Lam Shenphen Zangpo, 3 April, 2009, kuenselonline.com

It is impossible to explain each verse in a short article like this, but at least I’ll try to offer some examples of how to approach the practices.

Let’s explore a couple of verses at random: “Regardless of how long spent living together, good friends and relations must some day depart. Our wealth and possessions collected with effort are left fare behind at the end of our life. Our mind, but a guest in our body`s great guest house, must vacate one day and travel beyond. Cast away thoughts that concern only this lifetime - the Sons of the Buddhas all practice this way.”

37 Practices of the Bodhisattva (c) CortoMaltese_1999 http://www.flickr.com/photos/drepung

Superficially, the verse appears to implore us to abandon worldly life. This is not the case. If enlightenment depended on leaving friends and kin, then all we have to do is spend some time on a desert island to achieve it. It is not that simple. Whenever we consider the teachings of the Buddha, it is important to bear in mind that the focus in on transforming the mind and alleviating suffering. Physical action only supports this role.

Of course, undergoing intense mind training in a retreat environment can offer enormous benefits, but the best time and place to practice is right here and now - not at some future location that may never materialize.

Happiness is the motivation for our lives. From having a biscuit to getting married, everything we do is done with this intention. Most of the time, however, we don’t consider whether our action actually leads to this goal. We just follow habits and impulses. Even a gangster kills with the intention of being happy. Yet, I have never met a happy gangster.

Often, we are like a person in Wangdue who wants to go to Jakar, but drives South. Even after he does not reach his destination after a day of driving, he does not check his direction. Instead he drives faster.

In this respect, Gyalsé Ngulchu Tokmé is inviting us to examine our direction. It is not that friends and relatives are bad, but that our connection with them is often one of dependency. We feel lonely, and immediately reach for the phone. In this way, friends and relatives actually hinder our goal - to achieve freedom from suffering.

I’ll explain further. Emotions such as loneliness arise in the mind through a combination of many factors, such as past fears, mood and educational and social influences. In this way, they are a compounded phenomena, no different from a rainbow or mirage. They appear, but lack true existence. If this is difficult to accept, then try to locate the feeling of loneliness. Is it in the brain, in the heart or perhaps somewhere else? Like a mirage or rainbow we will not find it. In this way, we should understand that the emotion cannot harm us. It is only a sensation, and the way to realize this is to just watch it in a non-judgmental way.

When we do this, fears dissolve like storm clouds in the clear Autumn sky. On the other hand, constantly calling a friend at the merest twitch of loneliness perpetuates the illusion. It is like taking an aspirin to cure a chronic disease. The symptoms may temporarily disappear, but the overall condition deteriorates.

Therefore, the verse is not recommending that we abandon friends and family, but instead abandon the misconception that they are a solution to our emotional problems. If we can do this, then we can develop a healthy relationship with our associates that truly benefits all.

Here is another verse: “If in the midst of a large crowd of people someone should single us out for abuse, exposing our faults and flaws, we should not get angry or become defensive but instead just listen in silence and, heeding his words, bow in respect to this man as our teacher. The sons of the Buddhas all practice this way.”

Outwardly, this passage may appear to advocate passive acceptance, but this is not the case. Like the previous verse, it offers an effective way to work with the mind. For example, most people would feel embarrassed if their faults were exposed in front of a thousand people. Resentment and perhaps revenge would follow. However, we do not have to respond in this way. Instead of following our habitual responses, we could instead use the experience to examine our mind. We question what causes us to feel embarrassed. And, if we are honest, we will acknowledge that we have developed a pretty solid and overrated impression of ourselves. This is why the words hurt.

The verse invites us to free ourselves from these habitual responses. Rather than protecting ourselves from the outer world, we use the light of wisdom to examine the target. We ask what is it that hurts. Under this kind of scrutiny, the target dissolves like ice under the midday sun. We regain our flexible and spacious mind. When this occurs, there is nothing for the words to hit. This is no small liberation.

The thirty-seven practices are an invitation to explore our mind. They are not indictments to abandon our responsibilities, but instead offer advise on how to deal with our world in a healthy and beneficial way.

© Leo Golan for Tibetan Incense Blog, 2009. |
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Post tags: Practice, Tibetan Buddhism

Tags: buddhism, Practice, Texts, tibetan buddhism

Allison Rubin, medicalnewstoday.com

The Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights (BCRHHR) at Boston Medical Center recently treated many of the large number of Tibetan refugee monks who fled violent religious persecution. These individuals arrived in Boston suffering from symptoms of traumatic stress, interfering with their meditative practice. The monks were diagnosed by their traditional healers as having srog-rLung, a life-wind imbalance. Recognizing that barriers exist between western and eastern medicine, the BCRHHR researched and implemented its own complementary therapy options to heal them. These findings appear online in the March issue of Mental Health, Religion and Culture.

