Would it be better to use ‘I’ to express all of me, instead of distinguishing between
ego and id, or between Jung’s ego and unconscious? It might be more correct but less
effective in terms of thinking about problems of the human mind. Thinking about
the human mind and about existence is very difficult. It is effective to think of the
mind as divided, but that is not the reality. It may be more correct to think of it as a
whole, but you cannot go anywhere with that definition, as it is difficult to discuss
the structure of the psyche if everything is ‘I.’ Nonetheless, you can say that thinking
of ego and I as identical reflects very clearly the mode of modern Western thought.
In contrast to this, then, I shall consider the questions: How do Japanese think? How
do Buddhists think?
I am a KannonThe following story shows the medieval Japanese view of ‘I.’ This story, from a
collection of Buddhist fables called Konjaku Monogatari (Yamada et al. 1951a) edited
in the twelfth century AD, is one of my favorites. First I would like to comment
briefly on Buddhist tales in that era. After Buddhism was transmitted to Japan in the
sixth century it spread quickly. Among the general population, however, it was not
well understood, as its doctrines, rules, and rituals were totally unfamiliar. Instead,
Buddhism was received to the extent that it fused with Shinto, the indigenous
animistic religion, and gradually it came to permeate daily life. Buddhist monks, by
explaining the sutras and teaching the doctrines, on the one hand, and by telling
many illustrative stories, on the other, transmitted the values of Buddhism. These
stories recounted true episodes and also legends containing Buddhist teachings. Many
of these, collected in the Middle Ages, have been preserved. Reading them, I have
felt that the nature of Buddhism which the Japanese accepted was more readily
grasped in these stories than in the sutras per se. I was glad to learn that William
LaFleur (1983), Professor of Japanese studies at the University of Pennsylvania, also
holds this view. This story is called ‘Wato Kannon in Shinano, taking the tonsure’:
A man living in a village with a medicinal hot spring had a dream in which
someone said, ‘Tomorrow about 2 p.m. Kannon [Kuan Yin], the Bodhisattva
of Compassion, will arrive in this hot spring.’ He was surprised and asked what
appearance the Kannon would have. Someone said, ‘A samurai of about forty
years, on horseback,’ and went on describing his appearance in detail. Then
the man woke up. He told everybody in the village. They cleaned the area and
then gathered at the spring to welcome the Bodhisattva. Two o’clock passed.
About four o’clock in the afternoon, a samurai exactly matching the description
appeared. Everyone prostrated themselves before him. The samurai, perplexed,
asked, ‘What’s going on?’ A monk told him about the dream oracle. The
samurai explained that he had fallen from his horse and injured himself and
that was why he had come to the hot spring. But the villagers kept praying.
The samurai said, ‘Then, I must be Kannon,’ and he took the tonsure on theWHAT IS I? 135