Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche

Buddhism and psychology

Title: Buy the book "Buddhism and Psychology": feed_id: 5296 pattern_id: 2266 book_author: Namkhai Rinpoche book_name: Buddhism and Psychology

I would like to say a few words about how Buddhism is mixed with psychology, and also about the psychology of practitioners in our Community. When I talk about something, many people immediately think: “Yes, I know perfectly well what he is talking about! He's talking about so-and-so or so-and-so…” Thus, these people find a way not to take my words to heart. But 99% of the time when you think I'm talking about someone else, I'm actually talking about you. This is part of your ego protection strategy, which always redirects the truth about yourself to others so that your ego never gets hurt. I have seen many practitioners who have spent many years in the Community and have succeeded in learning to avoid looking at themselves honestly. And I am convinced that even now, when I wrote these lines, many of you have already read them and say to yourself: “He is not talking about me, he is talking about someone else.” Here is a good mindfulness practice to do: as soon as a critical assessment of another person arises in your mind, immediately switch over and try this judgment on yourself. Then, instead of developing your negative judgments, you can actually succeed in developing your awareness. This is one of the meanings of the symbol "mirror".

In our Community, people tend to associate with only one Teacher. They strive to be close to me, but at the same time they show suspicion towards other practitioners, treating them as if they were enemies. Many of you probably think they are not, and as an example, your mind is making a list of all your friends from the Community. I want you to pause and take a long, hard look at yourself. This attitude towards oneself is a very subtle thing; it penetrates into the most secluded corners of our existence. So when the Lama leaves these people, it is extremely difficult for them to cooperate with each other without conflict, because in fact they have a hidden distrust of other practitioners that they always had, they just did not realize it. This deep, hidden feeling is actually a form of jealousy and anger. If a person is really present in the reflection in the “mirror”, he will notice this feeling in himself and recognize it as an obstacle to his own development and the development of the entire Community.

I recently heard an interesting saying: “You teach others best what you best learn yourself.” The best way to learn something is when you have to teach it to someone else. And, most often, the subject that you are going to teach or the topic that you have chosen for a conversation is something that you need to learn on your own. Unfortunately, most teachers, like most other people, use their position as a teacher to separate themselves from "others" and put on a mask of knowledge. In addition, they are no longer able to learn from the situation and feel superior. But if you are aware, you can use the opportunity to teach others to notice what you need to develop in yourself and to put it into practice. I remember when I first started teaching other Dzogchen, how surprised I was to find that the teaching was helpful and reminded me insistently to integrate my own practice with daily life. This is another example of how they look in the "mirror".

It sometimes happens in the Community that the longer a person studies Dzogchen, the more qualified he considers himself to be in judging others. In fact, this is what happens: in the first year or two, such people are literally shocked by the Teaching, perhaps even a slight change occurs in them. But soon after that, they put on Dzogchen like a new armor, consolidate their position and start criticizing, judging or teaching others how they should act. In fact, they manage to remain untouched by the Teaching, and their lives are just as wasted, as if they had never met the Dharma. Of course, there is nothing wrong with criticism as long as it is actually positive and helpful. But sometimes, when a group of members of the Community gathers, it becomes like a bunch of irritated old men and women complaining about life and each other than like practitioners on the way to realization! I have seen many practitioners criticize others and say mean things about others, often even in the absence of those people. The practitioner should try to be aware of his actions at any given time. Then everything can be used for its development. The practitioner must be aware that the true content of his harsh criticism of others, his sarcasm, is his own anger. So if he wants to develop his anger, he needs to further develop his ability to criticize and sarcasm. However, if he wants to reduce his anger, he must use his desire to criticize others as an opportunity to look in the "mirror" at himself and recognize his anger in action. And at this moment, he should feel this anger as his own, relax in this feeling, not clinging to it and not pushing it away, but not getting rid of anger by projecting it outward onto another person. And this is one of the ways in which one must constantly work on oneself on the path of Dzogchen. Without this constant "gazing in the mirror" it is almost impossible to reduce karmic causes.

Sometimes it seems that the members of the Community are a bunch of children who go out of their way to be the first to repeat after me what they think I think and to receive an award from me for being the most exemplary children. If this is the case, then no one in our Community will ever develop the personal courage required to become a true practitioner. In the end, on the way to the implementation of practices, one must remain alone with oneself. I often think of a story about a flock of geese flying south. The leader goose noticed the hunters far ahead and quietly said to the goose on the left: “Shh, we’ll quietly fly past.” Instead of whispering the words of the leader to another, the goose shouts loudly: “Shh, we’ll fly by quietly.” And the other goose shouts the same thing, and the rest of the geese follow him. And soon all the geese are screaming, tearing themselves up that it is necessary to fly quietly. And, of course, the hunters notice them, and kill everyone on the spot.

There is such a relationship between the Master and the student that sometimes the Master has to criticize the student in order to help him or her learn. Otherwise, there would be no need for a Teacher, and we could all achieve Realization without outside help. [Recently, I criticized a student for something, and later he came to me, angrily saying: "I looked in the mirror, but my face is clean!" There were several such cases in several Communities. It makes me sad to hear this, because the ego of these people has become so strong that they do not even perceive the words of the one whom they consider their Master. If you really want to develop on the Path, try to find even the smallest fraction of truth in your Master's words and then work with this truth to weaken the strength of your ego].

If I tell someone that he is doing wrong, it can mean a lot; but it is absolutely certain that these words do not give others the right to immediately jump up and clown around like they are tiny clown robots. Moreover, they immediately label “bad” those whom I criticized. As I said before, practitioners must be courageous and resourceful. Robots never make mistakes, so they never run the risk of incurring the wrath of the Master, but they will never be realized. If I correct someone in the Community, that is my action as a Teacher. The judgment “this one is bad, that one is good” is not attached to this.

If one wishes to teach or transmit Dzogchen, one must respect the nature, rules, methods and view of Dzogchen. All this has a basis, history and tradition. If you want to teach or practice psychotherapy, then you must learn with all diligence the most complete and most reasonable methods known to transmit this knowledge and help people. Or, of course, you can create your own system. However, the essence of therapy and the Teaching is completely different. Both work, but they have different actions, and, therefore, they cannot be interchanged. You can't boil everything in one cauldron indiscriminately: you can't put a pinch of therapy and a handful of the Teaching, put it on fire, stir it up, serve it on the table as if it were one dish. Then both psychotherapy and Dzogchen will completely lose all their nutrients, and all the invited guests will surely have severe indigestion! Why? Yes, because they do not pay attention to the essential properties of the ingredients used. If you want to get real benefit from the Teaching, take it as a whole. And it seems to me that if you want to really benefit from psychotherapy, you need to be fully involved in the real process until it is completed.

I am not at all against psychotherapy, it can really be useful. However, it is similar to modern medicine [and I am not against modern medicine at all, as you all know. I think we need to use everything that the modern world has, but we need to understand what everything is for]. Psychotherapy is like a pill, a cure for a specific ailment, but, like medicine, it is not able to heal the soul, but can only treat diseases of a local nature. People can take this medicine when they need it and if they need it. I believe that the Western idea that psychotherapy is necessary for everyone is wrong. So everyone can be treated with chemotherapy, no matter if he has cancer or not! And if a person has cancer, you need to find a truly qualified doctor. The same applies to psychotherapy.

I do not agree with the common idea that anyone can become a psychotherapist. I have a feeling that even in psychotherapy one must be highly educated and base one's professional views on a truly solid foundation. Otherwise, you will do more harm than good to people, and you will create confusion in the mind of the patient. This does not mean that only in the most traditional schools there is a correct and effective therapy - it is possible to successfully heal with the help of very unconventional approaches. However, it does not seem to me possible that someone could study the human mind for a year or two [or even four], as often happens in the West, and then open a shop to help people, borrowing a little from different schools. Psychotherapists must take their work very seriously, as they work with the deepest essence of other people.

But psychotherapy and Dharma have different goals, and their path is also different. By doing one thing, you can help another, because everything positive that a person does usually enhances other aspects of his life. The global goal of psychotherapy is to improve a person’s ability to live on Earth in his own time and in this very life, such as it is: to help with work, with children, with personal relationships and, in general, cleanse a person’s relationship with his first family - with his mother and father .

And the Dharma is meant to be fully realized, forever. Dharma purifies all the spiritual karma of a person, and not only the karma of this life, and not only the karma associated with the initial psychological conflict with mother and father. This is a practice that goes beyond psychology. What goes beyond psychology? state of contemplation. Entering the state of contemplation, we find ourselves in an all-encompassing realm, beyond the limits of samsara. In this state, the cycle of hope and fear of human life loses its significance in the light of the bliss and timeless expanse of reality. So Dharma is meant to help the individual get out of samsara, and therapy is to help him function more successfully in samsara. And to confuse them is to imply that the Dharma has no way of actually helping people. It's like the Dharma needs improvement, and if I add a little psychotherapy to the Dharma, it's a really powerful thing.

However, Dharma is the complete path.

The teachings have been transmitted continuously, accurately and unchangingly for thousands of years. For example, when there was no psychotherapy, the Teachings helped people become enlightened and gain a rainbow body. Psychotherapy is a relatively new invention of mankind. There are hundreds of different therapies these days, and new shoots are sprouting everywhere. It seems to me that every day several therapies die off. If we allow the Teachings to develop in the same way, mixing and changing them every day, then in a hundred years the Teachings will completely dissolve and a person will not find the true essence of the Dharma anywhere. Then the Dharma will also disappear. I repeated many times that the Teachings must be kept unchanged. This does not mean that because Westerners are more familiar with psychotherapy, they should study the Dharma from a psychological standpoint or somehow mix it with psychotherapy. It’s like saying to a person who wants to learn to fly: “Here, you can walk, and if I teach you a little more walking, you will understand how to fly.” Obviously, this is an absurd approach - so never get off the ground.

