Buddhist perspective on mental illness

disappear SG · 2009-03-14T02:40:31+00:00

Karma plays a part..I'm not exactly sure..Maybe our 8th house consciousness moulded our different faculties during our gestation in the mother womb.

disappear SG

are there any sutras where the buddha mentioned about mental problems and illnesses. needless to say its all about karma but it'd be nice if there's some detailed and wise explanation about it. thanks in advance

An Eternal Now SG

I'm not too sure if there are any specific sutras talking about this subject. But some (not all) mental illnesses are caused by spirit interferences.

As the Admin of another buddhist forum (e-sangha), who also happens to be a doctor of tibetan medicine, wrote:

http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/index.php?showtopic=80865&st=0

Not in English, unfortunately. Different types of non-humans cause different types of symptoms, such as those afflicted by bhramas for example like to wear white, speak in religious language, like mantras, and so on.

N
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If they are Buddhists, they should accept the fact that non-human beings can cause mental illness in human beings. Many kinds of mental illness are completely treatable through Buddhist medicine.

Pretas, Nagas, etc., can all negatively affect both the physical and mental health of human beings.

There are also the research based theories of Aryas-- but their findings are not available to those without the divine eye.

N

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As someone who is going to graduate with a degree in Indo-Tibetan medicine in 2009, treating bhuta illnesses is time consuming and complicated. I concur that specialized skills are needed for such treatments, and sadly, such people are often drugged with psyche meds putting them beyond the capacity to helped by traditional Indo-Tibetan medical methods. On the other hand, for most people, the alternative is worse, in some instances, the kind of treatment people receive for severe mental illnesses we would typify as being afflicted by bhutas could not find treatment for there problem simply do to the lack of practitioners of traditional Buddhist medicine.

N

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Severe psychosis of various kinds, depression (which is often kapha affecting the heart) and so on, diagnosed through observation of behavior, pulse diagnosis and urine.

Thailand once had a system of medicine more or less the same as Indian Ayurveda and Tibetan Medicine (with some cultural differences of course) which the Thais, like the Tibetans, trace back to Jivak Kumara, the Buddha's physician. Unfortunately, the systems of Ayurveda as practiced in Southeast Asia was destroyed by European Colonialism.

The only remnant of the Thai system of Medicine remaining is Thai Massage.

Treatments for mental illnesses are a combination of herbs, diet, massage and bloodletting, as well as rituals. They are extremely effective and my teacher has a great deal of experience completely curing patients in Tibet who would wind up on severe psych meds here like Haldol and so on if they lived in this country.

Frankly, bhuta possession explains many chronic mental illnesses for which patients only receive palliative care in the West.

Generally in our diagnostic protocol, we treat first through diet, then medicine, then therapies such as moxabustion, bloodletting and acupuncture, and if these methods are found not to be effective, or of limited effect, we begin to search for bhuta involvement in an illness.

But we think that a large number of severe mental illnesses are left untreated because western medicine is unable to cope with bhuta possession.

Non-human beings cause many kinds of illnesses, not only mental illness. Many skin diseases that seem difficult to cure are caused by Naga attacks, for example.

N

N

disappear SG

thanks for the reply. im more interested about mental illnesses which are not caused by spirit interferences, i.e. those which are due to biological/brain chemistry/genetic etc. thanks

Display Name SG

Even if it is mental illness caused by biological/brain damage or whatever, it will still trace back to the karma.
One of the reasons/karma is that in the past the person disturbed people who was doing meditation or disturb their concentration of doing auspicious things especially those related to dharma.

Isis SG

Eh you might want to take a look at this?

http://diydharma.org/buddhism-and-mental-illness-ajahn-brahmavamso

it's a dharma talk by a monk.

Melovefireice SG

I would like to share something here.I am a mental patient.I always have relapses in Bukit Batok.I would like to warn my fellow friends not to venture into Bukit Batok.

rokkie SG

taoism is better than buddhism, for mental illness

Herzog_Zwei SG

I'm not too sure if there are any specific sutras talking about this subject. But some (not all) mental illnesses are caused by spirit interferences.

As the Admin of another buddhist forum (e-sangha), who also happens to be a doctor of tibetan medicine, wrote:

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How about some good advice from me? Simply said, don't run off saying that western medicine or scientific basis of dianogsis is no good. Report to IMH for treatment first before consulting any religious teachings.

An Eternal Now SG

I'm never against mainstream medicine. Just, when mainstream medicine doesn't work, one should try the alternatives.

