Heal Thyself

by Ven. Thubten Gyatso

In 1999, on my first-ever visit to the USA, I spent six weeks enjoying the glorious Bostonian spring, and then two months in the redwood forest near Santa Cruz in California. One of the many impressions I received from the American people was that everyone living on the East Coast is in therapy (and delighted to talk about it), and everyone living on the West Coast is a therapist (and delighted to talk about it).

In Australia, people rarely receive psychotherapy and, if they do, nobody else will know about it. I am not saying one country is better than the other, we all have problems, and Americans like to tell everybody about theirs, while Australians keep their problems to themselves. Even in Australia, however, there is a massive growth in the industry of psychological support, such as therapy and counselling, indicating that society, at last, is beginning to realise the importance of our mental attitude in resolving problems. My teacher, Lama Yeshe, said that, ultimately, we must all be our own therapists because it is insufficient to rely upon somebody else. It is essential that each one of us knows how our mind functions so that, when it goes wrong, we can fix it.

Our bodies are beautifully organised for self-repair, so much so that doctors deserve only a fraction of the credit they claim for healing. Unfortunately, our minds are not so well organised. When our minds are sick - with anger, greed, jealousy, pride, selfishness, and so on - we do not have a natural mental mechanism for healing. Certainly, sorrow is removed from consciousness by forgetting, denial, and suppression, but these temporary cures do not heal the original problem - it can surface again in the form of chronic anxiety, guilt, depression, or personality and behavioural disorders.

Not only does the mind not naturally heal itself, disturbing emotions such as anger and attachment become progressively worse. Every time our mind is angry we become more likely to react with anger in the future. Our life becomes more unhappy, and even trifling events will precipitate anger. It is very common, and terribly sad, to see old people caught up in this vicious circle, their minds full of bitterness about life, or miserliness regarding their possessions.

The basis of being our own therapist is knowing how our mind functions, and how to apply the appropriate antidote. The medicine for self-importance, the root of our problems, is the wisdom that sees our true nature as being empty of what we think we are. The antidote for anger is patience, its opposite is love. The medicine for miserliness is generosity. The cure for an aggressive, harmful attitude is compassion. Destructive behaviour towards others and oneself is prevented by adopting and maintaining a code of morality. Laziness is overcome by enthusiasm for helping others.

There are causes and conditions for unhappiness and disturbing emotions. The real problem is that they are self-perpetuating, but mental disturbance is also conditioned by karma from past lives. Buddha gave examples of past-life actions that can result in mental disturbance in this life: causing others to become deranged through spells or concoctions; forcing others to drink poisons or intoxicants against their will; frightening wild animals; setting forests on fire; and throwing beings into a chasm. He said that mental imbalance can also be caused by things that occur in this life: fear, such as seeing a terrifying ghost; harm by a disturbing spirit; grief, such as the death of a relative; and physiological imbalance.

As any action which harms the mental well-being of another becomes a cause for our own mental imbalance, the best means to oppose these karmas from the past is to live a life where we avoid disturbing others and, instead, do whatever we can to help them be at peace. Physiological imbalance can be addressed by proper diet, behaviour, environment, and, if necessary, drugs. For example, for anxiety, Buddha recommended eating oily foods and red meat, drinking alcohol, and having sex; avoiding windy and high places; keeping warm, and wearing red clothing.

To be our own therapist, we must first recognise that our anger, attachment, pride, and so on are illnesses. Then, we must always be mindful of our thoughts and apply the appropriate antidote immediately upon seeing the disturbing emotions beginning to arise. For example, we must know that the occasion of being harmed does not arise from its own side but is a reflection of our own karma. Secondly we have to see how our anger superimposes or exaggerates negative qualities on the person harming us. This results in our anger being entirely inappropriate and far out of proportion to the harm received. Finally, knowing that our own anger is far more harmful to us than any external person or object, we must practise patience, with love.

Gyatso

This teaching is by the Venerable Thubten Gyatso (previously Dr Adrian Feldmann), an Australian monk and old friend now working in Mongolia. One of the senior students of Lama Yeshe, Lama Zopa Rinpoche (and also Geshe Roach) he is currently teaching at the FPMT centre in Ulaan Baatar. These teachings originally appeared in his local English language newspaper in Ulaan Baatar and arereproduced with his permission.

Thanks to Diane Olander (pelmo@got.net), these teachings first appeared on the Internet on the website (www.gepeling.org) of
The Jangchub Gepel Ling Center for Tibetan Buddhist Studies,
6960 Highway 9, Felton, CA 95018, Tel: 01 (831) 335 1217
where you can find many more teachings and other interesting material.