Today in the field of psychology, many are beginning to say that the five Buddha families are associated with "blocking out" the five negative emotions. And therefore, they get the feeling that they can somehow use psychology to work with the forms of deities. First of all, it should be clear that there is no such thing as an "emotional block" in Buddhism. This term was coined by psychologists. Secondly, as we all know, there are no deities or divinity in psychology [in fact, I believe that many non-Buddhist psychologists would be seriously disturbed by the mere thought of linking the two concepts, since they consider psychology to be a science, and Buddhism - religion]. There are specific ways of working with the five families in different tantras, with clear descriptions of the methods. You cannot invent and change this at any moment, as they do when creating a new hybrid of psychology and Buddhism.

One must always remember that there is a difference between the Dzogchen view and psychotherapy. Dzogchen focuses on the essential enlightened nature of man, which is somehow hidden from him and needs to be rediscovered. In the enlightened state, in the state of contemplation that we seek to "remember" it and stay in it, there is no difference between good and bad, or between pain and pleasure. Everything is just a form of experience, and an example of our innate ability to manifest. Like a mirror, the nature of which is to reflect everything without evaluation and judgment, the difference in forms, as it is. And this is not some idle mentality or an idyllic world, but the true nature of reality. After a person has experienced the state of contemplation several times, he will easily understand what I am talking about. That is why when they say that we are all Buddhas, enlightened beings, this is not just a figure of speech. We are Buddhas. But we have lost our presence in this knowledge.

It is not easy to generalize, but from the point of view of most psychological theories it seems quite different. The psychologist, first of all, works on the illness of the patient, as well as on the illnesses of society and people in general. Of course, this is necessary for a while; if a person is sick and the doctor is going to heal him, then the doctor should concentrate on his pain. But sometimes I have seen how this leads to the fact that such people develop the ability to negatively judge others and themselves. There may also be a tendency to look at differences between people as diseases. Instead of allowing human life to take on various forms and manifestations, psychotherapy tends to label some as "healthy" and others as "sick." And when a person continues to undergo therapy, the whole world can become an arena for his neurosis, where everyone is perceived as a person with deviations.

Even if this is true, it is beyond the scope of discussion. Neuroses and illnesses are only a small part of the manifestation of a person's potential abilities. In each of us there is and always will be pain and suffering, but at the same time there is a state of enlightenment in us. Moreover, when a person does not have the opportunity to look at everything from the point of view of the Teaching that everything is an illusion, he believes that his perception of his own illness and the illness of others is a real and concrete thing. Sometimes people become very attached to their pain and become professional accusers. They understand better and better who causes suffering, but at the same time it has little effect on their behavior. One of the dangers of psychotherapy is that it can develop a person's ability to divide oneself, to dualistic vision, to the model of subject-object, good-evil, right-wrong attitude. However, I do not blame psychotherapy at all, since in general human nature tends to do this, and many practitioners are prone to such manifestations without any psychotherapy.

Of course, both "practitioners" and "patients" can equally be conditioned by their past karma. I can give a very common example. I have a student who has been following the Teaching for many years and is very diligent in practice. When she was young, her father died and she was raised by her mother, who had to work. Now she is an adult, and she has many affairs: because she is attractive, men are attracted to her. Many years have passed, she is already over forty. And for many years she told me that her cherished desire is a strong, long-term relationship with a loved one and the opportunity to have children.

However, she made it clear to me that since the death of her father, when she was very young, she had never been able to fulfill this desire, since she could not trust men since then. Here's what she told me. She had never taken a course of psychotherapy, and, in fact, such an idea was alien to her. Now she has grown older, and definitely decided for herself that all her novels will end badly and it is better for her to remain alone for the rest of her days. There is nothing wrong with being alone, of course, if that is your true desire. But here we are talking about a person who is completely conditioned by her past, and she is aware that she is conditioned by her past, and, in the end, she chose to accept her condition as "real" and "inevitable". But no matter how difficult it may be, the practitioner should always strive to discover the absolute unreality of everything: thoughts, feelings, past events. And in this way one learns to get rid of the illusion of a real and concrete mind, which is always an obstacle in the path of the practitioner.

In the Dzogchen teaching one tries again and again to look at oneself in the "mirror", to see one's abilities and one's weaknesses, and one is looking for a way to free oneself with the help of a method that suits the given, specific conditions of the practitioner himself. These may be methods in the Dharma and methods outside the Dharma, but it should always be remembered that the method is secondary to the goal of entering and resting in a state of contemplation.

In this regard, let me mention one of the most significant differences between the views of traditional psychotherapy and Buddhism in general. In psychotherapy, the ego has a function, and when the ego is working “normally”, it is necessary for the life and well-being of a person. And in the Dharma, all practices and philosophy are aimed at dissolving the ego. The main obstacle to the state of contemplation and enlightenment is the ego. This is the force that creates the illusion of separation into subject and object and hides the true unity of all nature. (Some Buddhist psychotherapist said that in order to drop your ego, you must first strengthen it, create a full-fledged, healthy ego. First you need to have something specific and clearly labeled, and then you can accept the idea that this can be discarded. Quite possibly).

However, I do not intend to compare psychology and Buddhism here. This can lead to endless discussions, and this is a separate serious topic. I just want to point out some things so that you can understand better, so that you can think about the uniqueness of psychology and Buddhism. To my knowledge, psychology and psychotherapy can be quite helpful, depending on the circumstances. It is possible that psychotherapy is needed for people with severe emotional problems before they have enough awareness to begin or even continue their meditation practice. Perhaps therapy is also needed to address energy imbalances associated with serious and deeply hidden emotional problems. In this sense, for some, therapy may be the practice of preliminary purification in order to enter the path of Dharma. However, I draw this conclusion from what others have told me about their personal experiences. It's hard for me to judge as I don't have personal experience - I haven't had any psychotherapy and in all likelihood I never will.

I have heard the question often asked, but aren't people in the modern world different from Tibetans? Maybe modern people need psychology, but Tibetans are simpler, they don't need it. I think that whole volumes of essays could easily be written on this subject. But for now I will only mention a few things. I have a feeling that people everywhere are really basically the same, but of course they are conditioned by different things. Tibetans raised in the West will think and act like any other Westerner. And the opposite is also true. In ancient Tibet, most people were poor and illiterate, and only a few had education and knowledge. All of them lived in a non-technological world in which they developed a religion aimed at bringing man out of the endless cycle of pain and suffering that they perceived their lives to be. Unlike the Judeo-Christian tradition, this religion was not based on belief in "God", but on the divine potential of each person. Coexisting with this belief was belief in various spirits and protectors relating to the elements of nature and the earth. This religion can easily be divided into two categories. The first aspect of this religion is based on "belief", on worship and simple prayer for uneducated people. Another aspect of religion is a more complex philosophy and a series of methods and paths that require a significant development of mental faculties. This aspect suited several people who had developed their thinking so much that they could work directly with the mind itself. Probably, since Tibet was not a technologically advanced country, there was never any illusion that man was capable of subduing the elements or conquering the cosmos. Every spiritual activity, both among the educated and the uneducated, was aimed at reuniting man with the cosmos and at working with these forces.

In recent history, the Western world began to develop science and technology, and hence the belief in the superiority of the human mind arose. With the development of technology, which freed people from manual labor, came widespread general education. Now the masses could read and write, and for many people the process of thinking even became more complicated. At the same time, people began to think more on their own - this happens with all educated people, but in a sense, these reflections of theirs were a consequence of living in the world of science and technology. Which led to the development of the science of the mind - psychology and the science of society - sociology. Modern man believes that everything in the world can be understood and achieved; ultimately, he is controlled by his mind. At some point, it became obvious that all spiritual beliefs were outdated. Indeed, it has been proven that the spiritual does not exist. For this reason, modern science has practically not created any methods to go beyond the mind, beyond the limits of good and evil. Instead, she developed methods based on judgment and analysis [in fact, the early psychotherapy created by Freud, as we all know, even had the name "psychoanalysis"]. Thus, both psychology and sociology are very important tools for discovering cause and effect in this new, complex, modern world. For people like us, living in the modern world, it is quite possible to use psychology and sociology as assistants in order to fully understand oneself and the environment, but at the same time, without confusing or mixing them with the Teaching.

There are significant differences between Westerners and those who grew up in less developed countries such as Tibet. First of all, I note that Western people, who grew up in a world of speed, among a variety of stimuli and pleasures, are not able to keep their attention on anything for a long time. In general, as I see it, they are always looking for opportunities to instantly achieve amazing results. And if that fails, they immediately start complaining or switch to something else. Often they want the result to come to them from outside, for the Master to help them, show them, heal them, and make them enlightened with a snap of their fingers. In this sense, I think that it is much easier for such people to accept many modern methods of psychotherapy, since in doing so they can remain much more passive, and the doctor will spend hours only dealing with their problems. (There are other types of therapy when, with the help of instant flashes of emotion, the patient's craving for change, for movement, is satisfied, regardless of whether this state can be maintained for a long time or not). Such therapy is very different from the Dzogchen path, where the realization is based primarily on personal practice done alone - in daily life or in retreat. Moreover, although it is quite clear to me that a person can become realized at any moment, if only he can awaken in his essential enlightened nature, this usually does not happen. People have to dedicate years and years to slowly clearing away layers of negative karma and defilements. As I have said many times, most of those who have realized themselves in Tibet have spent their lives in practice and meditation, often in seclusion in the mountains. Although in Dzogchen it is not necessary to spend one's life in retreat, one must still dedicate one's life to practice in order to get the result.