Herzog_Zwei SG

I'm never against mainstream medicine. Just, when mainstream medicine doesn't work, one should try the alternatives.

Just that if mainstream medicine doesn't work, it means that usually there's no cure.

disappear SG

Just that if mainstream medicine doesn't work, it means that usually there's no cure.

not necessarily...?

Herzog_Zwei SG

not necessarily...?

grammartical error, no question mark at the end unless you are also skeptical of religion being able to help in this field.

jgho83 SG

Mentall ill...

disappear SG

grammartical error, no question mark at the end unless you are also skeptical of religion being able to help in this field.

there is no error in that simple 2-word post of mine, even though u are free to interpret it any way u wish.

Kim123 SG

The Buddha taught that all mental suffering, whether major or minor is due to our ignorance, attachment and aversion, and we need to tame our mind and see the reality as it is.

Regarding how the mental suffering comes about, try contemplating on Interdependent Origination.

See: http://www.dhammadana.org/en/dhamma/paticca_samuppada.htm.

The main thing is that we are not contented with simplicity (simple living) because the world teaches us the opposite, so we want more to live up to the world's standard which is based on commercialism and driving economy. When we don't get what we want or have things go our way as preferred, we become unhappy. Afflictive emotions arise due to attachment, aversion, craving and self-cherishing. With time, when it happens too many times, unhappiness becomes a strong habitual tendency in us and affects us mentally.

What we need to do is to understand our suffering and the reality as it is as taught in the Dharma, learn to be contented with what we have, try to tame our mind, so that we control it instead of letting it controls us. Try to abandon bias perception and anything that gives rise to aversion, attachment and self-cherishing.

It is easier said than done, but if we don't start somewhere, we will always be unhappy.

A simple day to day exercise is to observe the suffering of others, understand it, reflect upon it and derive ways to counteract them if it happens to us, so that when it really happens to us, we are ready to tackle it in a more effective and efficient way.

If we are already in the rut of mental suffering, then try looking at our suffering as a third party and understand it according to the Dharma point of view. In this way, we will be more able to come to terms with our suffering and have a more optimisstic outlook.

Our mind needs food all the time, so give it something postitive to grasp on and try to let go of negativeness and be happy.

May all be well and happy always. Om Mani Padme Hum.

Kim123 SG

Personally, I find the practice of letting go of disappointments and worries a good exercise to tackle with mental suffering and helps in the recovery from long-term extreme unhappiness.

With Mani

Herzog_Zwei SG

The Buddha taught that all mental suffering, whether major or minor is due to our ignorance, attachment and aversion, and we need to tame our mind and see the reality as it is.

Regarding how the mental suffering comes about, try contemplating on Interdependent Origination.

See: http://www.dhammadana.org/en/dhamma/paticca_samuppada.htm.

It is easier said than done, but if we don't start somewhere, we will always be unhappy.

Our mind needs food all the time, so give it something postitive to grasp on and try to let go of negativeness and be happy.

May all be well and happy always. Om Mani Padme Hum.

Are you sure? When a person feels pain as joy and happiness, is the pain truly suffering? How does one master Buddhism except comphreheding the subject as it is and not by one's own biasness?

Herzog_Zwei SG

there is no error in that simple 2-word post of mine, even though u are free to interpret it any way u wish.

I do not wish to misinterpret but I do question your personal values. Open mindedness means that you have to question your own choices and understanding.

Kim123 SG

Are you sure? When a person feels pain as joy and happiness, is the pain truly suffering? How does one master Buddhism except comphreheding the subject as it is and not by one's own biasness?

'Are you sure?' -> Sorry, I am not sure what you are referring to. If I have understood anything incorrectly, please kindly share your understanding. I am still a beginner and I share based on my limited understanding and experience at the present moment. I thought it could be useful since I always find what others have shared useful in triggering thoughts for further consideration and contemplation.

'When a person feels pain as joy and happiness, is the pain truly suffering?'

-> I don't think pain can be felt as joy and happiness. Unless you are referring to the joy when one recognizes the pain (suffering) as beneficial in bringing spiritual happiness, that is, as a motivation to seek and practice the dharma for cessation of suffering and deter complacency. Is this what you meant? If not, please kindly share your understanding and experience.

'How does one master Buddhism except comprehending the subject as it is and not by one's own biasness?'

-> The Buddha taught the Four Reliances that one could use as a guide to learn and recognize the dharma.

