Jung and Eastern Thought: A Dialogue with the Orient

by John James Clarke

In Jung and Eastern Thought, J.J. Clarke seeks to uncover the seriousness and relevance of Jung's dialogue with the philosophical ideas of the east, which arise from the various forms of Buddhism, Chinese Taoism and Indian Yoga. Through his commentaries on the I Ching and The Tibetan Book of the Dead, and various essays on Zen, eastern meditation and the symbolism of the mandala, Jung attempted to build a bridge of understanding between western psychology and the practices and beliefs of Asian religions, and thereby to relate traditional eastern thought to contemporary western concerns.
This book offers a critical examination of this remarkable piece of intellectual bridge building: first by assessing its role in the development of Jung's own thinking on the human psyche; second by discussing its relationship to the wider dialogue between east and west; and third by examining it in the light of urgent contemporary concerns and debates about intercultural understanding.

Genres: Psychology, Philosophy

217 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 1994

Reviews

[Shashank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jung was not a proponent of practicing eastern religions for western folks. He believed western and eastern civilizations were culturally distinct entities which could benefit form dialogue but were too different to transplant traditions meaningfully. Historically he has been borne out to be practically wrong. Still he felt eastern religions emphasized and pointed to the psychic reality of life which had been marginalized by modern western culture. To explore eastern religions and have a hermeneutical dialogue was worthwhile for him and other westerns. It also aligned with his own thought that held the psychic aspect of life to be foundational.

JJ Clarke traces the influence of eastern thought on Jung(for example his idea of the interdependence of opposites), Jung’s ambivalent and changing views on it, and finally some of his misunderstanding of it(for example his tendency to reduce spiritual/religious states to psychic/psychological states). This is probably the best scholarly work on this specific subject I’ve read, and it’s also written in a very clear and readable style.

[Nestor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt that the author often went into tangents only to reveal the importance of it 20 pages later or in a future chapter. For the most part there was a lack of direction, but that is not to say lack of valuable information. Still thoroughly enjoyed learning about what this book had to offer, but I just wished the author would have signposted more

[Aaron Day · Rating 1 out of 5]

The survey of Jung's approach is shallow at best and often widely misleading. In the same manner, the attempted criticisms are possible only through using strawmans demonstrating either ignorance of Jung's full corpus or a purposeful misrepresentation.