After all, it is very difficult to fundamentally change a person by any method. And karma is a bit like glue in nature, its purpose is to stay glued to a person's skin. Sometimes I wonder if many Westerners have the maturity and focus to follow the path as long and as hard as it takes to get a serious result. What can happen to someone who mixes the Teachings with psychotherapy and then teaches this to others? What problems might he have with the Dharmapalas? It's hard to say specifically. But the best way to look at it is this: what happens when something is taught that is false, and then from such teachers it spreads to other people and can even be passed down for generations. This means that one person caused many people to misunderstand, and perhaps for a long time. One person caused the suffering of others to last. This is heavy karma. Again, this does not mean that you should not use psychotherapy in your personal life. It is possible, but one must be aware of the essential difference between psychotherapy and the Dzogchen Teaching. On the path of Dzogchen one can use anything and everything to help one's realization. But do not be confused - this does not mean at all that the Dzogchen Teaching needs psychotherapy, and only with it the Teaching will become complete. On the contrary, there is nothing in life that Dzogchen denies or accepts. In Dzogchen everything becomes a path of contemplation.

Now, it seems to me, despite all the above, there will be those who will read this article and think with joy: “Ah, I see. Even though he doesn't directly talk about it, Norbu Rinpoche is actually against psychotherapy. I have always hated psychotherapy. Now I have received confirmation. And those in the Community who are engaged in psychotherapy have finally received in full. Of course, I don't say that. And those who are "against" psychotherapy should be aware of why they are against it. There is nothing in Dzogchen to be for or against, and if a person finds himself vehemently rejecting one or the other, he needs to realize that this is also a form of anger, and the root of anger is attachment. Those in the Community who have decided that they hate psychotherapy should ask themselves what they are attached to, what they are afraid of losing? Perhaps they are the very people who will benefit the most from psychotherapy sessions.

In this way one works on oneself on the path of Dzogchen. This requires incredible self-responsibility and awareness, because Dzogchen is the path of freedom. However, freedom is not a license to destroy. And freedom has its own order. When a person has really deeply developed inner freedom, then he automatically has respect for the integrity of everything that exists. Dzogchen is considered the highest teaching precisely because it offers the deepest techniques for realizing without holding back. However, when a diamond falls into the hands of a blind man or a fool, it has no value. Dzogchen requires that the one who accepts this vast knowledge should be of a high enough level to understand the value of what is offered to him and to be able to master the true freedom that this knowledge implies. This freedom means that a person has the power to do everything: to realize himself and help others to do the same, or to destroy himself, his teacher and the Teaching itself.

Using everything to develop your awareness and reduce the obstacles from negative karma, one must always maintain the unique unity of the jewel that is the Teachings. And if we do not defend the Teachings as a whole, what can we then offer our children and the children of our children? What an amazing opportunity to achieve realization will disappear from the face of the earth!

Reprinted from: Buddhism and Psychologyby Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, Shang Shung Edizioni.

Translation: Yuri Nevzgoda.

Attention! This is a draft version of the translation, the poetic stanzas were translated only to convey the meaning of the text. Many names and names of historical persons and places may differ from those generally accepted. However, the translation is as close as possible to the original. In difficult places, please refer to the original booklet in English, which can be found at: http://www.blia.org/english/publications/booklet/pages/39.htm

Psychology is a science that studies mental activity in human life. In the West, it originated from medical science, philosophy, natural sciences, religion, education, and sociology, and has also spread to many other disciplines and practices. In modern society, psychology is applied in education, industry, business, healthcare, civil defense, law, politics, sociology, science, art and even sports. Its importance grows over time.

Psychology studies the mental functions of the mind and the ways of human behavior. Psychologists in the West use it to study personality development and the factors that determine behavior. Due to the limitations inherent in Western Psychology, it has been only partially successful in transforming and perfecting the personality. Buddhism, on the other hand, deeply understands the psychological nature of man and has developed a number of effective treatments. As shown in the Avatamsaka Sutra, "Our conception of the Three Realms arises from the mind, as do the twelve links of dependent origination; birth and death arise from the mind, they subside when the mind becomes still."

The analysis of the mind in Buddhism is multifaceted and complex. As a spiritual practice, Buddhism contains numerous descriptions of the nature and functions of the mind and instructions on how to seek it, how to stay in it, and how to perfect it. In this regard, Buddhist Psychology, together with Western Psychology, has much to offer.

1. How Buddhism Views the Mind

First, "psychology" means "the science that explains the mind." It was later expanded to "the science of human behavior for the study of human problems". This development corresponds to how Buddhism views life and the universe: "all phenomena arise from the mind." Buddhism treats everything in the world as a manifestation of our mind. He studies and analyzes the problems of human behavior at the most fundamental level. From this point of view, Buddhism can be seen as a fully developed system of psychology.

All of the Buddha's teachings deal with the mind, as shown in numerous sutras and sastras. Among these, the psychological understanding spoken of by the Mind-Only School (Yogachara) is closest to its equivalent in modern psychology. Yogacara texts are used to explain Buddhist Psychology.

Yogacara considers the mind to be composed of eight consciousnesses, which clearly indicates that it is not composed of a single element, but of an interacting complex of factors. These factors are functions of the six sense organs of the human body (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mental functions), as well as consciousness, which constantly embraces the "I" ("Manas") and Alaya consciousness (super-unconscious, in Buddhist texts called "master of the mind"), which collects and stores all the karmic seeds of the mind in a continuous cycle of birth and death of all living beings. For the Buddhist, the "I" at the moment reflects everything accumulated in the past. "I" in the future depends on actions in the present. That is, "what a man receives in this life is what one has developed in past lives, what he receives in a future life will be what he creates in this life."

"The Three Realms are but manifestations of the mind, as are the myriad dharmas." All phenomena in this life, and in the universe, are nothing but mirror images imprinted in our mind through the eight consciousnesses. Our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind distinguish and recognize sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and thoughts. According to each individual's potential for discernment, these images are further processed and recognized as real or unreal, and then used to construct what one considers "this life and this world." In reality, all things are constantly changing in a cycle of formation, continuation, destruction and emptiness. Our thoughts and ideas also arise, last, change and instantly disappear in the cycle of birth and death. Where can one find life and a world that truly exists without change? Everything in the universe can only be found in perception and interpretation!

Scarlet consciousness is like a large warehouse full of past memories of love, hate, goodwill and enmity that we can remember in this life. It constantly influences our actions and behavior in this life, and is referred to in Buddhism as ignorance. Due to the karmic influence of this ignorance, we go through a cycle of birth and death. When the unhealthy seeds of the past ripen, we become oppressed and prone to do unvirtuous deeds, which in turn become unhealthy seeds for the future. When the healthy seeds of the past ripen, our hearts are pure and noble, our mind is clear and intelligent, and we do virtuous deeds, which again become healthy seeds in Alaya consciousness. The teachings of the Only-Mind School say, "Seeds lead to actions, then actions turn into new seeds." The psychological motives of any human behavior are explained using this model.

Influenced by our ignorance of the past, we tend to draw conclusions that lead to negative feelings. Greed and anger increase, our minds become confused and form wrong views of things in the world. However, just as plants require sun and rain to bloom and bear fruit, similar conditions are necessary for the development of human behavior. Although at the bottom of the unconscious level of the human mind lie feelings of love, hate, and positive or negative intentions, when these feelings are provoked by people or things from the external environment, a person can rely on his true mind and wisdom to avoid the occurrence of negative actions and instead create virtuous behavior.

The development of our true mind and its wisdom relies on the diligent practice of keeping vows, developing concentration, and increasing awareness and understanding. This process, which transforms the deluded mind into our true mind, is described in Buddhism as "the transformation of consciousness into wisdom." Consciousness carries the psychological baggage of past experience. The wisdom that radiates from our true mind is therapy or cure for people in their attempts to resolve any inner conflicts in their consciousness, overcome suffering in this life, and avoid the cycle of birth and death in future lives.

1. Five main mental functions: mental and physical contact, attention, feeling, discrimination and analysis.
2. Five deliberately created mental conditions: aspiration, understanding, memory, concentration and wisdom.
3. Eleven healthy psychological states: trust, diligence, restraint, remorse, no greed, no hatred, no ignorance, calmness, mindfulness, equanimity, and harmlessness.
4. The six root afflictions are greed, hatred, ignorance, arrogance, doubt, and wrong view.
5. Twenty unhealthy mental states: anger, hostility, irritability, vanity, deceit, flattery, arrogance, malice, envy, greed, refusal to repent, refusal to regret, distrust, laziness, indifference, apathy, restlessness, forgetfulness, misperception and carelessness.
6. The four neutral states of mind are repentance, sleepiness, applied thought, and steady thought.

The above classification of human psychological reactions in Buddhism is comprehensive and complex. Modern students of psychology can learn a lot by studying Buddhism in addition to psychology.

2. Allegories of Mind

In Buddhism, the root cause of human suffering and other problems is identified as the mind. Thus, he proposes to use this invaluable resource by transforming everything unhealthy into healthy. Buddhism instructs sentient beings to recognize the mind, calm the mind, and control the mind. The Buddha taught all his life for 49 years. All of his teachings, be it the Four Noble Truths, the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination, the Six Paramitas, or the Four Comprehensive Principles, invariably refer to the mind. The mind dictates human behavior. If a person's mind is pure, all his thoughts, words and actions are bound to be pure. If a person's mind is impure, everything he hears and sees becomes impure. Therefore, one sutra says: "When the mind is impure, the being is impure; when the mind is pure, the being is pure."

