Showing posts with label Mental Illness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mental Illness. Show all posts

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    From time to time people with mental health issues join the AtR group. So I'll share some of my thoughts on this matter. First of all, these people should not practice alone without guidance. They should not try to do the inquiry and meditations on AtR blog especially without direct guidance of a qualified teacher. This is because these meditations or inquiries can be destabilizing on an already unstable mind if done incorrectly. Depending on conditions, light shamatha or mindfulness practice may be more beneficial than inquiry heavy forms of practices. But is spirituality of no value to these persons? No, in fact it can be quite important, especially guidance and help from a qualified master. Unfortunately I will not be able to offer any help on these matters. Afflicted persons should find an experienced master in their vicinity.
    I hold the same view as Yin Ling's (who is a Western medical doctor) and Acarya Malcolm Smith's (besides being a Dzogchen teacher, is also a trained and qualified Tibetan medicine practitioner) views, mental health issues like schizophrenia are often, or can be, spirit induced disorders. They are not just 'hallucinations' of the brain, these people may be accessing spirits of other realms. By all means, psychiatric help or medications are still necessary. But working with a qualified and experienced dharma teacher is also important.

    This reddit reply by VulcanVisions advices well:

    https://www.reddit.com/.../could_people_with_mental.../
    1 day agor/Buddhism•Posted byu/curemydepression

    Could people with mental health issues become enlightened?

    📷
    Hi, I was wondering whether people with mental health issues such as sociopathy and psychopathy could become enlightened. I think it isnt possible, since to become enlightened the person must experience feelings and suffering to overcome this in the first place. Would like to know your opinions.
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    Tibetan BuddhistVulcanVisions· 1 day ago
    I am Tibetan and Buddhist, I also work in mental health in the West, I will give you my thoughts on this:
    We are born into physical, mortal bodies, which are mechanical in a sense and as a result of samsaric existence, anything can go wrong with these bodies
    From a neurochemical perspective, psychopathy is just one more thing that can go wrong with these bodies. It represents another suffering of samsara, another obstacle on the path to liberation, making awakening more difficult.
    Such things are determined by our karma, carried over from our endless rebirths - whilst beyond our comprehension, there is a reason we are where we are in this moment.
    Having psychopathy or schizophrenia makes the path more difficult, as does any illness such as cancer or diabetes, but it does not make it impossible.
    Several of the clients I work with have various forms of schizophrenia, and several of them are practicing Buddhist - there is nothing to stop them practicing.
    Now, as a religious Buddhist of the Nyingma school, I must say that I do not agree with the Western notions of mental illness. Whereas Western medicine holds that "patients" are ill and that doctors are "above" them in a sense in terms of being "healthy", I do not agree.
    Western philosophy as a whole has an air of superiority, and anything that does not pass its tests - such as firm atheism, scientism, and rationality - are immediately rejected as primitive or stupid.
    Whilst my clients hallucinating emaciated ghosts is interpreted in the medical model as a neurochemical brain imbalance, I personally believe that the client may be experiencing an attack by a preta, which in the Buddhist world can harass and feed from human emotions.
    Either way, the treatment is the same - we accept our situation, learn about dukkha, and practice the dharma.
    I myself had what in the West was called "hallucinations" of spirits, and Western medicine and therapy did nothing to treat this - when I reconnected with my Rinpoche and fully committed to the dharma, daily meditation practice made the "hallucinations" go away. I believe because I began to purify my bad karma.
    Apologies if this was a bit long, but hopefully made sense to you 🙏
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    Yin Ling shared before her encounters in her medical practices with schizophrenia people without Buddhist religious background but described classic Buddhist description of pretas behavior in their visions, such as "a small head and big stomach, and likes to inhale smell from her food", and many other various interesting and resembling descriptions.