According to Tibetan medicine, a srog-rLung disturbance has the potential to develop into a serious mental illness, leaving the victim at odds with the balance of the universe as well as jeopardizing his personal health. Symptoms of srog-rLung include uncontrollable crying, worrying, excessive mental, physical or verbal activity and an unhappy mind. Other conditions affecting the monk’s health include anxiety, depression and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Tibetan Monk. (c) http://www.flickr.com/photos/larryhe

Research in cross-cultural health settings, particularly refugee health services, shows that successful treatment is contingent on a combination of the patient’s interpretation of the illness and biomedical categories. This allows the patient to actively participate in his or her own healing. Cross-cultural psychiatric assessment is also necessary in determining appropriate treatment options, as treatment can be detrimental if not harmonized with the religious context in which mental illness will develop for these monks. The BCRHHR used traditional healers to obtain a dual diagnosis for the development of holistic therapy that responds to both PTSD and srog-rLung.

“This research and treatment involving patients accustomed only to traditional medicine, presented an opportunity for the acceptance of non-traditional therapeutic approaches,” explains Michael Grodin, MD, professor of health law, bioethics and human rights at Boston University School of Public Health, and professor of psychiatry, sociomedical sciences and community medicine at Boston University School of Medicine. “The difference between Tibetan and Western disease pathologies represents the need for evidence-based complementary therapies, such as the Tibetan monks in exile and other religious refugee populations,” said Grodin.

Tibetan Buddhist tradition dictates that the cure for suffering is enlightenment, attainable through meditation. When this occurs, the body is freed from anxieties and fears. The monks who were treated for PTSD and srog-rLung are finding that meditation, once second nature, has become difficult after nights filled with flashbacks that put the monks in a state of hyper-vigilance for the next day.

According to the researchers, in order to provide complimentary therapy for the monks, eastern and western medicine needed to be integrated to properly address both conditions. The spiritual aspect of the Tibetan medical model, which is at the core of the monks’ experience of illness, guided this research. Ancient Tibetan Bon tradition of yogic practice was used to induce the mind into a relaxed state necessary to purify oneself through motion. This yogic practice combines movement of the body and controlled breath with movements of the mind to bring mental stability and offers an alternative to the monks’ inability to eliminate invasive thoughts. Another therapy that was used is singing bowl therapy - a form of music therapy, as sound has a direct connection to the heart, which aligns with srog-rLung experienced by the monks.

Grodin said the refugee health center at BMC integrated techniques of western medicine, such as anti-depressant prescribing and psychotherapy, with Tibetan healing practices, including medicines prescribed by Tibetan Amchi, meditation advice, Tai Chi and Qi Gong exercises. Grodin is trained in traditional Chinese medicine, such as acupuncture and meditation.

© Leo Golan for Tibetan Incense Blog, 2009. |
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Post tags: Medicine, Science, Tibetan Buddhism

Tags: buddhism, Medicine, Science, tibetan buddhism

Early Tibetan Buddhist art was used to depict the life of Gautama Buddha in the Indian subcontinent in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE. Throughout Asia, Buddhism spread widely and with it its influence over Tibetan art and culture in Asia. The first traditions of Tibetan Buddhist art followed the practices of aniconic artwork, meaning that the use of Buddhist symbols and emblems to represent the Buddha and his travels and teachings without actually using a human form to represent the Buddha himself. This was the typical way that Tibetan Buddhist art was made until the first century CE, when the Buddha was finally represented in human appearance, which is still followed to this day. In every new country or region in Asia, where Buddhism went, Buddhist art followed its worshippers and artists as the faith developed in many different ways. These colorful forms are widely used in Buddhist meditation.

Tibetan Buddhist art is considered sacred and religious in nature, or was always thought of as religious in Asiatic cultures throughout the continent and in ancient Himalayan kingdoms such as Ladakh, Bhutan, and Nepal.

Before the middle of the twentieth century, Tibetan Buddhist art was created to be depicted as sacred in its subjects and traditions. The art of Tibet centers on the philosophical and spiritual key concepts, but as the art of Tibet developed, the vitality of the aesthetics of Tibetan art also come into prominence when it came to the growth of the different schools of Buddhism all over the various regions and countries it influenced. The symbology of Buddhism used in Tibetan Buddhist art can be considered a study in the impressions that have emerged over the influences in Buddhism over the centuries.

In the fourth century saw the emergence of the Mahayana Buddhist influence. This particular influence emphasized those who wished to forgo achieving Nirvana in order to help those others in need. The deity Chenrezig is commonly depicted as a thousand armed deity with a single eye in each hand in the Tibetan art of this Buddhist influence.

Another influence in Tibetan Buddhist art is that of Tantric Buddhism; the most common symbolism being that of the diamond thunderbolt. Angry deities with furious faces are also prevalent in Tantric Buddhism as depicted in the art of the period. The ghastly images often represent protectors who are dedicated to the teaching of tantric practices and the conquering of negative aspects.

The Bon influence as it is known in the Himalayas is a shamanistic religion that ads a host of local deities to Tibetan Buddhist art. These local deities are created as statues with the Buddha in Tibetan temples. The shamanistic gods have a history of being blamed for evil, but have since become defeated by Buddha and are forever in service to him.

Buddhist meditation covers a wide variety of techniques in meditation that promote mindfulness and concentration among other things. The core techniques have been preserved in ancient texts that have been reproduced throughout the centuries between teachers and students.

Hinduism was also greatly influenced by Tibetan Buddhist art but in the tenth century, Buddhism was no longer practiced in India due to the expansion of Hinduism and the enthusiastic growth of Islam.

Tags: arts, buddhism, esoterica, ethnics, meditation, oriental, religion, spirituality, tibet