Let us now ‘work through,’ in the sense of uncover, clarify, and make our own,
what Hisamatsu was driving at in that ground-breaking encounter with Jung. In a
word, my task here is to elucidate Buddhism’s fundamental standpoint of ‘No-self’
in terms of ‘formless self.’
DukkhaThe Pali term dukkha calls out for clarification in this context. Hisamatsu probes
Jung about the possibility of psychotherapy liberating us from dukkha itself, at a
stroke, ‘in one fell swoop’ (see Muramoto 1998:44–5). Jung seems taken aback at
the very possibility—or desirability—of such a thing. A bit later in the conversation,
however, Jung agrees, at least in principle. But what is dukkha?
Dukkha can be described as the universal and constant discontent or dis-ease caused
by blind desire or craving to have or to be something. One of the basic tenets of
Buddhism is that not only is the desired object ultimately illusory, but so is the desiring
self as subject. And yet, as long as craving continues, this complex of dukkha continues.
In a word, the entire complex of self-world is dukkha. And it is truly unbearable: we
can neither find, nor ourselves be, the ground or bearer of this, and thus we cannot
stand or bear it.
Buddhism does not posit some substantial, underlying reality called dukkha.
(Interpreters have sometimes made this mistake, thus branding Buddhism as
pessimistic, gloomy, and without hope.) There is no substantial, underlying reality.
The self, ignorant of this fact, is ceaselessly driven by restless desire and thus cannot
avoid experiencing dukkha.
Nor can the self do anything to free itself from dukkha. We are unable to free
ourselves from the constant threat of death even in the most intense living, unable
to be free of illness even in our healthiest state, unable to extricate ourselves from pain
even in our most pleasurable moments. In short, we are unable to free ourselves of
negativity in all its forms, be it death, illness, error, evil, or sin. Hisamatsu often
presented this ineluctable human situation as a fundamental koan: ‘As I am—however
I am—will not do. Now what do I do?’
Pleasures as such are not, of course, denied. Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor
morbid. Rather, it points out the fact that even pleasures grasped and aversions
avoided are part and parcel of dukkha. Being trapped within the dualistic matrix of
pleasure-pain, good-evil, life-death, is itself dukkha. It is easy to see that we are in
dukkha when we do not have or become what we desire, or when we cannot avoid
what we are averse to. But are we really free from dukkha even when we do have or
become what we desire? Don’t we then fret over losing it, or doesn’t the object of our
desire lose its appeal once we possess it? In a word, we do not truly come to rest even
when the desired end is attained or the aversion avoided. This is the universal truth
of dukkha, the first Noble Truth of Buddhism.
JEFF SHORE 31