    Also related reading, something I shared before, although this is not the Buddhist way of dealing with these issues but it's still an interesting read: https://uplift.love/the-shamanic-view-of-mental-illness/
    The Shamanic View of Mental Illness | UPLIFT
    The Shamanic View of Mental Illness | UPLIFTUPLIFT.LOVEThe Shamanic View of Mental Illness | UPLIFT

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  • Soh Wei Yu
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    Yin Ling shared before her encounters in her medical practices with schizophrenia people without Buddhist religious background but described classic Buddhist description of pretas behavior in their visions, such as "a small head and big stomach, and likes to inhale smell from her food", and many other various interesting and resembling descriptions.
    Also related reading, something I shared before, although this is not the Buddhist way of dealing with these issues but it's still an interesting read: https://uplift.love/the-shamanic-view-of-mental-illness/
    The Shamanic View of Mental Illness | UPLIFT
    UPLIFT.LOVE
    The Shamanic View of Mental Illness | UPLIFT
    The Shamanic View of Mental Illness | UPLIFT
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  • Oskar Melkeraaen Aas
    I went through a six realm course few months ago, l think from Bön tradition.
    When one gets insanely fixated on some pattern of behavior, one would call it kind of possession. In few cases this is actually what happens, that a spirit finds you and takes over.
    The ancient greeks would say just having ones conduct overruled by emotionsl patterns is enough to call it a kind of possession, so less heavy in a sense (no actual spirit) yet includes loads more of people on the planet, considering how many of us who are ruled by emotional patterns and habits.
    When l was living in a monastery in Nepal, they would do these kinds of exorsisms, it was pretty heartbreaking to see how people can become, and so l actually belive this to be possible for this to happen.
    Interesting thing l was told, is that christianity probably helped europe clean out a lot of these spirits (like if you read the Bible, Jesus did loads of exorsism), and l think its worse on other continents, as asian countries is only place l have seen this so clearly. (Meaning no offense hwre, just an observatiy).
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  • Soh Wei Yu
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    Oskar Melkeraaen Aas Yes. Possessions are real. I know of a few people who had these experiences.
    A friend of mine, a very smart lawyer who is now starting his own law firm, and his whole family was Catholic including himself once. One day, he went to his friend's bar, and when he got out and went home, he became possessed at home. His whole family saw it. And it's not just his behaviours, the whole environment changed, like the wind and air around him when he was possessed, papers actually flew around him and his family could see there was a spirit 'entity' that was there, possessing him, and it's not just some sort of psychosis or something.
    Luckily, one of his friends introduced a Tibetan rinpoche, and this rinpoche completely eliminated his problems. And the rinpoche said this spirit actually followed him from outside. That was when he realised it could be from the bar, but he still wasn't sure. In any case, because of this incident, he converted to Buddhism and so did his whole family converted to Buddhism, and has been chanting Tara and Padmasambhava almost everyday since.
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    • Kaio Shimanski
      Soh Wei Yu And how can we read this story on a ultimate view?
      Are demons codependent on the quality of our own mind?
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      • Soh Wei Yu
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        Kaio Shimanski In these cases, they are not just 'internal demons' but mindstreams of sentient beings stuck in the preta realm.
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      • Soh Wei Yu
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        Kaio Shimanski Of course, all beings, yourself and pretas are all empty of self.. but it does not deny conventionally speaking, preta beings, human beings, animals, your pet dog, etc
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      • Christoffer Sørensen
        Kaio Shimanski usually entities attach because of internal issues. Like feeling powerless, then entities can attach due to the emotional weakness.
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  • Soh Wei Yu
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    He became sure it was the bar because like a year later, when he visited that same bar again, he got possessed again. But this time it wasn't serious I think. He's just sensitive to spirits, like that. Anyway I introduced him to a Tibetan dharma center (his other rinpoche does not speak english and I think is not residing here) when Zurmang Rinpoche visited Singapore earlier this year, and he formally took refuge and so on.
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  • Soh Wei Yu
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    Forgot to mention: not only him, but his whole family converted from Catholicism to Buddhism due to that incident.
