Zen practice and the practice of Lacanian psychoanalysis
Raul Moncayo
May 8, 2018 DOI: 10.4324/9780429483189-9 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Topics | Buddhism |
| Key points | Argues that psychoanalysis, especially in its Lacanian form, differs from priestly or pastoral care in requiring the analyst to renounce the ego-power granted through transference and the therapeutic alliance. The author proposes that this renunciation, distinct from sacrifice, parallels the ego-death described in Zen and mystical experience and entails a partial subjective destitution and letting-go of the social persona. |
Abstract
Sigmund Freud conceived of psychoanalytic practice as different from that of priests and pastoral or educational counsellors. The deadly aspect of mystical experience destroys identity in the sense that it destroys the illusory or imaginary notion of ego. Zen practice is commonly referred to as leading to an ego-death. Psychoanalysis, and Lacanian psychoanalysis in particular, contains a very precise and fine distinction between sacrifice and renunciation. In Lacanian psychoanalysis, the two elements of direction and power are correlated: for there to be a direction to the treatment, the analyst has to renounce the ego-power granted to him/her by the analysand’s transference and the therapeutic alliance between them. To let go of the social ego requires a form of subjective destitution, at least a partial retreat from social behaviours and conditions, and a letting-go of what Jung called the social mask or persona, our favourite ego-images and verbal platitudes.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on buddhism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mental balance and well-being: Building bridges between Buddhism and Western psychology. | 2006 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience | 1995 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Buddhist and Psychological Perspectives on Emotions and Well-Being | 2005 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Too Early to Tell: The Potential Impact and Challenges—Ethical and Otherwise—Inherent in the Mainstreaming of Dharma in an Increasingly Dystopian World | 2017 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| From self to nonself: The Nonself Theory | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |