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··-·\·'-~'--""'-"""-~""'~"'''''#'_''_'''''_'''r, _._.• ,._,4'' _.'__.., • ..,,_~._ , •. _. ,.,__ .. _.-:',.'._'_"~"""._' •• ' ..,._" __ ~ '., •••• _ , _'."~"_'.4"_""" This dissertation has been microftlmed exactly as received 67-13,693 DE SILVA, Manikku Wadu Padmasiri, 1933- A STUDY OF MOTIVATIONAL THEORY IN EARLY BUDDHISM WITH REFERENCE TO THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FREUD. University of Hawaii, Ph. D., 1967 : Philosophy I University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan I i A STUDY OF MOTIVATIONAL THEORY IN EARLY BUDDHISM WITH REFERENCE TO THE PSYCHOLOGY OF FREUD A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN PHILOSOPHY JUNE 1967 By Manikku Wadu Padmasiri De Silva Dissertation Committee: S. K. Saksena, Chairman John M. Digman. Harold E. McCarthy Winfield Nagley Walter H. Maurer ABSTRACT The basic claim of this dissertation is that there is a concept of the Unconscious in early Buddhism. This thesis seeks to illuminate the early Buddhist concept of the Un conscious by comparing it with the Freudian concept of the Unconscious . The concept of the Unconscious in early Buddhism is a theme that has hardly been subjected to any systematic analysis by Buddhist scholars. Though a few references to the concept of the Unconscious are present in the writings of Buddhist scholars, many of them attempt to explain un conscious motivation in terms of concepts like bhavailga and alayavijnana. But these concepts really do not belong to the nikAyas of early Buddhism. It is advanced in this thesis that it is possible to work out a concept of the Unconscious in early Buddhism independent of the theory of bhavanga or alayavijfiana. This analysis of the early Buddhist concept of the Unconscious is based on concepts like the anusaya-s (latent tendencies) and asampajana mano-sankhara (dispositions of the mind of which we are nQt aware). Reference is also made to the vififia~asota (the stream of consciousness). The The vififia~asota has a conscious and an unconscious aspect. The unconscious aspect contains the dynamic sa~khara-s (dispositions) which determine the nature of the next birth. iii Most of these references indicate that the early Buddhist concept of the Unconscious can be explained as a disposition concept. This falls in line with the claim that the characteristically psychoanalytic meaning of the word Un conscious is dispositional. One significant difference, however, is that the sankhara-s have a wider dimension connecting an innumerable number of births. In general, early Buddhism considers the mind as a dynamic continuum, composed of a Conscious mind and an Unconscious which has its roots in samsaric existence. This central thesis concerning the Unconscious is woven· within a wider framework in which are discussed the concepts of man, mind, motivation and therapy. The brief introductory chapter on the nature of man brings out the significance of this comparative study to contemporary problems. The analysis of the theory of mind helps to understand the nature of unconscious motivation. The section on therapy brings out a connnon practical concern with the suffering of man found in both systems. Though the suggested remedies differ, both systems of psychology have a therapeutic goal. In short, both systems are concerned with the mastery of the Unconscious. It is maintained that while the early Buddhist analysis resembles the Freudian analysis regarding the logical status of the Unconscious and the meaning of unconscious motives, it certainly is different from the Freudian system regarding the method of unravelling. and the mastery of the Unconscious. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT •••. .. ii ABBREVIATIONS •• ... iv CHAPTER I THE CONCEPT OF MAN IN EARLY BUDDHISM .AN'D F'REUD ••••••• • • • • 1 Notes to Chapter I. •••• 8 CHAPTER II PART 1. THE CONCEPT OF MIND IN EARLY BUDDHISM. ••.•. 9 PART 2. THE CONCEPT OF MIND IN FREUD •.••..•.. 37 PART 3. THE NATURE OF EARLY BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY IN ITS RELATION TO FREUDIAN PSYCHOLOGY . 47 Notes to Chapter II •••••••••.. 54 CHAPTER III PART 1. MOTIVATIONAl, THEORY IN FREUD. 60 PART 2. MOTIVATIONAl, THEORY IN EARLY I BUDDHISM. .•.•.••• •• 94 PART 3. EARLY BUDDHIST CONCEPT OF THE UNCONSCIOUS IN THE LIGHT OF THE FREUDI.AN' THEORY OF THE UNCONSCIOUS ••.••• 135 Notes to Chapter III.• 142 CHAPTER IV THE THERAPEUTIC BASIS OF E.t\...RLY BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY. •• •. •••• 148 Notes to Chapter IV 177 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..• 179 ABBREVIATIONS A Anguttara-Nikaya (Gradual Sayings), Vols. I, II and v, Translated by Woodward; Vols. III, IV, Translated by Hare, P.T.S., London, 1932-1936. .D Digha-Nikaya (Dialogues of the Buddha), Part I. Translated by T. W. Rhys Davids; Part II, III, Translated by T. W. and Mrs. Rhys Davids, P.T.S., London, 1956-1957. E.R.E. Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, editor, James Hastings, New York and Edinburgh, 1910-1927. M ~jhima-Nikaya (Middle Length Sayings), VO s. I, II and III, Translated by I. B. Horner, P.T.S., London, 1954-1959. samyutta-Nikaaa (Kindred Sayings), Part I and II, translate by Mrs. Rhys Davids; Parts III, IV, V, Translated by Woodward. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychologicai Works of Sigmund Freud. Translated from the German under the general editorship of James Strachey, London, Hogarth Press, 1953. CHAPTER I THE CONCEPT OF MAN IN EARLY BUDDHISM AND FREUD Humanism in Early Buddhism and Freud The analysis of motivational theory presented here has to be viewed against the background of the spirit of "humanism" found both in the Pa-li texts of early Buddhism and also the works of Sigmund Freud. It is this deep sense of humanism in these works that gives meaning and purpose to a comparative study. The Buddha did not claim any special authority derived from an omnipotent being or any external power. The attain ment of Buddhahood was for him the finest flower of the potentialities within man. It is human energy and human effort that helped him to discover a solution for the ills of man. There is no divine being that man has to serve. He is limited by the law of moral causation, but that merely means that he is not the creature of blind chance or of strict determinism. The Buddhist theory of causation avoids the two extremes of indeterminism and strict determinism. According to strict determinism the present and the future are dependent on the past and therefore unalterable, or every event is pre determined by the will of a personal god. The Buddhist theory holds the doctrine of dependent origination: whenever A occurs B occurs, and whenever A does not occur, B does not occur; thus, A and Boare causally related. Such a theory of 2 causality is compatible with freewill. Freewill in this context means the ability of a person to control the dynamic forces of the past and present and make the future different from what it would otherwise have been. This ability to control the forces at work within the framework of the law of dependent origination makes him the master of his fate. No one is condemned to sin and any criminal has the potentiality to turn a new leaf. There is the classic instance of the thief Angu1ima.1a who, after having injured hundreds, attained the holy state (arahat) in that very same life. Buddhism says that in the last analysis the potential ity for good and bad is within one's own power and one is the master of his own destiny. The Buddha also exhorts each person to use his reason without blindly following the dictates of authority and the Kalama Sutta which embodies the idea is sometimes referred to as the Buddha"s "Charte:r of Free Inquiry. ,,1 It is said that we should not 'accept anything which is a mere rumor, because it is a traditional belief, because it is the opinion of the majority, because it is found in the scriptures, be cause it is a product of mere logic or inference, because of the prestige of the teacher, etc. It is this spirit of free inquiry and healthy criticism which again marks Buddhism as a humanistic rather than an authoritarian creed. This aspect of humanism has roused the attention of psychologists like Erich Fromm who says: "One of the best examples of humanistic 3 religions is early Buddhism. The Buddha is a great teacher, he is the rawakened one' who recognizes the truth about human existence. He does not speak in the name of a supernat1.lral power but in the name of reason. He calls upon every man to make use of his own reason and to see the truth which he was only the first to find.,,2 Apart from the factor of moral responsibility, the potentiality for spiritual transformation and the power of reason common to all humanity, there is another factor which brings men together. All men are impelled by the basic desires of sensuality, self-preservation and aggression. These desires when they emerge in the form of the desire for power and self-love certainly bring about antagonisms between man and man. When this aspect of man takes an excessive turn, it paves the way for mutual destruction, the kind of phenomenon so well presented in Freud's Civilization and Its Discontents. 3 But in a paradoxical way these aspects of inhumanity display the common humanity of man, the " "universal neurosis of man. II It is the same point which is sunnned up in the axiom "sabbe satta unmattaka" (all worldlings are deranged). Furthermore, all men, whatever race or country they come from, are subject to suffering (dukkha) i.e., disease, decay, death and anguish in various forms.