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    • Oskar Melkeraaen Aas
      Soh Wei Yu thats hilarious the full converting 😆 maybe it was a buddhist deity in ninja missonary attack! But whatever works, it would be interesting to see the skills of yoga and dharma be used in todays psychiatric institutions. I think a lot of the medication is just doing the opposite 🙁
      Just yesterday l heard about a nurse at a Norwegian place who got hospilized in the hospitz she had used to work. I think ill will, and few other things finally made her a proper "host" for a spirit to get her.
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  • Yin Ling
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    Oskar Melkeraaen Aas in Asian countries, psychotic behaviours will be known as possession.
    In western countries , they go and see the western doctors. If their behaviours become “threatening to public”, doctors have a right to “section” and admit them to a psychiatry institute, used to be call asylum. unless they are very fit to be integrated to society, they will be under close supervision, not even allow leave from the country, I’m speaking for UK.
    In Asian country we don’t do it so much. It’s very cultural.
    Perhaps why you see a difference in presentation. But I am aware I might be speaking from an echo chamber as well, being exposed to secondary/tertiary mental health and working in general practice. Mental health in uk is @.@ I don’t even know how to describe the magnitude.
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    • Oskar Melkeraaen Aas
      Yin Ling yeah, but l have not met personally people in the west who showed the sort of spirit behavior l saw in Asia. I am sure there are people here though who does are equally possed (like in the message to Soh), certainly..
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  • Soh Wei Yu
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    I also know of someone, a friend of a friend (but is someone I have met a few times also and he also related these to me in person), who once owned a kumanthong (a small Thai statue that was spell-bound to a child spirit from aborted foetuses to bring good luck to owners, quite common practice in Thailand and south east asia). His friend who didn't know he got kumanthong got possessed and behaved like a child spirit when that friend visited him at his place. He gave up the kumanthong afterwards, passed it on to someone else.
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  • Soh Wei Yu
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    "clean out a lot of these spirits" But as long as there are dead people, there are spirits. Even if exorcisms are done, they are still around, just maybe not in that house anymore.
    Excerpts:
    Author: krodha
    Date: Sat May 19, 2012 12:56 am
    Title: Haunted Areas and Localized Entities, Ghosts, Energy
    Content:
    I've always had a natural proclivity for sensing presences (seen or unseen) ever since I was young and
    it's always intrigued me. There's been times in the past (prior to my relationship with the dharma)
    when it's really plagued my peace of mind. When I was old enough to live away from home it started
    to become increasingly apparent because it would always be conditional on where I was living at the
    time. The first two places I lived were ok, but the third a house in alameda I could not be there alone
    at night. The fourth place was fine I could be there alone at anytime no problem. The fifth was an
    apartment in southern California which was horrendous, one of the most heavy and evil presences
    I've ever felt, I could not sleep there at night and would have to stay awake until the morning when I
    could finally sleep. The janitor at that apartment even said he hated to go in there to clean and
    would do it as fast possible. The next place back in san francisco was absolutely fine and that was the
    time I discovered the dharma.
    Presently where I live is fine, my sensitivity has increased with meditation and I'll have entities come
    into my room at night but they don't bother me I just know they're there. Same anytime a person
    comes into my room, if I'm sleeping I'll immediately awake.
    I do go running at night probably 4 or 5 nights a week and there is an entity which lives in the creek
    near my place. It's incredibly intense and powerful, seems very territorial. If I run directly on the
    sidewalk next to it, it will essentially blast me with intense energy which arises as profound fear I can
    feel throughout my body. There's been times when I've skipped running for awhile and after
    returning to it the first night back I'll be running and not be paying attention to the creek where upon
    getting too close, with no expectation I will literally be almost knocked off my feet. So it isn't a
    consciously induced manifestation created through an accumulation of fear towards that area. And I
    feel that now that it knows that I know it's there it messes with me even more. Needless to say after
    months of this I just run in the middle of the street when I get to that spot. The same creek connects
    to the road a quarter mile down the road and this thing will manifest again there and engage me.