All pain and suffering in this world is created by the mind. Our minds wander among the Six Realms of Existence for countless lifetimes. It seems that we never control ourselves. The mind is always attached to a colorful external environment, relentlessly striving for fame, wealth, power and love, constantly calculating and discriminating. The truth is that our mind is inherently capable of embracing everything just as the mind of the Buddha could. He is like the sun and moon, able to break through the darkness. He is like fertile soil capable of enriching the roots of virtue and the growing trees of merit. He is like a pure mirror, capable of reflecting everything clearly and truly. It is like an ocean full of inexhaustible resources and wealth. In the Buddhist canons, the Buddha often used simple stories to describe the mind. Ten of them are listed below:

1. The mind is like a monkey, hard to control: As the old proverb says, "the mind is like a monkey and thoughts are like horses." The mind is compared to a monkey that is very hyperactive, jumping and running through the trees without a moment's rest.
2. Mind is as fast as lightning and thunder: Mind is compared to lightning and thunder, or to a spark created by the impact of stone on stone. He acts so fast that by the power of his mind, he is able to travel all over the universe without any obstruction. For example, when a person thinks of a trip to Europe or America, scenes of European and American landscapes immediately appear in his or her mind, as if he or she were already there.
3. The mind is like a wild deer always chasing sense gratification: a wild deer comes into the wilderness and feels thirsty. In search of water, he wanders in four directions. Our mind, like this wild deer, can hardly resist the lure of the five sense desires and the six sense objects. He is always chasing the visible, the audible and other sensual pleasures.
4. The mind is like a robber stealing virtues and virtues: Our body is like a village, five senses are like five entrances, and the mind is like a thief in the village, who steals useful deeds and merit that we hardly accumulate, leaves a negative impression of us in other minds and leads a bad lifestyle. The Confucian scholar Wang Yangming once said, "It's much easier to catch a bandit hiding in the desert than a thief in your mind." If we can tame the thief in our minds, make him obedient and accommodating, we will become masters of our own mind and will be able to cultivate the highest virtues and virtues.
5. The mind as an enemy that causes us suffering: the mind acts like our enemies, intending to create problems for us by causing us all kinds of pain and suffering. One of the sutras says: "The unhealthy itself is empty, because it is a creation of the mind, if the mind is purified, the unhealthy disappears in the shortest possible time." Our mind has Buddha nature as the true quality, which is pure, free and contented. But numerous delusions cause suffering to our body and spirit. If we can eliminate our illusions and false opinions, we can make friends with this enemy.
6. The mind is like a servant of various stimuli: the mind acts as if it were a servant of external objects, serving and constantly being led by these objects, causing many ailments as a result. Another sutra says that our mind contains three poisons, five hindrances, ten defilements, 88 hindrances, and also 84,000 aggravating circumstances! These obstacles, embarrassments, defilements, and hindrances are all capable of hindering our wisdom, holding back our mind and spirit, and making us restless. The transformation of our mind from servant to master depends largely on how we train it.
7. The mind is like a master with the highest authority: the mind owns the body. It has the highest power. It guides, controls and commands the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mental activities to produce sensory feelings and cognitive functions.
8. The mind is like an ever-flowing spring: Our mind is like a stream of water continuously escaping from the earth. It has unlimited potential and contains immeasurable riches. If we can effectively use our source of wisdom, we will be free from the fear of being inferior.
9. The Mind as a Painting Artist: The Avatamsaka Sutra says, "The mind as a master painter is skillful in depicting various things." Our mind is very much like a skillful artist who can paint various pictures. When a person's mind is inspired by the wise and holy, the person will appear wise and enlightened in appearance. When a person's mind is occupied with malice and enmity, the person will look cruel and disgusting in appearance, like a devil or a ghost. In other words, "As the mind of a person changes, so does his appearance."
10. The mind is like a boundless space: The nature of the mind is like a wide and boundless space. It is able to encompass everything in the universe. Another sutra says, "If one wants to realize the state of Buddha's enlightenment, one should purify one's mind so that it becomes empty like space." Space is vast and vast without borders or edges. Space supports everything but captures nothing. If we want to understand the Buddha's enlightened state, we must expand our consciousness so that it becomes boundless and boundless like the sky, free from discord and carefree like space. Then our mind will be able to embrace all things in the universe and benefit all living beings.

3. Ways to Purify the Mind

Modern medicine is very advanced. There are all kinds of pharmaceuticals. The variety of medicines corresponds to the numerous diseases of modern people that did not exist before. Our bodies get cancer, but isn't there cancer in our minds? Greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt are illnesses that we cannot ignore. When we have a physical disorder, we treat it with drugs, intravenous injections, and nutritional supplements. There is an old Chinese saying: "Medicine can cure the symptoms of a disease. It will not cure the real disease." The real disease is the disease of the mind. In fact, many physical illnesses are caused by psychological factors. The most obvious examples are diseases of the stomach and digestive system. Eighty percent of these disorders are associated with an emotional disorder. If we manage to keep a balanced and calm mind, many diseases will disappear.

If we have mental disorders, what medicines will benefit our spirit? It is said that the Buddha created 84,000 instructions for correcting our 84,000 tenacious diseases. For example, if we do not eradicate our greed by keeping the vows, our mind will follow our greed and run wild. If we do not overcome our anger by practicing meditation, our spirit will live forever in a "flame of fire" that makes it difficult to achieve perfect peace. Finally, the sorrow of ignorance can only be removed by wisdom, for wisdom can penetrate from the darkness of ignorance, revealing the magnificent and calm state of our true mind.

In addition to the basic illnesses caused by the three poisons and ignorance, there are all kinds of psychological illnesses that need to be treated, changed, or overcome. The following treatments are prescribed in the Buddha's teachings:

1. A calm mind is the antidote to a restless mind: the pace of modern life is fast and dense. Most people suffer from stress caused by anxiety and insecurity. Thus, in our daily life, it is useful to take a few minutes to practice the art of self-healing through calming and clearing the mind. When the "obscurations" in our mind are cleared, enlightenment and wisdom arise from calmness.
2. A benevolent mind is the antidote to a malevolent mind: Our mind is sometimes like the mind of a "wise man" and sometimes like that of a "loser," tumbling up and down randomly, between positive and negative. When a benevolent mind arises, everything goes well, but when a malevolent mind arises, millions of defilements arise with it. Thus, we must eradicate unhealthy thoughts and guard right thoughts in order to develop a mind of loving kindness and compassion.
3. A trusting mind is the antidote to a doubting mind: Many of the mistakes and tragedies in the world arise from doubt and suspicion, such as suspecting a betrayal by a friend, the betrayal of one of the spouses, or the enmity of one of the relatives. The doubt that arises is like ropes that bind the body and prevent the body from moving. The Treatise on the Perfection of Great Wisdom (Mahaprajnaparamita Shastra) says: "Buddha's teachings are as vast as the ocean. Trust is the only means to their realization." Building trust not only allows us to understand the truth in the Buddha's teachings, it also allows us to be more tolerant of others people, allows us to accept the world as it is and strengthen our faith in the Dharma.
4. The true mind is the antidote for the deluded mind: Due to attachment to the concept of "I", personal preferences and judgments, the ordinary minds of people constantly discriminate and calculate, creating countless illusions and unreasonable reactions. In order to lead such a life of truth, beauty and virtue, we use our minds without discrimination and duality, accepting everything as it is, and healing all sentient beings who are one in essence.
5. An open mind is the antidote to a limited mind: We must make our mind like an ocean capable of receiving all the water from hundreds of rivers and tributaries without changing their characteristics. Only an all-encompassing mind of gratitude and patience can deliver us from a jealous and intolerant mind.
6. A balanced mind is the antidote to a fragmented mind: If material possessions are the only thing valued in life, we will suffer greatly when we lose our fortune. When life is built on ordinary love, we will suffer greatly when all of a sudden the love relationship breaks down. Whenever there is grasping and clinging, there is differentiation and bondage. How can a person be free? It is best when one reacts to temporal, worldly possessions and attached illusions with an impartial mind. By doing so, a person one day becomes free and equanimous at all times and in all situations without any attachments or restrictions.
7. A steady mind is the antidote to a fickle mind: Although Buddhism maintains that all things and phenomena, including thoughts and feelings, are impermanent and constantly changing, it also believes that when we vow to serve others, and not just ourselves, the power of vow and devotion as immeasurable as the universe. The Avatamsaka Sutra says: "As soon as a person generates bodhichitta (makes a vow to achieve Buddhahood), he immediately becomes enlightened." A Bodhisattva who has just taken a vow has a pure mind, like that of a Buddha. However, he/she must keep this moment without retreating in order to achieve perfect enlightenment.
8. An unattached mind is the antidote to an impulsive mind: Modern men and women crave novelty and passing fads. They are curious about any new tricks, and therefore become easy prey for strange and eccentric scams. Chan Buddhism says that "an unattached mind is the path to enlightenment." Keeping an unattached mind in our daily life will allow us to appreciate that "Every day is a wonderful day, every moment is a pleasant moment."

In addition to these eight remarks, we should develop the mind of patience, restraint, reflection, filial piety, sincerity, honesty, innocence, purity, kindness, forgiveness, joy, mercy, reverence, equanimity, patience, remorse, gratitude, wisdom (Prajna) , compassion (feature of the Bodhisattva) and enlightenment (feature of the Buddha) and to fully develop their limitless possibilities.

4. Buddhism and Modern Psychology

Western psychologist Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) developed the practice of psychoanalysis. He was also the first to explore the role of the human unconscious in the history of Western physics. His contribution to psychology is similar to the contribution to science made by Newton or Copernicus. However, the human unconscious is the subject of detailed and thorough analysis and discussion by Buddhists in the East, which began 1400 years ago, as evidenced by the book "Poems on the Formation of the Eight Minds (Reverend Master Xuanzang)" .

