Abstract

This study is to compare psychoanalysis, personcentered counseling, and Buddhism (especially, Mahayana Buddhism) with their views on man and on his problems. In psychoalysis, man is viewed as a being which is oriented to maximize his instinctual gratification while minimizing punishment and guilt. His behavior is the result of compromise between his instinctual needs and the social demands which are usually in conflict. His personality pattern is regarded as reflection of his early conflicts and defences against them. The psychological problem (or maladjustment) means that one is in a state where he seeks to gratify his repressed (or fixated) infantile desires through his infantile behavior patterns. In person-centered counseling, man is regarded as a being to actualize his inherent potentialities. His behavior results from his free choice in his phenomenal field, and his choice reflects whether his self-concept is congruent with his organismic experience. He is said to have psychological problem when he feels difficulties in actualizing his inherent potentialities, which occurs when his self-concept is threatened by his incongruent experiences. In Buddhism, man is viewed as a potential Buddhar but at the same time as an ignorant being. When he is enlightened into his True Mind and lives accordingly, he becomes a Buddha; when he is ignorant, he is merely a sentient being. Man's behaviour reflects his state of mind. His psychological problem results from his attachment to small-self and objects, both of which are believed to be illusory in nature, due to ignorance. These three points of view are similar in that they all place more emphasis on personality than on environment. However, they differ in their views on man's basic motivation and the nature of defences. According to psychoanclysis, man is basically animalistic being which behaves mainly for his instinctual reeds that are quite the same as those of animals. His defences are unavoidable and at the same time necessary for the avoidance of not only punishment from without but also guilt from within. In contrast, from the viewpoint of person-centered counseling, man is a positive being which strives to actualize his inherent, growth-oriented, organismic potentialities. The actualization of his potentialities is good for the society as well as for himself. Defenses, which distort or deny his organismic experiences to maintain and actualize his self-concept, are the main blocks to the actuaization of his potentialities. In Buddhism, man is assumed to possess both the humane and alturistic side and the egoistic side. Ignorance, which makes one attached to illusory selfand world, is the fundamental human condition and can be overcome only by enlightenment on his True Mind.