In this thesis I explore aspects of the Buddha Gotama as a teacher. I begin by analyzing the nature of the Buddha's enlightenment and his state of mind as presented by various accounts. The chapter reconciles his decision to teach by means of Buddhist epistemology and gives an account of the difficulty of learning the Buddhadhamma. In chapter two I give three examples of the Buddha teaching individual students about the dhamma to show how he approaches each scenario differently depending on the needs of the student. Finally I give an account of William James' pragmatic method in an effort to show how the Buddha's teaching is pragmatic as a method for solving an existential crisis.

This paper presents an unconventional approach to the existential crisis according to the transpersonal psychology of the eleventh century text, Yogavāsiṣṭha. An existential crisis is a general term used to signify a subjective experience of emotional distress as it relates to certain objective realities of human existence. This paper builds off key concepts (“givens”) from the field of existential psychotherapy, including death, isolation, freedom, and meaninglessness, provided by psychoanalyst Irvin D. Yalom, illuminating how the crisis is addressed in contemporary psychotherapeutic settings. Brief attention is given to the Western academic roots of existential psychotherapy, including areas of continental philosophy and humanistic psychology; this reveals a stark implication regarding general Western approaches: alleviation of the existential crisis requires a humanistic intervention, the individualist pursuit toward self-identity. Although this addresses the significance of human will and agency, it fails to take into consideration existence as a complex whole, suggesting a dualistic understanding of what it means to be in the world—the self in contrast to other living beings, the universe, the cosmos. This thesis proposes to expand the humanistic approach, responding to the existential crisis through the transpersonal Yoga of the Yogavāsiṣṭha, whose captivating mythological-like stories illustrate overcoming crises of human existence through a nondual, mind-only philosophy, emphasizing the importance of cultivating nonattachment, effort, and creativity to live a life of selfless action. Four narratives are explicated as well as the transpersonal techniques used to overcome the internal conflict perpetuated by Yalom’s “givens” of existence. By working with dreams, inquiring into reincarnation, contemplating on the five great elements, and expressing narrative, realization of Self-identity (with a capital ‘S’) removes the veil of ignorance overshadowing perception of an existential crisis, thus elucidating a visionary metamorphosis.

La presente investigación tiene como objetivo comprender las experiencias de sentido de vida de los ingresantes al movimiento Hare Krishna. El enfoque empleado para esta investigación fue de tipo cualitativo con un diseño fenomenológico Se entrevistó a 5 ingresantes a la comunidad, tres varones y dos mujeres entre 26 y 36 años. Así mismo, se optó por un análisis de contenido, que dio a vislumbrar cuatro categorías; crisis existencial, valores creativos, actitudinales y vivenciales. Los resultados mostraron que los participantes expresaron que experimentaron el sentido de vida cuando ingresaron a la comunidad. Describen situaciones que ellos afirman como reveladoras y de respuestas a sus inquietudes e insatisfacciones. / The present research aims to understand the experiences of meaning of life of the entrants to the Hare Krishna movement. The approach used for this research was of a qualitative type with a phenomenological design. Five newcomers to the community were interviewed, three men and two women between 26 and 36 years old. Likewise, a content analysis was chosen, which revealed four categories; existential crisis, creative, attitudinal and experiential values. The results showed that the participants expressed that they experienced the meaning of life when they entered the community. They describe situations that they affirm as revealing and as responses to their concerns and dissatisfactions. / Tesis

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