Freud's work on the unconscious was further developed in the writings of his famous student Carl Jung (1875-1961). Jung was very knowledgeable about the philosophy of the East and its spiritual practices such as Buddhism, Ch'an and Yoga. Inspired by these teachings, Jung divided the human psyche into three levels: the conscious, the individual consciousness, and the collective unconscious. Separate unconscious functions, such as memory storage, the accumulation of repressed psychological experiences and feelings. The collective unconscious, on the other hand, is the accumulation of deep archetypes inherited by a human being over many generations. This idea is very similar to Buddhism's formulation of the "Scarlet of Consciousness" and is an example of Buddhism's influence on Western Psychology.

After World War II, Humanistic Psychology developed. Extended by Abraham Maslow (1908 - 1970), it suggests that human needs can be divided into five stages. The high stage is "self-realization". He borrowed concepts such as "right feeling" and "enlightenment" from Buddhism to interpret the ideal state of self-realization. He defined this state as a living experience of spirituality and bliss, overcoming time and space, object and subject. Maslow often used the Buddhist term "Nirvana" to describe this special experience. He also stated that the concepts of "Selflessness" and "True Self (Buddha nature)" can help people achieve self-realization and contribute to other members of society.

Another psychoanalyst, Erich Fromm (1900 - 1980), had a great interest and deep understanding of Ch'an Buddhism. He highly praised Buddhism and its spiritual aspect characterized by "loving kindness and compassion" and "extreme altruism that raises all sentient beings to bliss". He believed that altruism, to the detriment of oneself for the sake of others, is the right "cure" to cure disease in Western society.

As a branch of Humanistic Psychology, Transpersonal Psychology developed in the 1960s and expanded the boundaries of traditional psychology by integrating Buddhist philosophy, as well as other spiritual practices, with Western Psychology. One often speaks of "the psychology of modern wisdom and creativity." This school of psychology explores transpersonal mental states, values ​​and ideals, the meaning of life, concern for death, man's relationship with all of humanity, and the relationship between man and nature. Meditation is included as a way to expand one's consciousness in order to establish an integration of mind, body and spirit. Modern Western techniques are used to explain many of today's specific psychological problems, where traditional Buddhist Psychology is often more generalized. The scope and purpose of Transpersonal Psychology is very close to the concept of "unity and peaceful coexistence" in Buddhism.

Dr. Viktor Frankl (1905-1997), another advocate of Humanistic Psychology, devoted himself to researching the meaning of life and what happens at the time of someone's death. He believed that human beings can create a meaningful and enjoyable life through their own efforts through a deep search and understanding of the essence of life. He also noted that when people face death or suffer, if they can adjust their states of mind from negative to positive in response to these circumstances, they will experience a deep meaning in life that leads to clarity and dignity. He developed these ideas into a system called Logotherapy.

Logotherapy can be said to be an extension of the Buddhist thought that "every perception and concept is created by the mind." The Vimalakirtinirdesha Sutra says, "If the mind is pure, the world is experienced as pure." Buddhism emphasizes daily practice and preparation in order to overcome life and death. Scholars of Humanistic Psychology have also drawn attention to the relationship between the understanding of life, death, and personal spiritual liberation. In the future, it is predicted that an integration process will take place between Western psychotherapy and Eastern Buddhist practice leading to liberation from suffering.

Although we live in a time of abundant resources brought about by rapid economic growth and technological advances, we are greatly lacking in spirituality. When the body and mind contract and suffer from various environmental pressures and we are unable to regulate or adapt to them, mental disorders such as anxiety and depression occur.

Buddhist Psychology identifies the source of all suffering. She shows us the meaning of life and guides all living beings in search of the deepest powers of the mind by eradicating greed, anger and ignorance within. This practice, if continued freely and diligently, prevents any occurrence or recurrence of mental illness. It helps people in creating physical and mental health, which leads to a joyful and fulfilling life.

Since the mid-twentieth century, much of Western Psychology has absorbed much of the wisdom of Eastern cultures, especially Buddhist philosophy and practice. Based on this, it can be argued that Buddhist Psychology is an important and comprehensive science in the field of mental health. By adapting to the needs of the people, Buddhist Psychology, among other conditions, will meet the demands of our time by providing solutions to human problems and improved social welfare.

5. Reverend Master Xing Yun

Reverend Master Hsing Yun was born in Jiangsu Province, China in 1927 and entered a monastery near Nanjing at the age of 12. He was fully ordained in 1941, and is the 48th Patriarch of the Linzi (Rinzai) Chan School. In 1949, amid the turmoil of the civil war, he traveled to Taiwan.

In Taiwan, he began to fulfill his long-standing vow to promote Humanistic Buddhism - a Buddhism that takes spiritual practice to heart in everyday life. With an emphasis on not having to "go anywhere else" to find enlightenment, we can realize our true nature "here and now, in this precious human rebirth, and in this world. When we practice altruism, joy, and universality, we are practicing the basic concepts of Humanistic Buddhism.When we give faith, hope, joy and help, we help all sentient beings as well as ourselves.For almost half a century, Reverend Master Xing Yun has dedicated his efforts to transforming this world through the practice of Humanistic Buddhism.

He is the founder of the Fo Guang Shan International Buddhist Order, headquartered in Taiwan, and supports temples around the world. The order emphasizes education and service, and supports public universities, Buddhist colleges, libraries, publishing houses, Buddhist art galleries and tea rooms, free mobile medical facilities, orphanages, nursing homes, schools, and a television station. The order's lay organization, the Buddha Light International Association also has active offices around the world.

Reverend Master Xing Yun openly advocates the equality of all peoples and religious traditions. Today, the Order has the largest number of monastic women of all Buddhist orders. By organizing and maintaining educational and leadership opportunities, he worked to improve the status of women in Taiwan. He performed full initiation ceremonies for women of the Mahayana, Theravada, and Vajrayana traditions. In addition, it holds annual conferences to bring together various Buddhist schools, and promotes dialogue between Buddhists and other major religious groups.

He is a prolific writer and author of over 100 books in Chinese. His works have been translated into English and many other languages. His "Life of Shakyamuni Buddha" and Fo Guang's 16-volume Buddhist Dictionary both won Taiwan's top humanitarian awards. His biographical works Transmitting Light, Xing Yun's Ch'an Discourses, Lion's Roar, One Hundred Sayings Series, Humanist Buddhism Series, and Being Good: A Guide to Buddhist Ethics are currently available in English. His numerous lectures still continue to be translated into English.

Living in Taiwan, Reverend Master Hsing Yun travels all over the world. His deep, engaging and witty lectures are sure to endear him to the audience. He reminds us that in order to change our world, we must take an active part in it. "The public transcends the individual," he says, "and thus fills the individual to the fullest extent possible." Wherever he goes, he calls on people to unite both locally and globally for a world of complete equality, joy, and a perfect world.

For free distribution only. Sepia translation, 2010. We kindly ask you to provide a link to this page when copying the text. Sample link:

I liked the course very much because of its middle way between dry science and “conversations for life”.

In general, Robert Wright is exactly what I feel close to. He combines the talent of a storyteller and a scientist-researcher. He is open to his ignorance, and therefore open to knowledge, and is also able to explain complex things on his fingers.

A few years ago, I watched one of his TED talks and instantly fell in love with Robert's talk and with all my heart.

Well, here is a whole course about Buddhism and modern psychology, about their relationship. How can I not be interested?

But the course was in English and I hesitated to recommend it to the readers of this blog.

And so, a noble anonymous author from the site of collective translations Notabenoid switched the course to Russian, and now I join with a light heart in the dispersion of the eternal and good.

So the course

Buddhism and modern psychology

In his course, Robert compared the main provisions of Buddhism and evolutionary psychology,

asking questions:

This is box title

Are neuroscientists already beginning to understand how meditation works?

And if they do, can a natural science explanation of the practice of meditation undermine its spiritual significance?

What are the basic Buddhist principles for understanding consciousness based on?

Robert pays special attention to such paradoxical Buddhist statements that "I" does not exist, and most of the perceived reality is in some sense illusory.

Do these radical statements make any sense in the light of modern psychology?

And finally, how can such a worldview affect our daily lives?

Can the practice of meditation help us become not only happier, but also better people?

This is box title

Video with Russian subtitles.

To display subtitles on the screen:

1. In the lower right corner, point the cursor at the image of the gear wheel (the inscription will appear “Settings”).

2. Click on this image of the wheel.

3. A sign will appear. In one of the columns there will be an inscription “Subtitles / SS (2)”

4. Click on the arrow on the right “>”

5. Another plate will appear, where there will be columns English and Russian.

6.Select the one you want.

First lecture

First part

Introduction: Religious Buddhism and Secular Buddhism

In the first part of the first lecture, Robert gives a general overview of the course, its main ideas and provisions. He talks a little about himself and why he was interested in this topic.

Second part

Feelings and illusions

In it, Robert examines our emotions in two ways: in the light of Buddhist teachings and in terms of evolution.

The third part

First and Second Noble Truths

The name speaks for itself. In this lecture, Robert examines what is meant by the word dukkha in the Buddhist worldview.

Fourth part

Evolutionary Psychology and the First and Second Noble Truths

In this lecture, Robert examines the first two Truths from the perspective of evolutionary psychology and neuroscience.

Fifth part

Conversation in the office

In this part, Robert has changed seats, and speaks from his office. This is a more informal conversation where Robert mainly answers questions and feedback from course participants.

Second lecture

First part

Eightfold Path

In this part, Robert talks about the Third and Fourth Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, as always, relating Buddhist views to modern psychology and neuroscience.

Second part

Meditation

In this part, Robert provides an overview of the main types of meditation, linking the results of the practice with seeing from both the perspective of Buddhism and modern psychology.

The third part

Mindfulness Practice and the Brain

Based on the title, one can guess that Robert in this part refers to the results of research on the brain of meditators, of which quite a lot has accumulated over the past two decades.

Fourth part

Can you trust your feelings?

The main theme of this part is whether the Buddhist recipe for practice can help us see life and the world more clearly?

