94. LOMAHAṀSA-JĀTAKA- The Fire of Asceticism and the Silence of the Middle Way

An illustrated journey through Buddhism, Jungian psychology and the apophatic dimension

 

The cover: the recognition of the ancient ascetic

 

The cover depicts the Buddha seated in meditation beneath a majestic tree, surrounded by a golden light that seems to emerge from the silence of consciousness itself. Behind him appears the translucent figure of an emaciated ascetic: the image of a distant former life in which the Bodhisatta experienced the most extreme forms of self-mortification.

 

These two figures do not represent opposing beings, but two moments within a single experience. The ancient ascetic is neither erased nor condemned: he is recognized and integrated.

 

The landscape deepens this symbolism. On the left, snow-covered mountains, rocks and blue mist evoke cold and deprivation. On the right, glowing rocks and reddish light suggest heat and suffering. At the centre, the Buddha remains still, while a stream reflects the light of the horizon.

 

The golden mandala behind him suggests the integration of opposites and the overcoming of identification with an idealized self-image.

 

The cover therefore anticipates the central message of the story: liberation does not arise from the victory of one extreme over another, but from recognizing the limitations of both.

 

The video essay: a journey through eleven slides

 

The video, assembled from four MP4 sequences, develops the narrative of the 94th Lomahaṁsa Jātaka through eleven slides, guiding the viewer from the fascination with extreme asceticism toward an understanding of the Middle Way.

 

 

I. The fascination of spiritual appearances

 

The story opens with Sunakkhatta, who turns away from the Buddha, attracted by the extreme practices of Kora the Kṣatriya. The outward display of renunciation seems to offer visible proof of spiritual attainment.

 

This contrast raises a fundamental question: must truth reveal itself through extraordinary actions, or can it remain silent, without needing to prove anything?

 

The Buddha does not respond by defending his own image. His serenity contrasts with the need for recognition and the fascination of appearances.

 

II. The body transformed into a battlefield

 

The Buddha recalls a distant former life in which the Bodhisatta experienced nakedness, hunger, isolation, winter cold and summer heat.

 

The body becomes the setting for a continuous struggle: enduring, resisting, renouncing and proving oneself.

 

The search for truth gradually becomes confused with the will to overcome every physical limitation. Yet bodily mortification does not guarantee the liberation of consciousness.

 

III. The inner fire and the crisis of the quest

 

The image of the solitary ascetic in the forest, with a symbolic fire illuminating his chest and a dark valley in the distance, represents the moment of crisis.

 

Suffering does not automatically lead to wisdom. The vision of hell becomes the recognition of the failure of a quest that had confused truth with the ability to endure pain.

 

The illusion begins to break, allowing the ascetic to recognize the limitations of his path.

 

IV. Recognition and the Middle Way

 

In the final sequence, the Buddha reveals that the ancient ascetic was himself.

 

The past is not denied: it becomes acknowledged experience. The emaciated figure appearing behind the Buddha on the cover symbolizes precisely this integrated memory.

 

The journey concludes beyond the opposition between pleasure and renunciation, desire and rejection, possession and self-mortification.

 

The Middle Way is not a compromise, but a transformation of perception: no longer identifying with either extreme.

 

A Jungian reading: integrating experience rather than idealizing the self

 

The story can be explored through the process of individuation described by Carl Gustav Jung.

 

The ascetic who seeks to overcome every limitation may become identified with an ideal image of spiritual perfection. This identification can conceal the shadow: fear, the need for recognition, pride and the desire for control.

 

Transformation does not require destroying the past, but recognizing it as part of one's psychological history.

 

The ancient ascetic and the Buddha thus become symbolic images of integration: what was once experienced without understanding can now be acknowledged without needing to be repeated.

 

The apophatic dimension: beyond opposites

 

The apophatic dimension invites us to move beyond the very categories through which we attempt to define liberation.

 

It is not enough to replace desire with renunciation, pleasure with suffering, or attachment with a new form of spiritual pride.

 

Freedom emerges when the need to possess truth and turn it into an achievement to be displayed falls away.

 

The Middle Way is not a geometric point between two extremes: it is the silence that remains when consciousness no longer needs to fight against itself.

 

Final resonance

 

Perhaps the deepest form of renunciation does not consist in abandoning the world, but in ceasing to struggle against life.

 

We do not need to become invulnerable or prove ourselves pure. We do not need to turn every experience into a test.

 

The ancient ascetic does not need to be erased: he needs to be understood.

 

And when the past is no longer a sentence that must be repeated, the fire softens, the ice melts, and the search can finally become awareness.

 

The Middle Way begins when we no longer need to turn life into a struggle against ourselves.

 

 

Illustrated video essay – 94. Lomahaṁsa Jātaka

 

Texts, conceptual development and project: Giuseppe Gugliotta.

 

A journey through Buddhism, Jungian psychology, philosophy and the apophatic dimension.