To abide in the dharma and not the person

To abide in Sutras of Ultimate Truth and not in Sutras of Incomplete Truth

To abide in the meaning and not the word

To abide in Wisdom and not in Consciousness

http://www.buddhistdoor.com/oldweb/bdoor/archive/nutshell/teach2.htm#t4

From the four reliances, I think it is quite clear that there are possibilities of understanding, accepting and rejecting the teachings with biasness. Even with these guidelines given, I think it is still difficult to comprehend the dharma as it is. At least, this is for my case, since I am a deluded being with much defilements and mental obscurations.

As to how to prevent incorrect understanding of the teachings, besides using the Four Reliances as a reminder, I also try to be mindful and always double check my understanding by continuous learning, contemplation, practice and investigation, something like the Plan-Do-Check-Action cycle of quality control, whenever opportunities arise. I find it very beneficial for me to have a highly realised dharma practitioner as my Root Guru and noble friends to guide me along the path as I learn and practice to discover for myself the truth about the dharma at my level of mental capacity and develop my aptitude further. Do you have anyway of doing this better that could be useful to me?

With Mani,

Kim

djhampa SG

What are the parameters of sanity ? Buddha said that all of us are deluded and he was asked what he meant by delusion and he replied "when you saw a rope and thought that it was a snake."

Personal experience. Once my former colleagues wanted to drive me crazy for the simple reason that they could not proved my dishonesty. They tried all manner of things to do it and everytime they did it I collected concrete evidences of their evil and malicious intentions. The reason they tried so hard to discredit me was that they were so afraid that I would exposed their lies and deceptions "in high places". They manipulated my wife to help them and our marriage ended in divorce. Before the divorce my wife convinced me to see a counsellor. I presented my case with concrete evidences of the attempts at trying to make me appear as crazy. The doctor finally concluded and reported it to my wife that I do not exhibit any evidences of delusions but I was still deluded as I was very clever at covering up my delusions.

So even without any evidences he could see my delusions. Isn't that what buddha described as delusion ? A year after my divorce someone concrete - not imagined - told me everything that my ex-wife and my colleagues did. Everything fell into place - the lies and the fabrication of events. So I was seeing very clearly with evidences painfully and carefully collected to verify what I thought and my world view then.

I brought this up to underline the danger of thinking or treating someone as mentally ill totally on the word of others. Some times people's motive are less than noble while telling you that they are doing it out of kindness of their heart.

I remember once also while distributing food to an elderly, the elderly became very fearful and told me how the neighbour was trying to harm her. I asked her why she said what she said and she pulled me towards her toilet. In there she pointed me to some scratches on the floor that looked like a man. She said the neighbour had cast a spell and cause the man to appear in her toilet to harm her. I proceeded to pull her to her balcony and searched for a cloud I could use and fortunately there was one. I pointed to a cloud that looked like a person smiling benignly down on her and I asked her what she saw ? She smiled and understood. I wanted to understand her condition and started asking her background. She was just like you and I but I felt her sense of loneliness and such sense of loneliness often made us - even amongst the best of us - to see and hear things.

I brought this up to underline a very simple fact of life that even amongst the best of us, our delusions could be accentuated given the right circumstances,that could make our life hell on earth.

All of us are deluded as defined by buddha but to every buddhist that I asked when I was in singapore NONE said that they were deluded. The best they could offer was that they were 'sometimes' deluded and could not see clearly. Given that all of us due to karmic obscuration could not see clearly then up to what degree would we consider that such delusions become an illness ? I would use harm as the criteria - harm to ourselves and to others.Even when we go around trying to malign others could be considered as such illness. Our delusions make us insensitive. Our clever rationalisations make us feel good with the bad that we do.

Does buddhism with all its meditation, philosophy and teachings offer a way out of such intense and accentuated delusions ? My brief answer is a no. These delusions have to be resolved at a deeper level. We can't use a dirty cloth (the mind) to clean the mind. Some energetic meditations can help but these were not taught by buddha.

I believe chinese medicine do hold vital keys to helping the people resolve such difficulties. Western medicine had failed miserably.( Shankar Vedantam,“Against Depression, sugar pill is hard to beat”, Washington Post May 7,2002;Page A01) All the mindless killings we read these days , many of it were a result of such medication.

Please check : a. ACUPUNCTURE AND PSYCHIATRY, Dr. S. W. Wong
M.B., B.S. ( H. K.) M. R. C. Psych ( U. K.)

b. Towards a Spirit at Peace - Understanding the Treatment of Shen disorders with Chinese medicine , Subhuti Dharmananda

May all be well and happy.

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Oftentimes the powerful and the greedy destroy another not because they were incredible or not credible but precisely because they were credible.

Anonymous.

This phrase reminded me of Stalin.