Fifth part

Conversation in the office

Again

Third lecture

First part

Buddha's Speech on "Not-I"

In this part, Robert tries to explain the Buddhist doctrine of "Not-I" - the non-existence of "I". What does it mean? In what sense am I not, if I experience myself as fully existing?

Second part

What did the Buddha mean?

Continuation of the explanation of the idea of ​​"Not-I".

The third part

Modern psychology and "I"

In this conversation, Robert moves from the views of ancient Buddhists to the views and experiments of modern psychology. By modern psychology, Robert means the one that has been developing since the middle of the last century.

Fourth part

Conversation in the office

Answers to the questions of the students of the course.

Fourth lecture

First part

Illusions about myself

What is me and what is not? What can I control in myself and what can not? What influences the formation of my perception of myself in a certain way?

These are some interesting questions.

Second part

What Mental Modules Are Not

In this part, Robert talks about the so-called Modular Approach to Consciousness or the Modular Model of Consciousness, and asks the question: If the conscious self is not what determines our behavior and directs the course of our thoughts, then what does this work?

The third part

What are mental modules

Continuation of the theme of mental modules.

Fourth part

Conversation from the office

Answers to the questions of the students of the course.

Fifth lecture

First part

Choose "I" through meditation

In this part, Robert, continuing to refer to the Modular Model of Consciousness, argues that through the practice of meditation, we can see our identifications more clearly and choose those that we consider significant.

BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY

So, the driving force of actions, or karma, are harmful emotions - kleshas. What are flares? Since actions are mainly due to the mental factor - intention, which is a type of consciousness, and since kleshas are also types of consciousness, it is first necessary to understand Buddhist psychology.

As I already said, answering the question about the definition of consciousness, consciousness is something luminous and cognizing. In order to explain the various ideas about consciousness and the insights associated with it, many classifications have been created that consider this phenomenon from different angles of view. First, the types of consciousness are divided into those that comprehend objects, and those that do not comprehend them. The comprehending types of consciousness, in turn, are divided into those that comprehend the object explicitly, and those that comprehend it implicitly. In the case when consciousness comprehends an object explicitly, the visibility of this object appears to it, while in the case when consciousness comprehends an object implicitly, its visibility is not to consciousness.

There is also a division into conceptual and non-conceptual consciousness. Conceptual consciousness comprehends its objects through mental images, which in Buddhist terminology are called either "verbal community" or "conceptual community." Non-conceptual consciousness comprehends its objects directly.

The following classifications are the division of the types of consciousness into reliable and unreliable, as well as the so-called seven categories of knowledge and awareness: direct perception, inference, subsequent knowledge, correct assumption, consciousness of an obvious but not recognized object, doubt and erroneous consciousness. Let's start with correct guess. For example, if a person, after listening to reliable information about the Four Noble Truths, begins to think about them exactly as he was taught, this consciousness is a correct assumption. Such a consciousness has not yet developed into that certain knowledge which comprehends the incontrovertibility of the Four Noble Truths, and yet it unmistakably or properly accepts them as they are. The correct assumption also has its own classifications, which I will not touch on.

The next of the seven categories of knowledge and awareness is consciousness of an explicit but unrecognized object. For example, if the visual consciousness is absorbed in some visual image, then even if the auditory consciousness hears a sound at that time, it will not be recognized. This consciousness of hearing is, in this case, the consciousness of an explicit but unrecognized object. From the point of view of the Sautrantika and Cittamatra schools, such types of consciousness take place in the case of direct sensory perception, direct mental perception and self-cognizing consciousness. Thus, out of the existing four types of direct perception, the consciousness of an explicit but unrecognized object cannot participate in direct yogic perception, so it certainly reveals its objects.

Then comes subsequent knowledge- this is consciousness comprehending an already comprehended object. In the Prasangika school, subsequent consciousness can refer to primary cognition, while in other systems this is impossible, since, for example, in the Cittamatra school, primary cognition is defined as “irrefutably knowing for the first time”, and therefore in this school subsequent cognition cannot be primary. However, in the Prasangika school, the term “primary” in relation to primary cognition does not mean “new”, but “basic”, and therefore the followers of this school consider primary cognition to be consciousness, irrefutable with respect to its main object. Why do other schools interpret primary cognition as irrefutably knowing? for the first time? The fact is that these schools recognize the self-existence of phenomena, and therefore, when the object designated as primary cognition must be found analytically, it is necessary to establish its irrefutability with respect to such self-existence. However, the Prasangika school argues that when we search for designated objects analytically, they cannot be found, and therefore the existence of phenomena, including primary cognition, cannot be established by such analysis. Therefore this school uses the term "primary knowledge" in the same sense as it is used all over the world, for the most common interpretation of this term is irrefutable or certain knowledge, but not new irrefutable knowledge. So, since subsequent knowledge and several of its varieties are irrefutable and certain, in the Prasangika school they are considered primary, or credible, types of knowledge.

Let's move on to the next category - erroneous consciousness comprehension of the object incorrectly. It has two subspecies: conceptual and non-conceptual erroneous consciousness. Further, there is such a category as doubt, which is a mental factor that deviates somewhat from its object both in one direction and in the other.

The last two categories of knowledge and awareness are direct perception and inference. In the Sautrantika school, direct perception is consciousness, object which is the phenomenon with its specific features, and the conclusion is the consciousness that takes as being an object general features of the phenomenon. There are several interpretations of this topic, but there is no need to explain them in the framework of our lecture.

In essence, direct perception - for example, the visual consciousness comprehending a flower - is all the essential features of a flower, but it does not necessarily recognize them, or certify them. The impermanence of the flower, as well as its composite character, its every minute destruction, its dependence on causes and conditions, etc. are present to the visual consciousness, but it does not necessarily notice or certify all these properties of the flower. Thus, direct perception "grabs" the object as a whole. As for the types of conceptual consciousness and concepts, they “grasp” objects only partially. Let's say, when conceptual consciousness cognizes a flower, it focuses on one of its qualities, not paying attention to many others, and thus cognizes the flower in a limited and incomplete way. After the non-conceptual consciousness has transmitted its information about the object, the conceptual consciousness can consider in turn all its qualities and their distinguishing features.

In order to understand how non-conceptual consciousness differs from conceptual consciousness, it is useful to distinguish between the objects of these types of consciousness. should be distinguished being an object from action object. According to Prasangika, the visual consciousness that perceives the form, this form is simultaneously with the appearance of its own existence. Thus, the visual consciousness that comprehends a form is a valid knowledge when it considers this form itself, as well as visibility it as self-existent, but is not valid knowledge when it considers the very fact of the self-existence of this form, since in fact this form is devoid of self-existence.

From the point of view of the false appearance of the self-existence of the object, this visual consciousness is considered erroneous, but this does not mean that it is erroneous in all respects. When it comes to comprehending or "grasping" the form itself, it is infallible, which means that it can be considered reliable knowledge, certifying the form (its existence). Consequently, as applied to various objects, it is both an erroneous consciousness and a reliable cognition. Concerning one and the same object, consciousness cannot be both erroneous and certain, but with regard to two different objects, the same consciousness can be characterized both as erroneous consciousness and as certain knowledge: it is erroneous in relation to the object that appears to it, but it is certain in relation to the object certified by it. object - that is, the object of the action.

This is the unique view of the Prasangika school, whose followers do not recognize that phenomena, even on a relative level, exist by virtue of their own properties. In another sub-school of the Madhyamika, the Svatantrika school, it is stated that the object to be negated from the point of view of emptiness does not appear before the sense consciousnesses, but in the Prasangika school, the object of negation, self-existence, appears even to the sense consciousnesses. Therefore, according to this system, even reliable cognition can be mistaken in the case when the object that appears to this consciousness seems to be self-existent. Therefore, all kinds of consciousness, except for wisdom, which directly comprehends emptiness, are erroneous about the objects that are them.

But in this case, it can be objected that an erroneous consciousness cannot verify the existence of such relative phenomena as forms. Indeed, the presence of a truly established form could be verified only by a consciousness that is not deluded about the appearance of the self-existence of this form. However, since truly established forms are not recognized even conditionally, it is argued that the forms are false - they seem to be truly established, but in reality they are not, and therefore an erroneous consciousness would rather certify their falsity. This point is essential for understanding the view of emptiness. It is based on the fact that all kinds of consciousness are deliberately erroneous, with the exception of the direct knowledge of emptiness by an arya who is in meditation.

In addition, consciousness is established by virtue of the appearance of an object to it, regardless of whether this phenomenon is genuine or false. For example, self-existence appears to the consciousness that perceives self-existence, and it is thanks to this appearance that this consciousness certifies self-existence. Since this appearance arises in the consciousness, the given consciousness is reliable with respect to it and is even considered to be direct reliable cognition. Therefore, with regard to the appearance of self-existence, even a false consciousness that perceives self-existence is certain and is considered immediate reliable knowledge - it is certain simply because self-existence appears to it. And yet it is false, because self-existence has never been, is not, and never will be.

From the book From Medicine to Meditation author Rajneesh Bhagwan Shri

From the Dhammapada. Stars are born out of chaos author Rajneesh Bhagwan Shri

From the book I would be happy if it were not for... Getting rid of any kind of addiction author Freidman Oleg

From the book How to Prepare for Death and Help the Dying by Khadro Sangye

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Buddhism and psychology

I want to talk a little about the mixing of Buddhism and psychology, and also a little about the psychology of practitioners in our Community. Many people, when they hear me talk about this subject, immediately think: “Oh, I know who he is really talking to! He is talking about that woman or that man...” Thus, they generally avoid taking my words with their hearts. Ninety-nine percent of the time you think I'm talking about someone else, I'm actually talking about you. This is the protection of your ego, always avoiding the truth about yourself, so that the ego is never damaged. I have seen many practitioners who have spent years in the Community successfully avoiding looking at themselves. And I'm sure even as I write these words, many of you have already read them and said to yourself, "Oh, this is not about me, this is Rimpoche talking about him." A good awareness practice that people should do is that as soon as the mind jumps to some criticism of another person, one should immediately turn around and take this judgment to oneself. Instead of continuing your negative evaluations, you could actually develop some awareness. This is one of the meanings of using the mirror symbol.

