanalytic psychotherapy progresses to the fully enlightened state, it is possible to do so with this contemplative method if it is practiced diligently and long enough.

Similarity of purpose
The purpose of both Zen and psychotherapy is to cease suffering, not by avoiding or escaping it, but through deep self-understanding, detachment from limiting conditions, including our own psychopathology, and doing our best to create wholesome conditions. We cease suffering and achieve peace and harmony in action, that is, in whatever we are doing. This state is enlightenment or satori in Japanese, and is the same as that achieved through successful psychotherapy, a state characterized objectively by more effective

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functioning in the world and subjectively by wholeness, integration of disparate elements of the psyche, and a sense of well-being. One relinquishes the mental bondage and suffering from illusion and distortion in both Zen and psychotherapy. This liberation allows the individual then to be in the present moment with full awareness unclouded by distorted thinking, and this in turn enables one to cope more effectively with reality. Attaining enlightenment means grasping Reality, or Dharma, or Truth. One can do this in different ways, as shown by the existence of different schools of Zen, such as the Soto school, which emphasizes quiet contemplation of the Dharma or Reality, and the Rinzai school, which emphasizes grasping Dharma through activity. To be aware of one's own self at the deepest level is to know the Dharma or Truth. "Dharma is a light you can depend on, the self is a light you can depend on, b u t this self is really the self based on Dharma. Dharma is the ultimate nature of existence, or holiness or the Truth itself. So, Buddhism i s . . . awakening to the self or to the Truth. ''5 However, attaining full self-awareness is only the first step in both Zen and psychotherapy toward the attainment of freedom through detachment from limiting conditions. The Zen master Yuansou's explanation of the purpose of Buddhist teachings could apply equally well to psychoanalytic psychotherapy: "Buddhist teachings are prescriptions given according to specific ailments, to clear away the roots of your compulsive habits and clean out your emotional views, just so you can be free and clear, naked and clean, without problems. There is no real doctrine at all for you to chew on . . . . -6 Psychotherapy patients are often amazed at the increase in their energy and sense of being alive once they give up pathological ways of coping with old conflicts. Instead of channeling their energy unconsciously into psychological defenses, they release the same energy into more constructive, consciously chosen directions. Then they are no longer slaves to fear, anger, guilt. As Zen Master Mi-An put it, "When you are totally alive and cannot be trapped or caged, only then do you have some independence. Then you can be in the ordinary world all day long without it affecting you. ''7 In Theravada Buddhism achieving detachment would be a sufficient goal, but Zen and other branches of M a h a y a n a Buddhism consider compassionate connection with the world to be the other essential ingredient of enlightenment. By the end of psychotherapy, too, individuals improve their capacity for genuine altruism, just as "the released one" does in Buddhism. A common example is the compassion patients develop for the parents who wounded them, no longer responding to them out of anger or guilt-ridden duty. Compassionate connection with the world is a manifestation of the conscious unity with the cosmos achieved through diligent self-examination and selfawareness. Pursuing our lives with full awareness of our unity with the universal path represents not a stagnant state of serenity b u t continually enriches our lives. "If we take care of our everyday life, finding it within the life of the universe, then our life becomes very deep. ''~ Both Zen and therapy awaken the seeker to inner riches, so that one ceases

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the futile search for the ultimate treasure, however one may define it, such as "the answer" or "happiness." "The treasure you want is not outside. It is within yourself. ''9 Often patients project their inner riches onto the therapist, thinking that the latter has "the answer" that will solve all of their problems. The therapist then takes on the image for the patient of a bodhisattva, one who is illuminated or awakened. Along with this projection, the patient often hopes to be rescued by the therapist, comparable with the attitude known as tariki, "outside strength" or "power from without." It is necessary for the patient to move to the attitude ofjoriki, "own strength" or "effort or power from within. ''~~ Once Zen students or psychotherapy patients achieve joriki, their experience of the relationship with the Zen master or therapist mirrors the end of their dualistic thinking. They can then simultaneously take the other with them while remaining independent. As Eugen Herrigel's Zen master expressed it to him when they finally parted, "You have now reached the stage where teacher and pupil are no longer two persons, but one. You can separate from me any time you wish. Even if broad seas lie between us, I shall always be with you when you practice what you have learned. '1~ Achievingjoriki also enables one to get one's needs met more healthily and effectively. As the master Bankei succinctly put it, "My miracle is that when I feel hungry, I eat and when I feel thirsty, I drink. ''1~ How simply stated, and yet how difficult for so many to recognize their needs and to feed them in realistic proportions, rather than to the excess that they crave. In psychotherapy one develops this ego strength of differentiating between wants and needs and tries to resolve or soften any intrapsychic conflict about meeting one's needs. One is then no longer obsessed with cravings that destroy one's peace of mind. Buddhism in general stresses the importance of overcoming cravings in order to achieve enlightenment.

