[Buddha-l] Re: The Dalai Lama on Self-Loathing

[Franz Metcalf]

Gang,

Joanna wrote,

> Yes indeed, Kakar is careful about adducing relevant data. He tries to 
> avoid
> essentializing, even if that word is in the title of his anthology :) 
> But
> there it seems rather to mean, the 'basic' writings.
> Lucky you to get into one of his courses.
> Have you seen his other excellent study, _Shamans, Mystics and 
> Doctors: A
> Psychological Inquiry into India and its Healing Traditions._ U. 
> Chicago
> Pr., 1991.

Yes, I've read _Shamans, Mystics and Doctors_ (henceforward SMD). 
Indeed, SMD formed the core Kakar's course I was, as you say, lucky to 
take. He supplemented SMD with further ethnographic material he'd 
collected, including several videos from various places across the 
subcontinent. It was really rewarding to be watching, say, pirs (Muslim 
shamans? or what else to call them?) work with folks possessed by 
spirits, but hear Kakar talking about the rituals in terms of their 
depth psychological dynamics. Of course I liked Kakar partially because 
I agree with this approach, but also because he was such a lively 
teacher and not afraid of discussion.

I loved SMD. I thought it was an exemplary analysis of Indian 
psychological healing. Kakar's writing is so vivid, you get and almost 
visceral sense of these rituals and even the personalities of some of 
the practitioners. I still have mental images of several of the 
places/events recounted in the book, image possible because of Kakar's 
wonderfully personal descriptions of his experiences in them. And then 
Kakar gives you another layer: his psychodynamic but not reductive, and 
very Indian, view of "the inner world." I can't think of another 
cross-cultural depth psychological thinker I have learned more from 
than Kakar.

Franz