There is a tendency in our community to form relationships only with the master. They strive to be around me, but they continue to show a kind of suspicion towards other practitioners, seeing them as a bit like "enemies". Many of you may think that you are not, and for example, your mind may be making a list of all the friends in the community. I would like you to take the time to take a long, hard look at yourself. This attitude is a very subtle thing that hides in a small corner of your existence. This means that when a lama leaves, it is very difficult for people to really work together without conflict, because in fact they secretly distrust other practitioners. It was always there, but they didn't realize it. These deep hidden feelings form envy and anger. If people were really present in the state of the mirror, they would notice this in themselves and recognize it as an obstacle to their personal development and to the development of the community.

There is a belief that I recently heard that I found very interesting. It goes like this: “You teach others best what you yourself need to learn the most.” The best way to really learn something is to teach someone else. And very often what you are going to teach or talk about is the thing that you yourself need to learn. Unfortunately, most teachers, as well as most people, use this opportunity to be a teacher in order to separate themselves from others and put on a mask of knowledge, and then they can no longer learn anything from this situation, but can only feel superior. But if you are aware, you can use the opportunity to teach differently to see what you need to develop and to do so. I remember when I first started teaching Dzogchen, how surprised I was when I found that the teaching helped to forcefully remind me to integrate my practice into my daily life. This is another example of looking in the mirror. It sometimes happens in the community that the longer people study Dzogchen, the more they feel the ability to evaluate others. In fact, it may be that the first year, or the first two years, they feel a little awakened by the teaching and perhaps there is a slight change in them. But immediately after that, they accept Dzogchen as a new armor, harden and continue to criticize, condemn or teach others how to live. Then, in fact, they remain unaffected by the teaching, and their life is as useless as if they had never met the dharma. Of course there is nothing wrong with criticism as long as it is truly positive and helpful. But sometimes, when members of the community get together, they look like a bunch of wayward old men and women complaining about life and each other. And these are people on their way to realization!

I have often seen so many practitioners who viciously criticize others, often not even present. The practitioner should try to be aware of his actions all the time, only in this way everything can be used for his development. He must be aware of the real content of his cruel criticism of others or his sarcasm or his own anger, for if he wants to develop his anger he can develop his support for criticism and sarcasm. However, if he wants to reduce his anger, he must use his desire to criticize as an opportunity to look at himself in the mirror and recognize how his anger works. At this point, he should feel the anger as his own and relax into that feeling, not get caught up in it and reject it, and not run away from the anger by projecting it onto another person. This is one of the ways in which one has to continuously work with oneself in Dzogchen. Without this constant reflection it is almost impossible to reduce the causes of karma.

Sometimes it seems that the members of the community are like a group of children crawling around trying to be first. Repeating that they think what I think, they want some kind of reward from me for being good kids. If this is the case, then no one in our community will ever be able to develop the individual courage needed to become a real practitioner. Ultimately, on the path to realization, you must be alone with yourself. I often think of a story about a flock of geese flying south. The lead goose noticed a group of hunters far ahead and quietly said to the goose on the left: "Shhh! ... Keep quiet and pass on." Instead of quietly conveying this phrase to the next one, the goose began to shout: “Keep quiet and pass it on!” And the next goose did the same, and the next, and the next, until all the geese began to shout at the top of their lungs: “Keep quiet!” And of course, the hunters saw them and shot them all. There is a teacher-student relationship where the teacher must sometimes criticize the student in order to help him learn. If this were not the case, then there would be no need to have a teacher, and we would be able to realize ourselves without any help. I recently had an experience with several people in various places in the Community where I criticized a student a little and the student came back to me and said, "I looked in the mirror, but my face is clear." It was a little sad for me because the egos of such people have become so strong that they will never let the words of the person they consider their master see through. If you really want to develop on this path, you must strive to find the slightest truth in what the master has said and then work with that truth in order to reduce the power of the ego. If I tell someone they're doing something wrong it means a lot of things, but it's certainly not an opportunity for people to jump in and immediately start imitating me like a robot and at the same time label this person I was talking about as bad. As I said, practitioners must be bold and also creative. The robot never does anything wrong, and therefore it never runs the risk of being angered by the teacher. However, it can never become realized. If I am correcting someone in the Community, that is my function as a master. Judgments such as whether this person is good or bad are not implied here.

If you want to teach or transmit Dzogchen, you must respect its nature, rules, methods and point of view. All this has a basis in history and tradition. If you want to teach and practice psychotherapy, you must, to the best of your ability, learn the deepest and most valid methods available to impart and help people. Or, of course, you could create your own system. However, the roots of therapy and teaching are quite different. They both have functions, but the functions are not the same. Therefore, they cannot be interchanged in the same way that when cooking food, everything is randomly thrown into one pot: a little therapy, a little teaching, put on fire, mix and feed it to people as if it were one dish. Along the way, they will both lose their nutritional properties, and of course all the invited guests will have an upset stomach. Why? Because you did not respect the basic properties of the ingredients used. If you want to derive real value from a teaching, you must accept it in its entirety. And it seems to me that if you want to derive real value from psychotherapy, you must enter into some real process in the depths of your heart that leads to its goals.

I am not against psychotherapy at all. It can be of real benefit. However, it is similar to modern medicine (I am not against medicine at all, as you all know, and I think that we should use everything that is available in the modern world, but see it for what it is). Psychotherapy is like a pill or medicine for a specific disease, but like medicine it cannot heal the soul. It can only treat local diseases. People should turn to her when they need it and if they really need it. To me, the idea that is common in the West that psychotherapy is for everyone is wrong. It's like giving everyone chemotherapy, whether they have cancer or not. And if you have cancer, you should try to find a really qualified doctor. The same applies to therapy.

I don't agree with the idea, which is so common, that anyone can become a therapist. I feel that even in psychotherapy, you have to be highly educated and try to work on some really sound grounds. Otherwise, you will do more harm than good to the person and create a lot of confusion in his mind. This does not mean that only the most traditional schools are necessarily correct and useful. Some very unconventional approaches may also be good. However, it seems impossible that one person could study the human psyche for one or two years, or even four years, as often happens in the West, and then open a store to help people, taking a little from one school, a little from another. Psychotherapists must be very serious about their work as they deal with the depths of another person's being.

But psychotherapy and dharma do not have the same goal and different path. Doing one thing can help another, just as anything positive you do will generally enhance other facets of your life. The goal of psychotherapy is mainly to improve the ability of a person to function on earth as such and throughout his life: to help a person in his work, in relations with his children, in other relationships, and in general to cleanse the relationship of a person with his family, mother and father. The Dharma is for your ultimate realization, forever, for all your lives. It concerns the purification of all your spiritual karma, not only throughout this life and not only in connection with the initial psychological situation of the relationship with mother and father. It is a practice that goes beyond psychology. What is beyond psychology? state of contemplation. Entering contemplation, we enter the universal reality beyond samsara. In this state, the cycle of hopes and fears of human life becomes unimportant compared to the bliss and timeless expanse of reality. So dharma is meant to help the individual to transcend samsara. Whereas therapy is to help a person function better in samsara. And to confuse these two principles implies that the dharma lacks methods to really help a person. It's as if you could say that the dharma needs some improvement, so if I add a little psychotherapy to it, it really becomes something powerful. However, dharma is a holistic path.

The teachings have been going on for a thousand years and have been transmitted in a precise manner that has never changed. When there was no psychotherapy, for example, the teachings still helped people achieve enlightenment and realize the rainbow body. Psychotherapy is a relatively new invention for humanity. There are now hundreds of different therapies and new shoots are sprouting every day. It seems to me that several types of therapy also die every day. If we allowed the teaching to go on like this, mixing and changing every day, for a hundred years the teaching would be completely diluted, and now people would not be able to find the real essence of dharma. Then the dharma would also be gone. I have said many times that the teaching must be practiced in a precise manner. This does not mean that because Westerners are more familiar with psychotherapy, they should study the dharma more psychologically or mixed with psychotherapy in some way. It's like saying to a person who wants to learn how to fly, “Oh, you know how to walk. So if I show you a few more examples of walking, then you can figure out how to fly.” It's obviously absurd, and thus never get off the ground.

Today, many people in psychology are starting to say that the five buddha families are associated with blocking the five negative emotions. Hence, they feel that they can somehow use psychology to work with the forms of the deities. First of all, it is quite clear that the term "emotional block" does not exist in Buddhism. This is a term invented in psychology. Secondly, as we know, there are no such things as spirits or deities in psychology (in fact, I believe that many non-Buddhist psychologists would be very upset at the idea of ​​linking the two, since they see psychology as a science and Buddhism as a religion). ). The various tantras give precise ways of dealing with the five families with precise methods and descriptions. These things are not something that can be invented or changed at any moment like creating a new hybrid of psychology and Buddhism.

People should always remember that there is a difference in the point of view of Dzogchen and therapy. The focus of Dzogchen is on the essential enlightened nature of man, which is somehow obscured from himself and which he must rediscover. In the enlightened state, the state of contemplation that we are trying to remember and stay in, there is no difference between good and evil, pain or pleasure. All things are simply forms of existence, an example of our essential ability to manifest. Like a mirror whose nature is to reflect everything without judgment, the differences in form are exactly the same. This is not a fantasy or an idyllic world, but the actual nature of reality. If a person has some experience of the state of contemplation, he will quickly understand what I am saying for himself. Therefore, it is not just a turn of phrase to say that we are all buddhas, enlightened beings. We are like that, we just lost our presence in this knowledge.