Similarities of process
Like Zen, psychoanalytic psychotherapy involves a complex combination of intellectual, affective, and intuitive elements. Through the intellectual part of the process the individual learns to recognize his or her psychological defenses, the intrapsychic conflicts from which they protect him or her, and the causal relationship between conflicts and defenses. Much time is consumed by what Freud calls the "arduous task ''13 of working through, that is, repetitively tracing the manifestations of unconscious impulses, fantasies, and defenses in the multitudinous forms they assume in the patient's thoughts, attitudes, dreams, and behavior. With this increased awareness one begins to overcome one's slavery to unconscious wishes. Just as the intellectual function represents an important aspect of psychotherapy, Zen "is directly or immediately pointing to the mind."" The general purpose of this pointing to the mind is the same in Zen as that described

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above for psychotherapy, namely, to achieve self-awareness. In other words, "the purpose of the Buddha Way is to learn the self. ''15 Only after reaching self-awareness can one achieve healthy detachment from limiting conditions, whether external or one's own psychopathology. The first technical step toward self-awareness is reflection. Just sitting still in meditation or psychotherapy opens the way to reflection, because then one cannot use action, a method of turning outward, to avoid reflection. "Satori never takes place as long as consciousness is kept turning outwardly, as it were. Satori is born of self-consciousness. Consciousness must be made to look within itself before it is awakened to satori. ''16 Reflection allows one to become aware not only of one's thoughts but also of feelings. In Zen reflection in the form of meditation gives the ego a technique by which it can learn to deal with feelings by observing them rather than being overwhelmed by them. 17 The reflection practiced in psychotherapy produces similar results with the therapist's support and insight. The therapist helps by identifying the patient's feelings and accompanying the patient through the experience of feelings, so that the patient learns that emotions are not only bearable but also acceptable and understandable. Being able to tolerate feelings is necessary for the patient, not only to process emotions related to the patient's life outside therapy, but also to learn from the feelings stirred within the transference to the therapist, that is, the patient's feelings that were originally directed at important figures early in life and now are transferred to the therapist. For enlightenment cannot be reached through intellect alone. One must also open oneself to the affective experience of psychotherapy or Zen to succeed. Since the psyche can use any function as a defense, intellect can lead both to awareness or away from it. Patients often ask repeatedly for an explanation of therapy in the early stage, and what a futile task this explanation can become, mired in intellectualization. Instead, the therapist must interpret the patient's defensive intellectualization in order to pass beyond it into the vital experience of the therapy itself. The same process is necessary in the practice of Zen, and in both Zen and psychotherapy the insight or awareness is not useful to the seeker until he or she experiences it for himself or herself simultaneously at the affective, intuitive, and intellectual levels. Transference is the most powerful vehicle of the affective experience in psychotherapy. This emotional engagement with the therapist is so important because it circumvents the defenses of the rational mind on one hand but on the other hand presents to it for study in an immediate way the illusions and distortions that lead to pain and suffering. The merging of intellectual understanding and affective experience in analysis of the transference becomes the road to integration and wholeness of self. The transference depicts the structure of the mental cage that prevents the patient from achieving inner peace and from relating to others freely and healthily. The therapeutic interpretation, usually phrased by the therapist,

