After leaving Rigpa, a community that enabled abuse by the teacher — and after untangling the subtle distortions in their understanding of the teachings that allowed such enabling — I found myself sitting with a difficult paradox. How could a system that had failed so profoundly in its ethical foundations still contain practices that were, for me, deeply transformative?
I explore the community dynamics and distortions in my book Fallout, but the question that lingered long after I left was more intimate: Why did the Vajrayana practices themselves work so powerfully, even when the container around them was compromised?
This is the topic of my recent video. Below are the written notes if you prefer to read. Let me know in the comments below if any of this resonates with you.
I realised the depth of their impact one day while sitting with a group discussing death and dissolution. As they spoke, I realised that none of them lived with the awareness of impermanence in the way I did. None of them had spent three months — literally — contemplating the inevitability of death every moment of the day and night, as I had during the Vajrayana outer preliminaries.
No matter what one thinks of the religion or its institutions, the practices work. At least, they did for me.
But after leaving, I wanted to understand why they worked — without relying on the religious language, metaphysics, or cultural framing of Tibetan Buddhism. I wanted to see the practices from the outside, through a different lens.
So I turned to Jungian psychology.
After all, those deities — are they not archetypes?
A Simple Vajrayana Practice, Seen from the Outside
Let’s take one of the simplest Vajrayana practices:
- The practitioner imagines a deity floating in a vast blue sky.
- As they recite a mantra, healing light flows down from the deity into them.
- They may imagine others around them receiving this same light.
- At the end, the practitioner flies up into the sky and merges with the deity.
- Finally, they dissolve from the outside in, disappearing into nothing.
This dissolution practice is one I still do every day. It has made me intimately familiar with the felt sense of dissolving — of letting go, of impermanence, of spaciousness.
From a Jungian perspective, this practice is rich with psychological meaning.
The Jungian Lens: Active Imagination With an Archetype
In Jungian terms, this practice takes place in the imagination — the realm of the unconscious mind. It is a kind of waking dream, similar to Jung’s method of active imagination, where symbolic images arise and the practitioner interacts with them consciously.
Let’s break down the elements.
1. The Deity as Archetype
In Jungian psychology, an archetype is a universal pattern of human experience — a symbolic form that expresses deep psychological truths. The deity in Vajrayana practice can be understood as an archetype of the fully integrated Self — the wholeness that lies beneath the fragmented ego.
The deity is not “other.” It is a symbolic representation of the practitioner’s own potential.
2. The Sky as the Unconscious
The vast blue sky is a classic symbol of the unconscious — spacious, open, beyond the limits of the ego. Placing the deity in the sky situates the archetype in the realm where transformation occurs.
3. The Light as Psychic Energy
The healing light flowing down is a symbolic transmission of psychic energy — vitality, clarity, compassion, integration. The mantra acts as a rhythmic bridge between conscious intention and unconscious response.
4. Merging With the Deity
Flying up and merging with the deity is a symbolic identification with the archetype — a temporary recognition that the qualities of the deity (wisdom, compassion, clarity) are already present within the practitioner.
5. Dissolution
Dissolving into nothingness is crucial. In Jungian terms, it prevents inflation — the ego mistaking itself for the archetype. Dissolution returns the practitioner to spaciousness, humility, and psychological balance.
This cycle — invocation, identification, dissolution — mirrors Jung’s understanding of how one safely engages with archetypal forces.
Why Does It Work? A Jungian Explanation
This is the part I’ve been contemplating for years.
Why does such a practice bring the practitioner closer to their fully integrated — or “enlightened” — self?
Here is the Jungian answer:
1. It Creates a Dialogue With the Unconscious
Active imagination opens a channel between conscious awareness and unconscious material. The deity becomes a symbolic mediator between the ego and the deeper Self.
2. It Allows Safe Contact With Archetypal Power
Archetypes are potent. Engaging them directly can overwhelm the ego. But Vajrayana practice provides structure, ritual, and containment — making the encounter safe.
3. It Strengthens the Ego–Self Axis
In Jungian terms, psychological health depends on a strong connection between the ego (our everyday identity) and the Self (our deeper wholeness). This practice strengthens that connection.
4. It Integrates Dissociated Qualities
The deity embodies qualities the practitioner may lack or repress — compassion, clarity, courage, spaciousness. By identifying with the deity, these qualities are integrated into consciousness.
5. It Trains the Mind in Symbolic Thinking
Symbolic thinking is essential for psychological growth. It allows us to understand ourselves in deeper, more nuanced ways.
6. It Regulates the Nervous System
The imagery, mantra, and dissolution all have calming, grounding effects. This creates the physiological conditions for psychological transformation.
The Shadow Problem: Where Vajrayana and Jung Diverge
Here we reach the tension.
Jung famously said:
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”
This raises an important question:
If Vajrayana emphasises “watering the seeds of joy” — focusing on the positive and ignoring the darkness — does it fall short in Jungian terms?
I believe the answer is yes.
This is how we end up with gurus who can guide students in transformative practices while remaining unaware of their own shadow — unaware to the point of abusing students and seeing nothing wrong with it.
Vajrayana practices can be profoundly transformative, but without shadow work, they can also become spiritually bypassing.
Jung would say: You cannot become whole by ignoring the darkness.
A New Integration: Vajrayana + Jungian Active Imagination
This leads to my final reflection.
I believe it is possible — and deeply valuable — to integrate Jungian active imagination with Vajrayana practice, once the Tibetan religious baggage is removed.
Not to diminish either tradition. Not to blend them into something new. But to allow them to stand side by side, informing each other.
Vajrayana provides:
- powerful symbolic practices
- ritual structure
- transformative imagery
- deep familiarity with impermanence
Jungian psychology provides:
- shadow work
- archetypal understanding
- safeguards against inflation
- a secular framework
- a language for integration
Together, they form a functioning whole.
A way of engaging the imagination that is both spiritually profound and psychologically safe.
This is the path I am exploring — a contemplative, symbolic, psychologically grounded way of meeting the Self through imagination, ritual, and honest shadow work.
A way of revealing the mystic within without losing sight of the human who walks the path.
Glossary (for readers new to Jung)
Archetype Universal patterns of human experience that express themselves through symbols, myths, and dreams.
Self (capital S) The totality of the psyche — the deeper wholeness beneath the ego.
Ego The conscious sense of identity; the “I” we normally experience.
Unconscious The part of the psyche outside conscious awareness; includes both personal and collective layers.
Active Imagination Jung’s method of consciously engaging with images, symbols, and figures from the unconscious.
Inflation When the ego identifies with an archetype and becomes grandiose or ungrounded.
Shadow The parts of ourselves we reject, repress, or deny.