    Whatever it is it's extremely powerful.
    Now getting to the point, I understand the emptiness of phenomena in relation to my pseudo
    subjective being. I usually am able to rationalize the emptiness of fear except for cases like this creek
    entity. I know that in chod it's said that these perceived negative entities are attached to our own
    continuum due to karmic debts etc... But what I don't understand is how are these projections
    confined to certain perceived areas? Why can't that energy in the creek leave the creek? Why is it so
    hostile? And what can be done to deal with energy/entities of that nature? If as I understand, it's an
    empty projection of mind, why is it localized to this certain area? I know that facing the fear and
    breaking down the projections like in chod is the correct route. Seeing the emptiness of the entity in
    relation to the fear. Emptiness of the fear in relation to deluded perception mistaken as "me". I've
    gotten to the point where integration has corrected most of these erroneous projections except for
    instances of direct hostile engagement like this creek thing. I rationalize that it's only a sensation
    interpreted as "fear" which is utterly empty, but that's easy to do when it's not breathing down my
    neck.
    I'm sure others here must have instances/occurrences like this? Any advice? Suggestions? Personal
    stories?
    Author: krodha
    Date: Sun May 20, 2012 4:12 am
    Title: Re: Haunted Areas and Localized Entities, Ghosts, Energy
    Content:
    There's no secondary effects, just the confrontation itself.
    Author: krodha
    Date: Sun May 20, 2012 5:19 am
    Title: Re: Haunted Areas and Localized Entities, Ghosts, Energy
    Content:
    Right that's what my inquiry was centered around; since it's a projection, why is it confined to that
    projected location? Why is it there sometimes (and very prevalent) and not present at all other times?
    Some nights it's not there at all. Sometimes I expect it and it's there. Sometimes I expect it and it's
    nowhere to be found. Sometimes don't expect it and it's there. There's been a couple times I've been
    able to jack my own energy up to such an extreme level that when it engages me I outshine it. So
    how are these projections able to manifest that way? It does manifest as fear yet the animalistic and
    territorial anger behind it is undeniable. It uses the energy like a bubble to push with. So I'm curious
    since it can't be other than a projection how such behavior is exhibited. It's actually not a problem
    really, it's fully confined to that area, if it was something in my experience all the time and causing
    lots of issues that'd be one thing. But since the projection is only associated with that area it's more
    intriguing than anything.
    I get that it's only fear. It's just the behaviorial and circumstantial characteristics that are interesting.
    Author: krodha
    Date: Sun May 20, 2012 8:35 am
    Title: Re: Haunted Areas and Localized Entities, Ghosts, Energy
    Content:
    I'm well aware of the emptiness of duration and location, emptiness of self and other (beyond the
    pale of intellectual constructs). I get that the expression is being imputed as a sensation which is
    further conceived to be fear and then posited to be "my" fear in an erroneous chain of ignorance, yet
    it doesn't fail to be intriguing. Cutting through is not so much a contrived act of severing
    identification with certain aspects of ignorance (such as duration/location), but involves setting up
    correct view (and abiding in that) so that it sets itself right. Afterall how could I cut through ignorance?
    Author: krodha
    Date: Sun May 20, 2012 4:35 pm
    Title: Re: Haunted Areas and Localized Entities, Ghosts, Energy
    Content:
    That was meant to be rhetorical but yes you're right, the contradictory conundrum being that the
    very I which seeks to cut (through ignorance) is the cornerstone of ignorance itself.
