in Western science, but rather intuitive. It is in the late 1910s that Chiba began to
speak of the original consciousness, and his concept, which comprises the unconscious
as well, seems akin to the collective unconscious in Jung, who was his contemporary
psychologist in the West.
Empirical studies of Zen meditationEmpirical studies of Zen were initiated by Chijǀ Iritani (1887–1957). Making use
of questionnaires as well as the traditional texts of dharma talks and Zen sayings, he
observed the motives for Zen practice, experiences during Zen meditation, concrete
strategies for disposing of diversions occurring to the mind during it, the deepening
of respiration and becoming aware of the emptiness of both the subject and the object
in the state of samƗdhi, individual differences in the depth of Enlightenment, and
increase in the differentiation of perceptions after Enlightenment. He also notes
psychological benefits of Zen meditation: mental stabilization, non-attachment,
increase in will power, and optimism.
Kanae Sakuma (1888–1970) predicted in 1938 that an electroencephalographic
study of Zen meditation would reveal the emergence of alpha wave during samƗdhi.
More than twenty years later, stimulated by this prediction, Tomio Hirai
experimentally verified this prediction, demonstrating that Zen meditation brings
about the change of electroencephalogram, therefore consciousness as well. Sakuma
himself organized the 1961–2 project ‘Medical Psychological Studies of Zen,’ the
first scientific study of Zen in the world.
Sakuma coined kichǀ-ishiki, the basic consciousness, to describe the state of
consciousness to be pursued in meditation and characterized it as quasi-homogeneous
duration or quasi-constant flow. For him it is not restricted to Zen but also observed
in various forms of meditations practiced in other Buddhist sects, Christian mystical
experiences, and artistic creation or appreciation. It is therefore something universal.
Sakuma further pointed out that the functional significance of meditative
experience consists in self-control. This kind of self-control is, however, different
from the strengthening of the ego as pursued in psychoanalysis. Becoming aware of
the true self, or coming back to the original self, provides the basis for the flash of an
insight in the midst of difficulties. Sakuma’s studies were succeeded by Yoshiharu
Akishige, Shǀji Nakamura and others, forming a tradition within Japanese
psychology.
Applications of Buddhism to psychotherapyAs mentioned earlier, the purpose of Buddhism is liberation from delusions, and so
it is very akin to psychotherapy. Though possibly overlapping each other, Buddhism
and psychotherapy are, however, not completely the same in the method of removing
one’s worries. Buddhism, on the one hand, gets rid of them by making a student
aware of the truth that there is basically nothing to worry about. In other words, that
there is nothing or nobody else but the person in delusion who is making them.
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