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but sometimes by the patient, represents the key to the cage. To be effective the interpretation must be timed so that the patient is ready not only to understand it intellectually but also to grasp it at an intuitive level and with affective intensity. In other words, the patient and therapist must prepare the ground for the planting of the seed in order for it to grow and flower. This preparation can take months or years for certain issues. Similarly, the Zen student must work toward a state of mental preparedness before being ready for enlightenment. The process may require years of study and meditation. The key may then take the form of a koan, a mondo, a blow or epigrammatic remark from the master, or even a quiet moment of full awareness of the natural environment, all of which circumvent the rational mind and open the door to a sudden intuitive grasp of reality. The Zen master and the therapist help the seeker to achieve the state of preparedness by attempting always to teach at the level of the individual. The therapist, for instance, avoids premature interpretations and waits until patients' associations indicate that enough data are available to them in the conscious and pre-conscious levels that they can accept interpretations based on those associations. Buddha himself taught at the level of the individual by choosing a story with which the listener could easily identify, and for other students he might choose a metaphor or direct explanation or assign a task for them to perform. Zen masters have continued the tradition of individualized instruction by performing paradoxical actions or selecting poetry, stories, metaphors, direct statements, or subtle abstractions tailored to those qualities or capabilities through which the seeker may be most effectively reached. Sometimes the master or therapist even remains quiet, and then the Buddhist seeker and the patient read into the silence their own truth. The Zen master and the therapist strive through their various approaches to share with the seeker what is called in Zen "big mind," that perspective at a level beyond dualistic thinking. Consequently, Zen advises, as therapists are taught, not to argue with someone who disagrees, because the argument only tends to polarize positions, which would be an enactment of dualistic thinking. As Dogen-Zenji explains, "When you say something to someone, he may not accept it, but do not try to make him understand it intellectually. Do not argue with him; just listen to his objections until he himself finds something wrong with them. ''18 This is good advice also to the therapist whose patient disagrees with an interpretation. If the interpretation is not inaccurate, the patient is more likely to recognize its truth if the therapist does not argue about it. When the seeker spontaneously asks a question or expresses a thought mired in dualistic thinking, the Zen master may point out the dualism directly. So, too, the therapist directly points out the fallacy of dualism through interpretation of the drives presumed to stimulate the dualism. Let us consider, for example, a common occurrence in the psychotherapy of an individual suffering from a borderline personality disorder. The patient seems to be

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angry about something the therapist has said or done or not said or done and tries to provoke the therapist to respond angrily. Instead, the therapist points out the provocative behavior and interprets it as an expression of ambivalence about this relationship and relationships in general, that is, as an attempt on the one hand to make contact in the only way the patient feels is possible, based on the experience of earliest relationships, and on the other hand as an attempt to keep the therapist at a safe though hostile distance, perhaps even to provoke rejection to confirm both his self-image as unacceptable to others and the wisdom of keeping a comfortable distance from others. Just as this person brings to therapy a history of what he or she sees as failed relationships, patients in general bring with them a burden of failure to respond optimally to life's demands. The therapist may help them to see these experiences as partial successes and opportunities to learn, thus strengthening them against annihilation of their self-esteem by future coping difficulties and enabling them to use those difficulties also to improve their ability to cope with similar situations. This constructive attitude is not new to Zen. Pictures of Bodhidharma, who brought Buddhism to China about A.D. 520, often include four Chinese characters, which mean, "fall down seven times, stand up eight." Those involved in Zen practice or psychotherapy eventually learn through examination of their own failures that suffering is universal. Although people often know this intellectually, through the direct experience of Zen practice or psychotherapy they come to feel their connection to the world partly through suffering. For instance, after being in therapy a while patients often say something like, "I used to think I was really weird, that no one else in the world felt like I did. But now I feel that I'm not alone, that others have felt as I do." A parallel to this phenomenon appears in the Mustard Seed Parable about a woman grief-stricken by the death of her child. When she begs Buddha for a medicine to revive her son, Buddha sends her to obtain a mustard seed from a household that has never lost someone. Through this impossible exercise she reconciles herself to her loss and regains her connection to the world and some solace by realizing the impermanence of all existence.

