Chan (Zen) sickness and the master's role in its diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.

摘要

This dissertation thoroughly investigates a wide range of Buddhist and psychological literature in order to situate Chan sickness (aka Zen sickness or meditation sickness) properly in the Buddhist lexicon. Initially, it examines the writings of Chan patriarchs and portions of three sutras closely associated with Chinese Buddhism, in order to understand how Chan sickness is addressed in Chan literature. Next, it examines how contemporary psychologists who employ Buddhist meditation as an adjunct to therapy view difficulties experienced by meditators who may have underlying issues, in an attempt to determine what underlying psychological factors can trigger meditation sickness. By means of a research questionnaire circulated to meditation teachers at Chan and Zen centers across the United States, a phenomenological-qualitative analysis of the survey results discusses the current thinking on Chan sickness in contemporary Chan and Zen practice.