Although very difficult to generalize, it seems very different from a psychology point of view. The main emphasis in psychological work is on the illness of the patient and on human social illnesses in general. This is of course necessary for the time being. If a person is sick and the doctor is going to help cure the disease, he should focus on the pain. But sometimes, as I have observed, this leads people to develop their ability to evaluate others and themselves in a negative way. There may be a tendency to look at differences between people as diseases. Instead of allowing human life to have many different manifestations and forms, psychotherapy has a tendency to regard one type as healthy and the rest as unhealthy. If a person gets stuck in psychotherapy, the whole world can become a scene of neurosis for him, and each person will be perceived as sick in one way or another.

Even if this were true, it is not yet time to put an end to it. Neuroses and illnesses are only a small part of the potential manifestations of human existence. In each of us there is and always will be disease and suffering, yet at the same time there is a state of enlightenment. Moreover, without the perspective of the teachings that have shown that everything is an illusion, people often believe that their perception of their own and others' illnesses is real and concrete. Sometimes people can become very attached to their pain or become masters at blaming, knowing better and better who is causing that suffering. Thus demonstrating little real change in their actions. One of the dangers of psychotherapy is that it can develop the human capacity to separate themselves and see things dualistically: subject-object, good-bad, right-wrong. However, I do not blame psychotherapy in general, since human nature in general has these tendencies, and many practitioners continue to manifest these things without the help of any psychotherapy.

Of course, both patients and practitioners are equally capable of being conditioned by their past karma. I can give a small example which is actually very common. I had a student who followed the teachings for many years and was a very diligent practitioner. In the early period of her life, her father died and left her in the arms of a working mother. As an adult, she had many relationships, and because she was attractive, men were easily attracted to her. Many years have passed, and now she is forty. She has told me many times over the years that her heart desires a long-term love relationship and possibly children. However, she also told me quite clearly that after her father died when she was little, she was never capable of it, as she could not really trust men. This is what she told me herself. She had never been in therapy and in fact was completely against the idea. Now that she is older, she has definitely decided that all her relationships will end badly, and that it is best to remain single for the rest of her life. Of course, there is nothing wrong with being alone if that is your real desire, but here we are talking about a person who is completely conditioned by her past and is aware that she is conditioned, and in the end chose to accept her conditioning as real and inevitable. . No matter how difficult it is, the practitioner should always try to discover the absolute unreality of all things: thoughts, feelings, past events. And in this way you learn to free yourself from illusions, from reality and the rigidity of the mind, which are always an obstacle to development on the path.

But in Dzogchen you try to look in the mirror again, see your abilities and weaknesses, and strive to free yourself in whatever way is appropriate for your particular conditions. These may be dharma or non-dharma methods, but it must always be remembered that the method is secondary to the goal of entering into and remaining in a state of contemplation.

This brings me to mention one of the greatest differences between the viewpoints of traditional therapy and Buddhism in general. In psychotherapy, the ego is seen as having a function and, when it functions in a healthy way, is essential to the prosperity and life of human beings. All practices and philosophy in dharma are aimed at dissolving the ego. Ego is the main obstacle to the state of contemplation and enlightenment. This is a force that creates the illusion of separateness of subject and object and hides the real unity of all nature. (Some Buddhist psychotherapists might say that in order to give up the ego, one must first work to strengthen and create a healthy ego. One must have something solid and clearly defined before one can accept its rejection. That is entirely fair.)

However, I do not really intend to make a comparison between psychology and Buddhism. This would require endless discussions and is indeed a different and difficult topic. I just want to point out very few things that help people understand and reflect on the uniqueness of these two forms. From what I know, psychology and psychotherapy can of course be very helpful depending on the circumstances. It is possible that for people with difficult emotional problems, therapy is necessary or helpful before they can even have the presence to begin meditation or even to continue meditation. Perhaps also psychotherapy is needed to dissolve energetic imbalances that are associated with deep and difficult emotional problems. Therefore, for many people, therapy can be something like preliminary purification practices for entering the path of dharma. This I can only guess from what people have told me about their personal experiences. It's hard for me to judge accurately as I haven't had direct experience with any type of therapy and very likely won't.

I have often heard the question raised: “Aren't people different in today's world? Maybe they need psychology, while the Tibetans, who are a simpler people, do not need it?” I think volumes could be written on this topic. For the time being I would just mention a few things. I feel that human beings everywhere are indeed fundamentally the same profoundly. But of course, they are due to different things. Tibetans who have grown up in the West will act and think like Westerners, and the reverse is also true. In ancient Tibet, most people were poor and illiterate, and very few people were educated and knowledgeable. They lived in a non-technological world, and outside of it they developed a religion whose task was to lead the individual out of the endless cycle of pain and suffering that they believed life was. Unlike the Judeo-Christian tradition, this religion was not based on belief in God, but on belief in the divine potential of every human being. Next to this was the belief in various protectors and spirits associated with the natural elements and the earth. This religion can be very simply divided into two categories. The first aspect of religion is based on faith, devotion and simple prayers for uneducated people. The second part of this religion contains a more complex philosophy and a series of methods and paths that require greater development of the mental faculties. This is for the few individuals who have developed their mind sufficiently to be able to work directly with the mind. Perhaps precisely because the Tibetans did not develop along a technological path, they never had the illusion that man could dominate the elements or the cosmos. All spirituality, for educated or uneducated people, was aimed at a new unity of the individual with the cosmos and work with these forces. Recently in history, the Western world began to develop along the scientific technological path, and from here came the belief in the primacy of cause and effect in this new complex modern world. For people like us who live in the modern world, it is possible to use psychology and sociology to help our overall understanding of ourselves and our environment, without confusing or confusing it with the teachings.

There is a clear big difference between Westerners and people who live and grow up in less educated countries like Tibet. The first thing I noticed was that Westerners, thrown into the high-speed world of multiplying gratification, seem to have very short attention spans. They seem to generally aim for some amazing result immediately, and if they don't get it, they quickly get offended or switch to other things. Often they want the result to come from outside. They want the master to help, show them, heal them and, in essence, make them enlightened with the snap of their fingers. Therefore, I think it is much easier for people to accept many of today's therapists, because the conditions allow them to be much more passive when the doctor devotes regular hours to them for their benefit. (There are also other types of rapid emotional release therapies that can to satisfy the longing for movement and change, whether it can be endured or not). This is completely different from the Dzogchen path, where the whole realization is based on the practice that you do alone in your daily life or in retreat. Moreover, although it is quite clear to me that a person can become realized at any moment if he can simply awaken to his own essential enlightened nature, this usually does not happen. People have to dedicate years and years, slowly peeling off layers of obscurations and negative karma. As I have said many times, most of the people who have attained realization in Tibet have spent their lives dedicated to practice and meditation, often retreating to caves. Although in Dzogchen you should not spend your life in retreat, you should still dedicate your life to practice for the sake of results.

After all, it is very difficult to actually change human beings by any method, and the nature of karma is a bit like glue. Its purpose is to remain adherent to human skin. Sometimes I wonder if Westerners have the maturity and perseverance to follow the path long and hard enough to achieve profound results. What can happen to a person if he mixes teaching with psychotherapy and then teaches this to other people. What problems will this person have with the dharmapalas? It's hard to judge this for sure, but it's best to judge it in terms of what will happen when he teaches something that is wrong and it spreads to other people and may even remain for other generations. This means that it can cause many people to misunderstand, possibly for a long time. He can cause others to continue to suffer. This is hard karma. Again, I repeat that this does not mean that you cannot use psychotherapy in your daily life. You can use it, but you also need to know the essential difference between the two. On the path of Dzogchen you should use everything to help your personal realization, but don't be confused, this does not mean that Dzogchen needs psychotherapy to be complete. On the contrary, Dzogchen does not reject or accept anything in life, but does everything through contemplation.

Now, it seems to me, despite everything that I have already said, there will be some people who will read this article and happily think: “Ah, look, despite the fact that he did not say it directly, Norbu Rimpoche is actually against psychotherapy. . I have always disliked psychotherapy and now I have an excuse. All the other people in the community who are doing psychotherapy will now really understand this.” Of course, I did not say this, and also people who are against psychotherapy should be aware of why they are against it. There is no pros and cons in Dzogchen. And if you find yourself rejecting something, you need to be aware that this is also a form of anger, and that anger is rooted in attachment. People in the community who have decided that they do not like psychotherapy should ask themselves what they are attached to, what they are afraid of losing. These are probably the very people who would benefit the most from psychotherapy.

This would be a way of working on oneself on the path of Dzogchen. This requires great self-responsibility and awareness, because Dzogchen is the path of liberation. However, freedom does not mean a license, like a license to destroy something. There is also order in freedom. When a person is really developed, a deep freedom is within him, then he automatically respects the integrity of other things. Dzogchen is considered the highest teaching precisely because it offers all the deepest techniques of realization quite openly. However, a diamond placed on the hand of a blind or stupid person has no value. Dzogchen requires that a person, in gaining this vast knowledge, be at a high enough level to know the value of what is offered to him and to cope with the real freedom that this implies. This freedom implies that you have the power to do whatever it takes to free yourself and help others do the same, or to destroy yourself, your teacher, and the teachings themselves.

Using everything to develop our awareness and reduce the obstacles of negative karma, we must always maintain the unique unity of the jewel that is the teaching. If we do not defend the doctrine as a whole, then what can we offer children and their children? What a vast opportunity for realization will disappear from the earth.

(Reprinted from: Buddhism and Psychology
by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, Shang Shung Edizioni)
Translation: Yuri Nevzgoda