Understanding the Unconscious: Yogācāra Buddhism and Psychoanalysis

The unconscious is a core concept in both the Yogācāra Buddhism and psychoanalytic traditions. It is easy to assume that the understanding of the unconscious in Yogācāra cannot coexist with the understanding of the unconscious in psychoanalysis, because the unconscious in Yogācāra (i.e., ālayavijñāna) primarily explains how the world is constructed by it, while the unconscious in psychoanalysis primarily explains how neurosis develops. Due to this difference in the understanding of the unconscious, Yogācāra Buddhism and psychoanalysis have developed different psychotherapeutic methods. Yogācāra’s therapeutic method is to observe emptiness, while psychoanalysis aims to transform the pathogenic unconscious into the conscious. But there is a potential for mutual enrichment between the two in psychotherapy. Psychoanalysis’s emphasis on functions of the self can help people avoid misunderstanding Yogācāra’s doctrine of “non-self”. Yogācāra can help psychoanalysis explore deeper levels of the unconscious.