[Buddha-l] Question for acedemic teachers of Buddhism

jkirk jkirk at spro.net
Wed Jun 25 09:47:20 MDT 2008


Hmmmmmmm--I smell memes coming on again...........Joanna
================================================

My admittedly limited understanding of Jung is different and is
as follows.  
All humans share common mental archetypal forms. An example might
be the warrior  archetype. These archetypes are hard-wired into
us and not learned.  We can learn to activate and resonate with
these archetypes.  These archetypes might have slightly different
clothing in different  cultures as they are fleshed out in myths
and symbols in popular  culture. The warrior myth I grew up with
was exemplified by John Wayne. If  I grew up in China, this
warrior archetype would appear as a samurai warrior. As  these
archetypes are portrayed in myths and symbols, other undesirable
attributes may be added. For instance, John Wayne, the man of
action (the  archetypal form) also keeps all emotions inside and
solves problems with a gun  (not part to the archetypal form).
What Jung says is important is  activating the basic hard-wired
archetypes not what was added on by our  conditioning.
 
I have a copy of Jung's Archetypes  somewhere that I will dig
out tonight and read. In the meantime, I would appreciate someone
setting me  straight on my understanding of Jung.
 
Meditation can be misused, overdone and become an obsession.
Would you  agree that it does have a place in Buddhist practice
(8-Fold Path) and ethnic Buddhists as a whole tend to not
recognize its importance?
 
Jack




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