(I must remind that the past two blogs, the contents therein, and others forthcoming are taken from the book "Unlocking the Mysteries of Birth and Death." written by Daisaku Ideda, President of Soka Gakkai International, a Society of lay people who practice Nichiren Buddhism, members of which are in over 180 countries around the world.)
Greetings and salutations my friends, Happy monday Dec. 20, 2010. Now on to continuing Causes of illness, the title today is, Illnesses of the mind. (in 2 parts).
The fifth cause of disease is the working of "devils" from within that minifest in the form of mental illness.
The concept of devils and their role in illness bears some exploration. Devil ( or MARA in Sanskrit) is often translated as "the destroyer" or "robber of life". Devils in Buddhist mythology are personification of negative internal functions. They represent selfish attachments and bad influences that hinder people's pursuit of truth and that work to prevent them from cultivating a strong, positive life force. Devilish functions are aspects of our own lives that damage our health and hamper the practice of Buddhist teachings.
Devils represent the fundamental tendency of an individual's life toward disharmony of body and mind. Unlike the other four causes of illness, this affects the realm of the mind. Its source is located not in external influences but within the individual, so that the person's life is robbed of its brilliance. The result is the emergence of life's fundamental darkness or delusion.
From darkness and delusion teh three poisons --greed, anger, and foolishness. These poisons are understood as the source of all destructive, selfish desires or attachments, and are essentially devilish.
Greed sends all five sense organs off in a perpetual, insatiable, search for gratification -- wealth, love, food, fame, idleness, and so on --- draining us of innate life force. When our lives are dominated by greed, all our energy is directed toward the object of our desire, weakening us as if the blood were draining from our bodies.
Anger indicates malice born of hatred, which prevents one's heart from turning to goodness and disturbs the harmonious relationships between self and others. This disturbance can lead to conflict of colossal proportrions, engendering strife and war that may eventually destroy our lives.
Foolishness means ignorance of one's own Buddha nature and is characterized by blindness to the law of Cause and Effect, as well as shortsighted attachment to immediate gain. Foolishness prevents people from seeing the damage an unwise way of living has caused to their bodies and minds.
These three poisons are among what Buddhsim terms the basic illusions or "earthly desires". Each is accompanied by specific traits. Greed, for example, is associated with miserliness, self-indulgence, guilt, deceit and adulation. Anger brings about resentment, hatred, irritation, jealousy and the urge to harm other living beings. Twenty such specific traits are identified in Buddhism, and they in turn give rise to an even greater variety of destructive qualities that can disrupt the harmony of life to where we become extremely ill in body or mind --or both. The varied ways in which mental illnesses arise and the complexity of the workings of all these destructive qualities give rise to what are said to be 84,000 types of mental illness as opposed to a mere 404 types of physiological illness.
Another way of looking at earthly desires is in terms of three categories of illusions; illusions of thought and desire, illusions as uncountable as particles of dust and sand, and illusions about the true nature of existence.
Phew, we are half way through this most interesting subject and should give you fair substance for thought and pondering. I will complete and finish this particular subject matter on Wednesday. Thanks so much for visiting and I invite comment. Cheers CJ
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