The Buddhist Unconscious

Topics Include:  1)  How suffering arises both consciously and unconsciously;   2)  Our mind as a storehouse of information out of which our emotions arise when the conditions are right, our alaya vijnana;   3)  Working with suffering consciously through the Four Noble Truths;  4)  Ways in which suffering can be unconscious or denied by our conscious mind;   5)  the psychological mechanism of mental projections;   6)  The work of William Waldron in his study of the Buddhist Unconscious;   7)  The definition of “self” and our continual attempts to deny it;   8)  How we create a world of “objects” that we use for our pleasure and survival;  9)  The creation of an illusory world of objects and a “self” to enjoy them; the world of subjects and objects: the essential duality of life;   10)  The creation of the world of duality as a fundamental tool of human evolution;   11)  The fundamental problem according to the Buddha:  a discordance between perceived and actual reality, the fear of non-existence, and our struggle to affirm our sense of self and the world;  12) our unconscious sense of self and how it informs all our conscious actions;   13)  The “vital lie” that underlies our existence in the world;  14)   How our constructed and artificial sense of self and the world becomes the content of our unconscious mind;  15)   How our unconscious mind becomes the source of both conscious and unconscious forms of suffering:  the role of mental projections.  

December 14, 2024

Topics Include:  1)  Our relationship to suffering and our mind;    2)  Building a conceptual framework:  reality as a symbolic construct and the basis for suffering;   3)  How suffering can play out in ways that are unconscious: The role of mental projections.  4)  The pioneering work of Sigmund Freud;  5)  Example:  Blaming others out of our own sense of guilt;  6)  Example:  Envy of other people’s success;  7)  How our mind creates our emotions;   8)  How do we know when we are suffering;  9)  How to work with negative emotions.

December 21, 2024

Topics Include:   1)  The gradations of suffering that we experience;   2)  Our conscious and unconscious mind;  3) Alaya Vijnana or “storehouse consciousness”  4)  How we use our mind to protect our “self”;  5) How we often deny negative emotions and “project” them to others unconsciously;  6)  The work of Carl Jung and it’s relationship to Buddhism;   7)  A story about anger;   8)  The story of the angry man and the Buddha;  9)  Working with our unconscious negative emotions.  

December 28, 2024

Topics Include:  1)  The nature of the conscious and unconscious mind;   2)  Our mind as the repository of our karma;  3)  The nature of mental projections;   4)  How we create a sense of self and an objective world around us;   5)  Our grand “Faustian Bargain”: how we create an abstract symbolic universe which we call “reality”;  6) How we use different strategies to deny our emotions;  7)  The Buddha’s teaching on mental projections;   8)  How our emotions shape our perception of reality;   9)  How we learn to process our emotions;   10)  The constructed nature of perception that clouds our perception of reality;   11)  The Dalai Lama on emotional management;   12)  Joseph Goldstein on understanding our thoughts.

January 11, 2025

Topics Include:   1)  We live in a mind that is karmically determined;   2)  How our karma creates a sense of self;   3)  Our default mode network;  4)  Our “storehoue consciousness”;  5)  How projections are an unconscious form of “self” defense;  6)   How are mental projections harmful?   7)  How do we know when we are projecting?   8)  How do I overcome projections?   9)  Everything we experience begins within our self.  10)  Can we embrace our suffering?   11)  Learning to truly understand suffering:  why do I suffer?  

January 18, 2025

Topics Include:  1)  The nature of unconscious  emotions;  2)  Understanding our mind as the foundation of our life;  3)  How our mind is formed out of the circumstances of our life, our karma;  4)  How our circumstances determine our sense of “self”: our identity;  5)  How we use defense mechanisms to protect our sense of self;  6)  How this plays out in our thoughts: the role of mindfulness;  7)  The Buddhist perspective on suffering: how it plays out through our thoughts;   8)  How we don’t experience reality as it truly is:  the concept of “beginner’s mind”;  9)  A story about jealousy;  10)  A story about perfectionism.

January 25, 2025

Topics Include:   1)  The nature of conscious and unconscious suffering;   2)  How Buddhism, in its essence is really about our mind;   3)  The Buddhist concept of the mind: the Alaya Vijnana;  4) The mind as the source of everything we are;   5)  The mind as the source of our sense of self;   6)  How do we work with the suffering that comes from our karmic conditioning?   7)  How our karmic conditioning determines rebirth and our sense of self;   8)  Achievement of the Unconditioned and the Deathless;   9)  The Buddha’s teaching on conventional reality and absolute reality;   10)  Understanding projections:  how our reactions to our emotional experiences tend to defend our sense of self;   11)  Examples of unconscious projection;   12)  Overcoming projection in our lives;   13)  Coming to final awakening.  

February 8, 2025