[Buddha-l] Question for acedemic teachers of Buddhism

[Curt Steinmetz]

jkirk wrote:
> I have a copy of Jung's Archetypes  somewhere that I will dig
> out tonight and read. In the meantime, I would appreciate someone
> setting me  straight on my understanding of Jung.
>   

For brushing up on forgotten (or partially remembered) Jung I would 
strongly suggest his "Aion". The first four chapters cover The Ego, The 
Shadow, The Syzygy (Anima/Animus) and The Self in under 30 pages. These 
are, obviously, the most general, the deepest, and, one would think, 
most clearly universal of the Archetypes. Jung wrote "Aion" in 1951, so 
it reflects many decades of fine-tuning concepts that had been first 
developed decades before. There is nothing like this high-level overview 
from the Master himself!

>  
> Meditation can be misused, overdone and become an obsession.
> Would you  agree that it does have a place in Buddhist practice
> (8-Fold Path) and ethnic Buddhists as a whole tend to not
> recognize its importance?
>  
>   

All schools of Buddhism teach and promote various forms of "sadhana" - 
which may or may not jive with a westerner's conception of "meditation". 
For some reason westerners find it easy to accept flower arranging as a 
legitimate form of spiritual practice (even as "meditation"), but often 
have difficulty appreciating more overtly devotional and or esoteric 
practices.

Curt Steinmet