| The Ordinary Mind that Chan masters Mazu and Nanquan defined in medieval China is chiefly a non-dual, non-discriminative spiritual and ontological state of freedom. This dissertation explores the context and phenomena of the Ordinary Mind and articulates a distinction between Ordinary Mind, mindfulness-based ordinary mind, and ordinary mind that has received no meditation training Hermeneutics and a psychological lens are used as the main tools for interpreting nuances of the three states, which answer the research question: What is pingchangxin?. This dissertation posits that there is a shift from an ontological and non-discriminative state (the Ordinary Mind) to a meaningfully engaged and functional state (the mindfulness-based ordinary mind).;Psychologically, a dialogue between the Ordinary Mind and the Jungian theory of the unconscious helps to clarify what each is and is not. James Austin's nine-state consciousness scheme provides a useful sample of applying contemporary consciousness studies to clarify the shades of difference between Ordinary Mind and mindfulness-based ordinary mind Chan and psychotherapy share the task of releasing suffering, and they can provide a meaningful complement to each other Chan Buddhism has the potential to bring many psychotherapies to a new level of healing and freedom, and Western psychology and psychotherapy can provide Chan with progressive frameworks or scaffolds to help prevent possible spiritual by-passing, an immature transcendence of unresolved personal and interpersonal issues. |
