Jung and Eastern Thought

by Harold Coward

Jung and Eastern Thought is an assessment of the impact of the East on Jung’s life and teaching. Along with the strong and continuing interest in the psychology of Carl Jung is a growing awareness of the extent to which Eastern thought, especially Indian ideas, influenced his thinking. This book identifies those influences that he found useful and those he rejected.In Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist cultures, yoga is a central conception and practice. Jung was at once fascinated and critical of yoga. Part I of the book examines Jung’s encounter with yoga and his strong warning against the uncritical adoption of yoga by the modern West. In Part II Jung’s love/hate relationship with Eastern thought is examined in light of his attitude toward karma and rebirth, Kundalini yoga, mysticism, and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.Coward’s observations are rounded out by contributions from J. Borelli and J. Jordens. Dr. Borelli’s Annotated Bibliography is an invaluable contribution to bibliographic material on Jung, yoga, and Eastern religion. A special feature is the Introduction by Joseph Henderson, Jung’s most senior North American student and one of the few Jungians to have recognized the important influence of the East on Jung’s thinking.

Genres: Psychology

234 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1985

About the author

Harold G. Coward is a professor emeritus of history and the founding director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He served as president of the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion and was the founding editor of the Journal for Hindu-Christian Studies and editor of the WLU Press series The Study of Religion in Canada. He has authored twenty books along with many edited books, chapters and articles. His publications include Scripture in the World Religions (2002), Mantra: Hearing the Divine in India and America (2004), and The Perfectibility of Human Nature in Eastern and Western Thought (2008).

Reviews

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ideal "grounding" material for new age wishful thinkers. I'm actually reading the dutch translation (I live in Belgium and this is from my local library) so had to make do with using the edition you see here as a reference. Insightful and sober vision of eastern spiritual practices before the 60's happened. Still relevant. Read Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Sutras, Yogananda, Nisargadatta, Ramana Maharshi, Eckhart Tolle (et al) and then read this.