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The archetype of the Buddha has a long history, longer than that of
the Christian Christ. It has a different emphasis than Christ however,
although there are similarities. In general the Buddha depicts the
going beyond self into the void, the letting go of ego into the
reality of what lies beyond it, rather than the movement toward a
belief system or a historical character.
Also, because of his life story, a story that is confirmed, we learn
of how a real historical character, Siddartha, sets out on a search
for a way beyond pain and death. The search is long but he finds what
is sought in enlightenment and becomes the Buddha. In a similar way
Jesus becomes the Christ at baptism.
Whereas some archetypes link you t society and family, the Buddha
archetype leads away from this. It has little or no suggestion of
marriage or family, and is much more linked with the life of a monk.
However, this urge to inroversion and a less outwardly active social
ife is no unrpoductive. It provides a doorway for many who live more
fully 'in the world' to look through into other dimensions of human
experience. Their lives permeated their times, and still flow through
time to us today.And those who live this life today continue the
tradition.
The Buddha also is an extraordinary event in the history of
humankind. Th eenlightenment is not simply an achievement of awareness
beyond the ego, it also depicts what is perhaps the first human being
to lift awareness out of evolutionary and cultural paradigms into what
has been called Moksha or liberation. As said, an extraordinary event,
and therefore within this archetype is the possibility of our own
liberation.
Therefore the Buddha archetype holds in it the strength, persistence
and way of searching for and finding a way beyond the limitations of
self. The archetype is enormously powerful and can be seen as active
in countless people's lives living today.
The negative side of the archetype is that it sets up a goal called
enlightenment. In this mode a person might spend fruitless years
searching for something that is not a goal, but an absence of action,
a letting go of ego goals. Sometimes this leads to a very sterile
life, almost akin to dry intellectualism.
On the positive side the archetype holds in it power to transcend
and let go of the limiting factors of ones personal life, instinctive
drives and socially imprinted behaviours. Because a religious figure
such as Christ and Buddha have many similarities in their social and
personal impact, it is worth reading the Christ
entry. See: Archetype of the Void;
Buddhism and Dreams.
Useful questions are:
Have I been confronted by an influence that I feel threatens to take
away much of what I consider to be vitally me?
Has the Buddha archetype touched me and opened an experience of
unconditional freedom and bliss?
Am I using this archetype as a goal that I am desperate to reach?
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