    Author: krodha
    Date: Sun May 20, 2012 5:36 pm
    Title: Re: Haunted Areas and Localized Entities, Ghosts, Energy
    Content:
    Anattā is the catalyst and cause of stream entry (I'm sure you know), which is more of an
    instantaneous occurrence. I'm not sure if stream entry can happen gradually... the gradual aspect
    would seem to be the cultivation of right view. The cultivation allows the seed to grow which may
    lead to the dawning of anattā. Right view involves skillful means though, because again, giving up the
    idea of personality is the idea of personality attempting to give itself up. I suppose the fetters can be
    weakened with right view, but they certainly are instantly obliterated in anattā.
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    • Oskar Melkeraaen Aas
      Soh Wei Yu yeah, is not chöd a way to be buddies with these spirits. That way you might help them, and they do not feel like posseing you
      • Oskar Melkeraaen Aas
        I also think almost all wrathful deities was at one point demons/ghosts etc.. that where converted.
      • Soh Wei Yu
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        Oskar Melkeraaen Aas I once invited all spirits in the area to me and I try to help them. In my own ways.. don't want to discuss how cos I don't want to misguide people lol
        I felt they were helped, but next day I felt some other spirits came to me like for help. I "turned them away" and told them to visit a monastery.
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      • Oskar Melkeraaen Aas
        Soh Wei Yu l have done tmsimilar things also in my own way.
  • Soh Wei Yu
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    Author: krodha
    Date: Sun May 20, 2012 6:05 pm
    Title: Re: Haunted Areas and Localized Entities, Ghosts, Energy
    Content:
    Would be interesting, perhaps an EMF detector or something of the like would be able to
    corroborate these happenings.
    There's 3 entities at my folks place too, a young girl whom I've seen in a twilight state while falling
    asleep, and my father has seen because she poked his back while he was in bed and when he turned
    over to look she giggled and floated into the corner where she vanished.
    There's another that my brother calls "the tall man" who just observes and is quiet. My brother
    hasn't seen him but knows that he's there and intuitively knows his height for some reason.
    According to my brother he likes to stand in the kitchen doorway and at night the cats and dog will
    usually become very alert and stare at that location for minutes on end. I've seen him once out of
    the corner of my eye and he is tall. My 3 year old son has seen him and mistook him to be me, he
    told me he saw me in one of the rooms and I walked into the closet.
    The scariest is an entity which only seems to be in my brothers old room, he's woken up twice to it.
    First time it was standing over his bed staring at him and he couldn't move (some type of sleep
    paralysis) and as soon as he was able to move his computer in the corner of the room turned on by
    itself. The second time he woke up and it was knelt by the edge of the bed waving its hands over his
    girlfriends head while she was sleeping, he was startled, lunged over and swung at it but it vanished.
    His girlfriend said she was having the most terrifying nightmares that night. My brother said it looks
    like Nosferatu, skinny pale face which comes to a point, eyes sunken-in to the point that they look
    like dark black empty holes, no hair, long boney pointy fingers. He said it was the same 'thing' both
    times he saw it. I've never seen it.
  • Kaio Shimanski
    The actual work of Daniel Ingram and other people on EPRC aim to work with this. How to know what is spiritual access or mental problems?
    People like Willian James or Stan and Christina Grof in the past already began to outline questions and answers on this very delicate topic
    • Soh Wei Yu
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      Kaio Shimanski A little unrelated, I remember Daniel Ingram related his own experience with exorcising demons
      2013:
      02:15, 17 Aug - John Tan: Dharma dan exorcised a demon from tarin interest
      02:15, 17 Aug - John Tan: ?
      02:16, 17 Aug - John Tan: Tarin got possessed by demon?
      02:18, 17 Aug - Soh Wei Yu: Ya dharma dan exorcised a demon from tarin
      02:18, 17 Aug - Soh Wei Yu:
      thumbnail
      Daniel M Ingram, modified 9 Years ago at 9/1/13 4:37 PM
      Created 9 Years ago at 8/12/13 8:01 PM
      RE: "Spirits"... I'd Like to Meet Them, Anyone Experienced O
      Posts: 3257 Join Date: 4/20/09 Recent Posts
      I exercised a tech demon from Tarin in a pretty typical Ceremonial Magick-style banishing.