Real and apparent differences in process Zen and psychotherapy do, of course, differ in some respects as to method of practice. The majority of Zen students in the Orient, for instance, are monks devoting their lives solely to the practice of Zen, their only goal in life being enlightenment. Psychiatric inpatients often also focus on the workings of the mind and in the past might spend up to a few years in the hospital striving toward peace of mind. But with growing reliance on pharmacologic treatments and with the escalating cost of hospital care, such lengthy stays become increasingly rare, and the vast majority of those in psychotherapy are

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outpatients meeting for usually one session per week with the therapist, and in a very small minority, for up to three or four sessions per week over a span of a few to several years. Although people in psychoanalytic psychotherapy commonly reflect on their thoughts and behavior between sessions, they rarely do so with the disciplined regularity of the monk, who sits in meditation for hours every day. Another superficial difference in practice is that in Zen one attempts to use activity and posture harmoniously with meditation to facilitate the progress toward satori, whereas physical posture facilitates therapy only to the extent that the patient and therapist remain seated during sessions, or, in classical psychoanalysis, the patient lies supine with the therapist seated behind the patient's head so as to be out of view. While therapy tends to lead eventually to greater harmony of action, the patient is not encouraged to practice reflection formally while in some activity, as one might practice Zen while shooting a bow, arranging flowers, or just washing the dishes. A more significant difference manifests itself in the different attitudes with which the Zen student and the psychotherapy patient approach their respective contemplative processes. It would be difficult to find a psychotherapist who would fault patients for entering therapy to help themselves. Indeed, we would generally regard this as a step forward from the more regressive wish for the therapist to help the patient, the patient's only function then being to receive passively. Although Zen students may also embark on their quest to help themselves, Zen masters caution against this approach because it represents a form of desire, and one must abandon desire to reach enlightenment.TM A still more fundamental difference between Zen and psychotherapy has been thought to be the Buddhist emphasis on crushing or extinguishing the self in order to transcend egocentrism, while psychotherapy is generally believed to strengthen the self. In this one area Freud and Jung concurred, despite their differences regarding religion and philosophy. Freud viewed transcendental states achieved through religion as a regression to an infantile state of undifferentiated self. 2~Jung also could only envision the transcendental state in Eastern meditation as unconscious because he presumed that if this state transcends the self, then there is no ego to observe it. 21 Both Freud and Jung misapprehended the state of enlightenment. Freud's difficulty derived from his prejudice against religion, a problem that has been thoughtfully addressed by Chessick. 2~ Although Zen students usually pass through a blissful stage similar to the one Freud describes, the masters warn against staying in it and do whatever is necessary to propel the student into a more advanced level of meditation. Jung's difficulty rests upon a semantic misunderstanding of the term "ego" as used by Buddhists. He defines consciousness as ego and, therefore, logically presumes that transcending the ego means to lose contact with the conscious part of the psyche, whereas Buddhists are referring to a more limited meaning of"egolessness," which is to be free from the distracting cravings and thoughts of the self-centered ego and,

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in particular, to be free from arrogance. 23Such a state does not require loss of consciousness. Indeed, it specifically requires total awareness of all thoughts. The difference between the state of satori and ordinary ego consciousness is that in satori one does not allow one's attention to be captured by any one thought. Instead, one notes the thought and allows it to pass away. On the way to enlightenment, however, one does pursue thoughts to reach their source, using the faculty we would describe in the West as one's "observing ego." Despite the superficial similarity, within this process lies another subtle difference between Zen and psychotherapy. The expressed aim of Zen meditation is in a way more ambitious than that of psychotherapy. In satori one expects the mind to return to the tabula rasa, or original state of basic goodness, devoid of "erroneous thoughts or infective passions," as Master Han Shan expressed it. 24In psychotherapy we would settle for mastery of thoughts and passions once they occur, without expecting necessarily to maintain a mental state free of them. However, through therapy, people do outgrow many of the thoughts and feelings that trouble them. It is also conceivable for this growth to continue if one continues practicing self-analysis even after therapy has ended. Nevertheless, freedom from all troublesome thoughts and feelings is not an expressed goal of psychotherapy. Although in both Zen and psychotherapy one must avoid the pitfall of intellectualization, in psychotherapy we rely more heavily on discursive thinking. While we are very interested in cause and effect in mental processes, the Zen masters argue against assigning any importance to it. Paradoxically, they do advise that one aggressively seek the origin of thoughts in order to destroy the barrier that they pose to enlightenment. The difference here is of emphasis, rather than essence. The masters are advising against becoming trapped on the continual seesaw of cause and effect by recognizing how insignificant it is, while in the West we emphasize grasping intellectually the connection between cause and effect as an aid in mastering psychological conflict. Still, we recognize that intellectual insight alone is just as inadequate in psychotherapy as in Zen practice and, therefore, should not be allowed to replace the affective experience of therapy, especially developing and working through transference. Zen practice uses meditation on koans and mondos to avoid the pitfalls of intellectualization because their enigmatic and epigrammatic form circumvents discursive language. A master's seemingly illogical action may achieve the same end.

