Transference and Phantasy States

QUESTION: I should like to ask you about two things that seem absent from Buddhist meditation as currently practised. One is the transference and counter-transference. I don't mean that these phenomena don't exist in meditation. Far from it ! But they seem rarely to be worked through and dissolved/transcended. The other is the realm of phantasy expressed in the transference, in dreams, and in other ways. This can of course involve very primitive emotions and even psychotic rage. To put it concisely : is the Paranoid-Schizoid Position a Hindrance (= a Nivarana in Theravada terminology) ? I know that these matters feature in various schools of Buddhism (as in the various "Worlds" or mental states of Buddhist iconography). But my own experience of meditation (admittedly mostly vipassana) is that they remain largely abstract rather than immediate and personal. And so I wonder whether meditation can effect real and lasting personality change or whether -- as such critics as Arthur Janov and even Jack Kornfeld have suggested -- it tends to suppress problems rather than getting rid of them. I suspect that you have already considered such questions as these : I'd like to know your views if you'd like to tell me them. Not -- I hasten to add -- that my experience of psychotherapy has been any better !

With my very best wishes,
Yours in the Dharma, .....

DHARMAVIDYA: I agree with you about transference and counter-transference being phenomena that are not well understood in Buddhist circles. They are some problem in relation to meditation, but become a major item when it comes to teacher-disciple relationships where all manner of acting out can occur. Good Buddhist teachers that do not have psychological backgrounds do, I am sure, work through this situation in their own way without verbalising it in psychodynamic language, by being solid in their caring and genuineness and relative immunity to “games”, but this can produce a quite rough ride for both parties. I do not think that the kinds of problems you refer to can generally be worked through by meditation alone and meditation may even be contraindicated in some cases where phantasy or paranoid states predominate strongly. It is through (a) the dynamics of the teacher disciple relationship; (b) the dynamics within a sangha group; and (c) the process of deepening faith; that these dysfunctional dynamics are worked through. Meditation is not automatically benign. It depends upon the context in which it is employed. Well, that's my take on it.