To study Zen you must
penetrate
through the barrier of the ancestral teachers.
To learn the Path you must come
to the end of the road of mind.
When the road of mind is cut off,
the whole body appears.
It’s like a person drinking water:
she knows for herself whether it’s cool or warm.
When you reach this stage,
do not ask just anyone about it.
If you can find a real Zen teacher
show them how your mind is working.
Psychoanalytic training
always begins with Freud. He was responsible for pointing us in the right direction to
understand the subtle and dramatic influences on our thoughts and feelings. My
first encounter with his work happened in our beginning year. We held a “reading Freud” session. Everyone took a turn to read a passage followed by a discussion of
his theory and our impressions of his thinking. At the time it felt almost
sacred, the passages held a biblical quality that was embodied in our measured
reading of each word. I found myself gazing up at a great wall of knowledge about the
mind and the Path before me held many uncertainties. Will I be able to have
three patients willing to meet with me four times a week for two years? Can I
meet all the writing requirements and meet the
expectations of my supervisors? My road of mind threatened to block my
experience of the water I was drinking. It was in the moment-to-moment
encounters with those who rested on my couch and allowed themselves to dream
with me that I stepped off that road and drank the water. The wisdom of the
Analytic teachers challenged and resonated with my mind. The Path became
illuminated with my experiences in analytic training which allowed me to cut
off those uncertainties and walk with gratitude for the great work of Freud and
those who refined and expanded his theories as we discovered more about the
mind. The whole body of our shared embodied experiences in life appear before
me. My steps are sure on this wonderful path.
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