      It was done as he felt he had a demon that was creating havoc with any electronic devices he encountered.
      He said the results and improvements were immediate.
      Interestingly, while he was getting a clear picture of the demon in his mind, he noticed another one whose function he wasn't sure about.
      We just banished the one in question.
      I thought little of it afterwards.
      Two months later, while doing some electrical wiring, the wide spade bit on powerful 1/2 inch drill I was using hit a nail and spun around and broke my right 4th metacarpal (a bone in my hand), and, quite surprisingly, at that instant an image of Tarin's demon that we had very rudely and relatively harshly exercised flashed into my mind with a clear message, "This is payback!"
      My hand was fixed with two minor surgeries and is fine now.
      Still, it made me ponder the question carefully, the question of exactly what we had done, what the meaning of the images and message that it seemed I had received the moment my hand was broken, and the like.
      My conclusions:
      1) Should you find yourself in a mindset and paradigm where it makes sense to exercise demons, it is reasonable to assume that traditional methods are likely effective. In our case, it was a very basic setup: he stood in a pentagram with candles at the corners, the demon was bound in the pentagram by stating intentions and visualization, he stepped into an adjoining circle while leaving the demon in the pentagram, and the demon was sent elsewhere, instructed not to bother him again.
      2) However, something in the ethics of this rings oddly to me now, like some wrong was done. I would advocate for trying some more compassionate approach that considers the full balance of things, the point of view of the purported demon, and tries to find a reasonable solution that doesn't involve harsh commands and banishment so much as some totally different paradigm or point of view based on loving-kindness, resonating at some totally different frequency of perspective, and the like.
      Obviously, that whole way of thinking of the world is a problematic one in multiple ways, but should you find that is the way you are thinking of things, hopefully something in the above advice will be useful.
      02:18, 17 Aug - Soh Wei Yu: From:
      "Spirits"... I'd Like to Meet Them, Anyone Experienced Out There? - Discussion - www.dharmaoverground.org
      DHARMAOVERGROUND.ORG
      "Spirits"... I'd Like to Meet Them, Anyone Experienced Out There? - Discussion - www.dharmaoverground.org
      "Spirits"... I'd Like to Meet Them, Anyone Experienced Out There? - Discussion - www.dharmaoverground.org
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  • Albert Hong
    Top contributor
    in the west maybe we are posessed by entities called facebook and google. if we soften our reductionism then its possible that so called things are entities with their own being and world view.
    for instance drugs such as heroin arise from poppies. maybe they too want to survive and has motives that we cannot conceive.
    it certainly is a more relational world if we open to the thou-ness.
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    • Soh Wei Yu
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      Was just reminded of a quote I read from a book, on how wheat domesticated us
      “Think for a moment about the Agricultural Revolution from the viewpoint of wheat. Ten thousand years ago wheat was just a wild grass, one of many, confined to a small range in the Middle East. Suddenly, within just a few short millennia, it was growing all over the world. According to the basic evolutionary criteria of survival and reproduction, wheat has become one of the most successful plants in the history of the earth. In areas such as the Great Plains of North America, where not a single wheat stalk grew 10,000 years ago, you can today walk for hundreds upon hundreds of miles without encountering any other plant. Worldwide, wheat covers about 870,000 square miles of the globe’s surface, almost ten times the size of Britain. How did this grass turn from insignificant to ubiquitous? Wheat did it by manipulating Homo sapiens to its advantage. This ape had been living a fairly comfortable life hunting and gathering until about 10,000 years ago, but then began to invest more and more effort in cultivating wheat. Within a couple of millennia, humans in many parts of the world were doing little from dawn to dusk other than taking care of wheat plants. It wasn’t easy. Wheat demanded a lot of them. Wheat didn’t like rocks and pebbles, so Sapiens broke their backs clearing fields. Wheat didn’t like sharing its space, water and nutrients with other plants, so men and women laboured long days weeding under the scorching sun. Wheat got sick, so Sapiens had to keep a watch out for worms and blight. Wheat was attacked by rabbits and locust swarms, so the farmers built fences and stood guard over the fields. Wheat was thirsty, so humans dug irrigation canals or lugged heavy buckets from the well to water it. Sapiens even collected animal faeces to nourish the ground in which wheat grew.”
      ― Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
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      • Albert Hong
        Top contributor
        ya we have a very specific view of the world. it is materialist and humanocentric.
        if we relax this view then all kind of way more interesting interpretations and meanings are possible.
        its not that there aren't ghosts. its just in a sense you have to believe that there are. a context has to be in place then the potential for interaction is there.
        if you dont believe then automatically the window is closed. not possible.
        the perception mechanism of the brain is constantly editing out. letting new impressions in is much more difficult.
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      • Albert Hong
        Top contributor
        if we want to know the new gods. learn where we place our attention as a society and culture. we dont call them gods. but the mechanism still operates. attention is the food. we are food for other beings.
        i think primarily this is the reason why humans cannot accept otherness on a cosmic scale. it would require us to realize how irrelevant we are. and how we are like cattle being herded as food for other beings. we do it to cattle, they don't know fully what we do. maybe they do.
        why isn't it the same for us? the horror of that would destroy us.
        lol
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    • Albert Hong
      Top contributor
      frankly we can talk about even videogame characters such as mario. he has more reality than my life. more mindstreams know about and interact with and as him than I do. the power and reality of him is a lot more than myself.
      lol.
    • James Wolanyk
      Albert Hong I've thought along similar lines with regard to corporate boards and structures. For example, in the news today, we see stories such as "Nike puts support behind..." "McDonalds hopes change in strategy will..." "Bud Light pivots on..." The same is true for nations, religions, so on and so forth. If one were from a planet that didn't use this mode of framing, they could be forgiven for believing that Nike, McDonalds, Bud Light, America, Germany, Catholicism, and so on... are all individual beings with beliefs, personalities, and goals.
      To use poetic license, it's kind of analogous to realizing that (speaking biologically/materialistically) the body is composed of countless cells, all of whom are "doing their own thing" yet somehow collate to form the appearance of a solid entity with a history and inclination. If a body is made of collaborating cells organized around survival, and a corporation or nation is made of collaborating humans organized around the same goal, it becomes hard to draw a clear line between those things and the gods you mentioned above.
      Give it a few years, and we might see people praying to Twitter for oracle advice 🙂 Or has that already happened? Hrmm...
      • Albert Hong
        Top contributor
        James Wolanyk i read something cool in the idiots guide to the buddhas life. it basically said one can envision Mara as a corporation and the ceos get replaced periodically. and yeah there definitely is a business in making illusion so that the wheel of samsara turns. thats a lot of profit to be made you know?
        its funny. but also terrifying.
      • James Wolanyk
        Albert Hong Wow, that's a really neat framing, and very appropriate for our times. I finished the show Succession the other month. Very much gave me those vibes (and overall, an interesting watch for its commentary on the nature of power, greed, and the craving to be somebody of importance).
      • Albert Hong
        Top contributor
        James Wolanyk if ordinary reductionistic material reality is a non reality. then if offers the potential of other non realities to be highlighted.
      • Albert Hong
        Top contributor
        we take for granted. its precisely that which we never questiom but assume its validity. that is the prevailing construction of our world view. given to us and continually maintained by us.
        to make and unmake perception.
        maybe thats why non normal perception is possible. because we are the action of making real and unmaking real.
        but setting aside other non realities. the very non reality that we call reality is possible. that perception is possible so certainly weird. very weird.
        but we generally dont admit this or let it in.
        that to me is the sus point.
