Reading "The Dreaming Monk of Koshan Temple" when Jung's psychoanalysis met a Japanese Buddhist monk. Interpretation of dreams requires a dreamer

The subtitle of this book is: Master Ming Hui's Dream Exploration Journey

Of course, the protagonist is "Master Minghui", and the theme is "Dreamland" of Master Minghui

The author is the Japanese psychologist Hayao Kawai, who was born almost a thousand years after the protagonist.

To those who don't know about Buddhism, or even the history of Buddhism in Japan, who Venerable Meihui is is probably a mystery. Instead, he was born in 1928. He is well known as Hayao Kawai, who was the first Japanese student to study in Switzerland and obtained the qualification of Jungian psychoanalyst. He also has contacts with many Japanese writers, the most famous of which is probably Haruki Murakami. Murakami even wrote the book "Haruki Murakami Goes to Meet Hayao Kawai ", discussing the dialogue and inspiration between the two. It can be seen that Hayao Kawai's Thoughts and opinions have a certain influence.

Who is Master Minghui? Why does Hayao Kawai not analyze other people's dreams? After all, as a well-known Jungian psychoanalyst in Japan, Hayao Kawai has accumulated many cases that can be used to discuss his lifelong research on "dream issues". Why did he choose a person born in 1173 AD? Japanese Buddhist monk? Maybe Hayao Kawai also has a deep research on Buddhism?

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Why study the dream of Master Minghui?

In fact, Hayao Kawai has no interest in Buddhism at all. He considers himself a "dream expert", but he is a layman in the field of Buddhism. The reason for Kawai Hayao to study Akihito can be said to be a chance, but there is an important reason behind the decision to write a book about it. After reading the book, I think it is for these reasons that this book stands out from other "dream" books.

Buddhism, as the belief of most people in Japan, has an important influence on the spiritual level of Japanese people

The study of dreams is not simply to interpret dreams in the way of one radish and one pit. From the perspective of psychoanalysis, dreams are closely related to human consciousness. Since Buddhism is closely related to the Japanese, one should also try to understand Buddhism.

Master Minghui is a rare dream recorder

Minghui began recording her dreams at the age of 19 and continued for 40 years until her death. Minghui's emphasis on dreams and diligence made him almost called "Junge of the East" (Junge also recorded his own dreams for many years, which can be found in "Red Book" ). With the historical background, Hayao Kawai can analyze Minghui's dream more delicately and accurately.

The Uniqueness of Master Minghui

Minghui is not the most influential Buddhist monk, he did not establish a new sect, and he kept the precepts alone throughout his life, including the female precepts that most monks did not observe, but he was able to excel other Buddhist monks and was not affected by society and religion. Incarcerated by the stereotyped image imposed on women, it can transform and integrate the female archetype (anima, as Jung called it), so that it can truly move toward self-realization (the process of individuation as Jung called it).

Therefore, the study of Meihui is not based on his name, but because he represents the factors of Buddhism, we can see the changes in people's psychology and dreams when they go to spiritual practice; it can also highlight the rare Anima and Animus in Japanese culture. (animus) state of equilibrium.

Readers who do not understand the archetypes of the Jungian theory, anima and animus, need not feel burdened. Because even though Hayao Kawai wrote about Minghui's dream from the professional perspective of his Jungian psychoanalysis, his writing is actually very approachable, and when reading this book, he will not feel bombarded by psychological terms all the time. The author can use a short space to briefly describe the basic knowledge that readers need, and then explain the example of Minghui's dream.

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Why Can't Interpret Dreams Watch "Dream Interpretation by Duke Zhou"

For those who want to explore their own dreams, this book should give you something to gain. Of course, this gain refers to understanding the world and meaning of dreams from the perspective of the Jungian school, rather than interpreting dream elements according to script.

When you have a dream of a snake swallowing an elephant, you feel inexplicable, and you want to try to explain the dream, so you google dreams of snakes and elephants to find out the meaning of these animals. But the fallacy of this way of interpreting dreams is that it assumes that there is a correct and fixed corresponding interpretation of everything in all dreams. That is, the content of the dream is only a substitute symbol for something fixed.

