[Buddha-l] Was the Buddha mentally ill?

[Joy Vriens]

Dear Richard,

What are the white blouses doing with you on this course? I remember that
you wrote years ago that the only remedy for the frustration Buddhism wants
to tackle is to learn not to have unrealistic desires. And hasn't Ajahn Chah
taught to enjoy things as long as they last, but to remember that they won't
last?

What does DSH4 consider "normally pleasurable activities"? What used to be
considered as "normally pleasurable activities", are mainly the ones that
are quite simple and free are less and less the norm. But enjoying one's own
unplugged, unwireless company, peace and quiet is no longer considered a
normally pleasurable activity.

You make doctor Buddhaghosa sound like Dale Carnegie or the average
therapist with his brightly lighted rooms, beautifully colored flowers and
easy-listening music. It is worse to cover up melancholia than to actually
go through the motion. I find it quite awful to walk into a toilet to smell
deodorant AND shit. I prefer the straightforward smell of shit. At least you
know what you are dealing with. I knew a dentist who disguised himself as a
clown in order to make the children believe he had good intentions. It
doesn't really work. Children, like melancholics and pessimists are no
fools. Apparently when Freud was telling stories to his children or
grandchildren, one of them, I forgot who, asked him whether it was a true
story and if it wasn't he wouldn't be interested to listen to it. What they
seem to be trying to sell you at this course is the tyranny of happiness as
Pascal Bruckner calls it in his L’euphorie perpétuelle.


> In his extensive discussion of meditation in Visuddhimaggo, Dr Buddhaghosa
> (whose name means the noise of awakening, probably referring to the loud
> snort that snoring people make as they suddenly lurch awake as a result of
> sleep apnea) warns that meditation, like medication, can be
> counterproductive if taken for the wrong ailments. People prone to
> melancholia, for example, are warned not to undertake the traditional
> Buddhist practice of watching corpses decompose, or contemplating the
> disgusting aspects of food, or reflecting on the loathsome aspects of having
> a physical body. People who are prone to what we would now call depression,
> he says, should seek brightly lighted rooms, beautifully colored flowers,
> pleasant-tasting food and comfortable clothing. Once they find life
> enjoyable again, THEN they should do all those practices that make life seem
> unbearable. For all other ailments, Dr Buddhaghosa has a panacea: "Take too
> deep breaths and call me in the morning."
>
> From the point of view of current views on mental illness, none of this
> looks very promising.


There is no escape from market economy and consumerism then? Either you are
hooked and you are a hedonist junkie and normal or you are an anhedonist and
they will burn the mark of DSH4 on your forehead and you will need therapy
and medicine?

I would say more but i have to do the laundry after contemplating it. My
body produces even more loathsome liquids during summer.

Joy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnzHtm1jhL4