      • James Wolanyk
        Albert Hong Yeah, I'm very much on the same page. The default assumption made socially is that "consensus reality" (which I guess Yogacara would refer to as the worldling view) forms the rational, obvious ground of all perception, and thus other frames/constructions are aberrant/deluded. But of course, the stated nature of this reality is constantly in flux, depending on historical circumstances, culture, whatever. There is no ground, no state of social perception that is unconditioned. So I guess when we get into these subtle conceptions or metaphorical presentations, what becomes vital is the connecting bridge of language and analogy. We have to sort of hint at the possibility, the gap, that makes possible a mode of perception we have never even conceived of as being possible to begin with.
      • Albert Hong
        Top contributor
        James Wolanyk empathy goes a long way.
      • Albert Hong
        Top contributor
        something I've noticed in myself is this clear need and demand to pin it down. to really understand it, to know it. whatever the topic is, I mansplain.
        and it's very natural as a male. maybe its just natural given my dualistic vision and mind.
        but I think what I need more of not knowing. The uncertainty. Even with mental illness we label people and put them in boxes. I think this does a tremendous disservice to people, as people are more than their ideas.
        So, I personally need to not judge as much. To maybe stay with the insecurity of not knowing. Letting people be what they are, whatever they are. Not needing to define everything so concretely.
        Saying I don't know seems most honest at times. And sometimes I do know, but always balancing with not knowing.
        I guess the mantra is just it depends.
  • Yin Ling
    Admin
    Top contributor
    My view : Mental health is a pandemic and schizophrenia is one out of many mental illnesses.
    There are also other complex illnesses like bipolar affective disorder, PTSD, major depression, personalities disorder, addiction disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and many many more combination types. I also believe quite a handful here will have been diagnosed with one or two mental illnesses and I don’t believe this puts anyone in a disadvantage of practicing the dharma.
    Even without mental illnesses, each person carries along multiple lifetimes of karma, and the practice that they need this life varies from one disposition to another. For one who has strong greed, their practice will differ from one who have strong hatred.
    With mental illness, there’s also a spectrum of severity. I think dharma practices should be individually tailored and a dharma teacher who is sensitive to conditions will be able to prescribe just the right amount and type of practice suitable to each individual at specific period of time.
    That’s the work of a dharma teacher, who themselves has also practiced, who themselves rigorously investigate and plunge the depth of their minds before. Anyone less than this but tried to teach is only doing a disservice to others.
    Hence, even if one is afflicted with hallucinations, calming them down with western medications or Buddhist chants are skillful means. Getting a patient to have a pet fish or dog to take care of is dharmic. Many patients generate compassionate and peace of mind after having a kitty… this will bring them one step closer to enlightenment.
    All are skilful means, only if practices are prescribe correctly, on individual basis. 🙂
    That was how the Buddha taught, on an individual basis.
    In my job, I’m open to both western and traditional ways, western medicine help, sometimes more than we think it does. I encourage both and I encourage my patients to evaluate for themselves and let me know what works and what doesn’t. They know well. I don’t work with many Buddhist in UK, more Muslim and Christians, so I get them to speak to their priests who can advise better from a spiritual pov. I don’t prescribe mindfulness based practices at all, surprisingly, I haven’t find the conditions to do it, probably a bit of reservation from my side as a practitioner.
    That’s all I have to say! 😁
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    • Soh Wei Yu
      Author
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      +1
      “I have lived with several Zen masters — all of them cats. Even ducks have taught me important spiritual lessons. Just watching them is a meditation.” Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
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  • Soh Wei Yu
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    Acarya Malcolm Smith just posted today on advise for clinical depression (not schizophrenia):
    “Generally, they should first change their conduct, do more yoga, move more, etc.; then look at their diet, stimulants intake, etc. If all else fails, they should do "shroom" therapy. Much less expensive and more beneficial the SSRI's, etc. In the meantime, they should practice merit-generating activities in particular, if they find it difficult to sit, and so on.”
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    • 3h