But Jung said:

"The general function of dreams is to produce, in a delicate manner, material sufficient to restore the equilibrium of the dream of the whole mind, and thereby to try to restore it. This is what I mean by the addition or compensation of the burden of dreams on the structure of our minds. Role."

Therefore, to a certain extent, dreams are the compensation and balance of the unconscious to the self . The meaning of this sentence for dream interpretation is:

• To interpret dreams, we must understand the state of consciousness of the dreamer, in order to know why the dream state needs to compensate and balance itself.
• The things in the dream symbolize not a fixed answer, but the most appropriate expression that the individual can find when he wants to express an unknown thing.

Therefore, it can be said that dream interpretation must be a very "personalized" process (the collective consciousness of synchronic discussion is excluded here). Only when the dreamer's thoughts, emotions, and life situations are known at the time can they accurately analyze the dream.

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personal impression

After I finished reading the book, I had the idea of building my own dream database, because as the title says, dream interpretation is very personal and must be based on the life and consciousness of the dreamer. A plot or a certain creature or object may have a unique symbolic meaning for itself.

Seth also mentioned in "The Essence of the Mind" that when we interpret dreams, we use a "structured" way to record and capture, but dreams are actually works of the mind, and they are not limited to a specific structure. When we watch a dream in a normal conscious state, we will see content that does not conform to the logic of language, time, etc. Understanding dreams requires learning to use our other perceptual layers, learning to experience systems that are not usually familiar to us, understanding how our minds work and perceive, and processing emotions and associations.

Regarding the way of psychic perception, I recently watched an American reality show "Life After Death" on Netflix. It is a psychic story of a well-known young American psychic Tyler. In the show, Tyler tells the client what he has received. There is also a similar "symbol" interpretation technique when he sends a message. For example, he will say that he sees the text Leo, which may mean that a person's name or constellation is a lion, or that he sees the sun and the moon at the same time, usually the sun represents Birthday, life, and the moon are passing away and death. When the two appear at the same time, he thinks that the birthday of someone in the family is quite close to the death day. That is to say, he is already familiar with the perception of the mind and "transforms" it into a corresponding a realistic interpretation. This is when I read the autobiography of Doreen Viture, the author of the Archangel card, and it was mentioned somewhere that she received a picture of a baby and told the perceived person that it means a new birth, which is similar in purpose.

Going back to Seth's book about another association I've been dreaming about recently (dreaming of bananas, actually referring to someone nicknamed Monkey). Many centuries ago, English surnames were closely related to the family's occupation. For example, Tailor's surname might be Tyler, and you dreamed that a tailor or someone in a tailor shop died, and the corresponding may be Actually a Taylor passed away.

All of the above, I think, are saying that the expression of the mind has a certain collective image, as well as the meaning of a specific symbol given by personal experience. When we consciously watch, or study the connection between the expression of our dreams and reality, It is also equivalent to creating a self-psychological database.

Therefore, interpreting dreams is more like understanding ourselves. Dreams are like a mysterious world of self, and we are the only ones who can unlock the code and enter.

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What else is this book about

Since analyzing a person's dreams requires understanding his psychology and external environment at that time, the author of this book will inevitably have to explore the development of Buddhism, politics and people's livelihood in Japan at that time, so this book not only allows readers to have a glimpse of Minghui's soul, but also to read to some Japanese historical elements.

Another important theme of the book is the exploration of maternal and feminine issues in Japan from Jung's anima elements. In Japan, which still ignores the pursuit of anima, how does Minghui break the mold, face her relationship with women, and learn the complete development of herself.

How the above elements are transformed into symbols of dreams is the analysis and explanation that the author will write, and will also discuss the consciousness level of Jungian and Buddhist views.

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If you are interested in this young man who lost his mother and father, entered the monastery to practice cultivation at the age of nine, once tried to sacrifice his body to feed animals, and cut off his right ear to show his precepts, Master Minghui and what he has learned, you can refer to this article " The Study of Japanese Huayan Sect and Meihui"

This leads to the blog ~ "Dream Monk of Koshan Temple"