Summary The drive to transcend obstacles to personal wholeness cuts across cultural differences. Zen and the psychoanalytic psychotherapies seek release from human suffering through a healthy grasp of reality, starting with full awareness of the self. Similar in purpose, these contemplative disciplines also share

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similarities of process, including intellectual, intuitive, and affective elements. Although major psychoanalytic theorists have previously seen transcendental states as infantile regression or, at best, higher than ordinary consciousness but still unconscious, these views are based on misunderstandings of these states, such as Jung's misapprehension of Buddhist references to "egolessness." Despite some differences in method of practice, Zen and the psychoanalytic psychotherapies share such fundamental similarities of purpose and process that, comparing them from the perspective of "big mind," their parallel paths both follow the road to enlightenment.

References
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. Jung, C. G., Analytical Psychology: Its Theory and Practice. New York, Vintage, 1970, p. 181. Suzuki, D. T., The Field of Zen. New York, Harper and Row, 1970, p. 28. Thien-An, T., Zen Philosophy, Zen Practice. Berkeley, Dharma, 1975, p. 24. Muzika, E. G., "Object Relations Theory, Buddhism, and the Self: Synthesis of Eastern and Western Approaches," International Philosophical Quarterly, 1990, 30, 1, 59-74. Katagiri, D., Returning to Silence: Zen Practice in Daily Life. Boston, Shambhala, 1988, p. 98. Cleary, T., trans, and ed., Zen Essence: The Science of Freedom. Boston, Shambhala, 1989, p. 79. Ibid., p. 72. Katagiri, op. cit., p. 55. Suzuki, op. cit., p. 80. Campbell, J., Myths to Live By. Toronto, Bantam, 1972, pp. 138-139. Herrigel, E., Zen in the Art of Archery. New York, Vintage, 1971, pp. 91-92. Reps, P., ed., Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. Tokyo, Tuttle, 1957, p. 91. Freud, S., "On the History of the Psychoanalytic Movement," J. Strachey, trans, and ed. In Standard Edition, vol. XII. London, Hogarth, 1958, p. 155. Suzuki, op. cit., p. 28. Katagiri, op. cit., p. 18. Suzuki, op. cit., p. 25. Muzika, op. cit., p. 69. Suzuki, S., Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. New York, Weatherhill, 1970, p. 91. Katagiri, op. cit. p. 9. Freud, S., Civilization and Its Discontents. In Standard Edition, vol. XXI, p. 64 ft. Jung, C. J., Psychology and Religion: West and East, R.F.C. Hull, trans. In Read, H.; Fordham, M.; Adler, G.; and McGuire, W., eds., The Collected Works of C. G. Jung, 2nd ed., Bollinger Series XX. Princeton, Princeton Univ. Press, 1969, vol. XI, p. 484. Chessick, R. D., Freud Teaches Psychotherapy. Indianapolis, Hacket, 1980, pp. 235-254. Trungpa, C., Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior. Boston/London, Shambhala, 1988, p. 7O. Chang, G. C. G., The Practice of Zen. New York, Harper & Row, 1970, p. 113.

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