A Buddhist Approach to Mental Illness
An interview with Lama Yeshe
I was born near Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and educated at
Sera Monastic University, one of the three great monasteries in
Lhasa. There they taught us how to bring an end to human problems,
not so much the problems people face in their relationship to the
external environment, but the internal, mental problems we all
face. That was what I studied, Buddhist psychology; how to treat
mental illness.
For the past ten years I have been working with Westerners,
experimenting to see if Buddhist psychology also works for the
Western mind. In my experience, it has been extremely effective.
Recently, some of these students invited me to the West to give
lectures and meditation courses, so here I am.
We lamas think that the main point is that human problems arise
primarily from the mind, not from the external environment. But
rather than my talking about things that you might find irrelevant,
perhaps it would be better for you to ask specific questions so
that I can address directly the issues that are of most interest to
you.
Dr. Stan Gold: Lama, thank you very much for coming. Could I
start by asking what you mean by “mental illness”?
Lama: By mental illness I mean the kind of mind that does not
see reality; a mind that tends to either exaggerate or
underestimate the qualities of the person or object it perceives,
which always causes problems to arise. In the West, you wouldn’t
consider this to be mental illness, but Western psychology’s
interpretation is too narrow. If someone is obviously emotionally
disturbed, you consider that to be a problem, but if someone has a
fundamental inability to see reality, to understand his or her own
true nature, you don’t. Not knowing your own basic mental attitude
is a huge problem.
Human problems are more than just emotional distress or
disturbed relationships. In fact, those are tiny problems. It’s as
if there’s this huge ocean of problems below, but all we see are
the small waves on the surface. We focus on those “Oh, yes, that’s
a big problem” while ignoring the actual cause, the dissatisfied
nature of the human mind. It’s difficult to see, but we consider
people who are unaware of the nature of their dissatisfied mind to
be mentally ill; their minds are not healthy.
Q: Lama Yeshe, how do you go about treating mental illness? How
do you help people with mental illness?
Lama: Yes, good, wonderful. My way of treating mental illness is
to try to have the person analyze the basic nature of his own
problem. I try to show him the true nature of his mind so that with
his own mind he can understand his own problems. If he can do that,
he can solve his own problems himself. I don’t believe that I can
solve his problems by simply talking to him a little. That might
make him feel a bit better, but it’s very transient relief. The
root of his problems reaches deep into his mind; as long as it’s
there, changing circumstances will cause more problems to
emerge.
My method is to have him check his own mind in order to
gradually see its true nature. I’ve had the experience of giving
someone a little advice and having him think, “Oh, great, my
problem’s gone; Lama solved it with just a few words,” but that’s a
fabrication. He’s just making it up. There’s no way you can
understand your own mental problems without your becoming your own
psychologist. It’s impossible.
Q: How do you help people understand their problems? How do you
go about it?
Lama: I try to show them the psychological aspect of their
nature, how to check their own minds. Once they know this, they can
check and solve their own problems. I try to teach them an
approach.
Q: What, precisely, is the method that you teach for looking at
our mind’s true nature?
Lama: Basically it’s a form of checking, or analytical,
knowledge-wisdom.
Q: Is it a kind of meditation?
Lama: Yes, analytical, or checking, meditation
Q: How do you do that? How do you teach somebody to check?
Lama: Let me give you an example. Say I have a good feeling
about somebody. I have to ask myself, “Why do I feel good about
this person? What makes me feel this way?” By investigating this I
might find that it’s just because he was nice to me once, or that
there’s some other similar small, illogical reason. “I love him
because he did this or that.” It’s the same thing if I feel bad
about someone; I don’t like him because he did such and such. But
if you look more deeply to see if those good or bad qualities
really exist within the person you may see that your discrimination
of friend or enemy is based on very superficial, illogical
reasoning. You’re basing your judgment on insignificant qualities,
not on the totality of the other person’s being. You see some
quality you label as good or bad, perhaps something the person said
or did, and then exaggerate it out of all proportion. Then you
become agitated by what you perceive. Through checking you can see
that there’s no reason to discriminate in the way that you do; it
only keeps you fettered, uptight and in suffering. This kind of
checking analyzes not the other person but your own mind, in order
to see how you feel and to determine what kind of discriminating
mind makes you feel that way. This is a fundamentally different
approach to analysis from the Western one, which focuses
excessively on external factors and not enough on the part played
by the mind in people’s experience.
Q: So you say that the problem lies more within the person and
don’t agree with the point of view that it is society that makes
people sick?
Lama: Yes. For example, I have met many Western people who’ve
had problems with society. They’re angry with society, with their
parents, with everything. When they understand the psychology I
teach, they think, “Ridiculous! I’ve always blamed society, but
actually the real problem has been inside of me all along.” Then
they become courteous human beings, respectful of society, their
parents, their teachers and all other people. You can’t blame
society for our problems.
Q: How does it happen that people mix things up in this way?
Lama: It’s because they don’t know their own true nature. The
environment, ideas and philosophies can be contributory causes, but
primarily, problems come from one’s own mind. Of course, the way
society is organized can agitate some people, but the issues are
usually small. Unfortunately, people tend to exaggerate them and
get upset. This is how it is with society, but anyone who thinks
the world can exist without it is dreaming.
Q: Lama, what do you find in the ocean of a person’s nature?
Lama: When I use that expression I’m saying that people’s
problems are like an ocean, but we see only the superficial waves.
We don’t see what lies beneath them. “Oh, I have a problem with
him. If I get rid of him I’ll solve my problems.” It’s like looking
at electrical appliances without understanding that it’s the
underlying electricity that makes them function.
Prince Henry’s Hospital
Melbourne, Australia
25 March 1975
(Source:
http://www.mandalamagazine.org/archives/older/mandala-issues-for-1999/may/a-buddhist-approach-to-mental-illness/)
