[Buddha-l] the seeds of manas and achetypes

[Jayarava]

-- On Mon, 6/7/09, Elvin Eldridge <elvineldridge at gmail.com> wrote:

> It seems to me like some ideas of the Yogacarin can be
> compared to the West like Rev. Tagawa talks about the seeds of the manas
> consciousness. I think they can be compared to the archetypes of the
> famous psychiatrist Carl Jung like Mr. Metcaf mentioned.
> 
> Can we say they are almost the same?
 
Hi Elvin

As I understand it they are quite different. The Buddhist idea of "seeds of the manas" is that these are laid down by our behaviour (karma) and ripen as sensations (vedanā) at some later stage. Jung on the other hand suggested that behaviour is shaped by the archetypes of the unconscious which are inherent to human beings. The two processes are working in different directions, see? I suppose the inherent nature of the archetypes reminds me of Buddha-nature and in some Buddhist schools Yogacara ideas are combined with Buddha-nature ideas: with Buddha seeds being the result. But archetypes are morally neutral and may be played out positively or negatively - which doesn't fit the idea of 'seeds' ripening depending on the action which created them

Of course Jung is known to have been influenced by Asian ideas and it is possible that there is some cross-over, but I don't see it in this case. Maybe others have different opinions - we do have some Yogacara experts on hand...

Best Wishes
Jayarava