must break through the total dream complex from within, in a fundamentally
subjective manner, and not just convert, modify, or diminish the ‘dream state.’
As long as I continue to dream I can’t truly practice. Only the awakened can truly
practice. Genuine practice itself is by the awakened. And yet, this truly practicing one
is never separate from you or me, here and now. Each and every one of us practices
by being awake—we don’t wake up by practicing.
Unlike dreaming, awakening is completely unattached and without form—even
the form of itself. To what, then, do I awaken? To the dream? No, the dream is gone
when one wakes. If I don’t awaken to the dream, do I awaken to being awake? No.
I awaken to there being nothing whatever to awaken to, nor any one to be awakened.
Here there is no such thing as awakening—let alone anything to be called dukkha or
a dream. This is ‘self-emancipated and independent.’
In a sense, the dreamer cannot wake. Boundless reality awakens of itself, to itself,
by itself. This is the end of dukkha, this is dependent co-arising awakening to itself
as self-emancipated and independent.
Let us now return to the role of therapist or caregiver. When a person in a nightmare
—metaphorically speaking—screams out for help, what do we do? A Buddha or
Bodhisattva, that is, an awakened person, willingly enters another’s dream to help
them awaken. Therapeutically, it may be necessary to enter another’s ‘dream’ to work
with the contents of the dream, change a nightmare into a better dream, and so on.
This, of course, can be extremely valuable.
But the person is still dreaming. A Buddha enters another’s dream to help the other
wake up. Sometimes, just being awake in the presence of another is enough; you don’t
necessarily have to do anything. Of course, you don’t wake them up to your
awakening; you help to wake them to their own awakening. One cannot—indeed,
need not—awaken another. One can, however, help to spur and spark another. This
is perfectly natural, for it is not something that some special person possesses but the
awakening and true ground of all humankind.
Besides the Vimalakirti Sutra, mentioned above, another Mahayana sutra that Zen
Buddhism holds in high esteem is the Diamond Sutra. This sutra makes clear that
our task is none other than to save all beings. And yet, when all is said and done,
there is no one to save—nor is there any one who saves. This is indeed the awakening
of all humankind, the free functioning of the formless self in which one, who is neither
other nor self, ceaselessly works to help awaken those still entangled in self and other.
Here is the basis for a genuinely Buddhist therapy.
Sometimes when you try to wake someone up they respond, in their sleep, ‘I’m
awake, I’m awake.’ One task of the Buddhist therapist can be to gently nudge them
and remind them; ‘No, you’re still asleep. Wake up, wake up!’
ConclusionHisamatsu ended his commentary on the conversation with Jung by reminding us
that even though Jung had initially denied the possibility of release from suffering
once and for all,
38 A BUDDHIST MODEL OF THE HUMAN SELF