Meditation illnesses

Meditation illnesses appear when we apply effort wrongly, or apply effort deficiently. Sometimes, with exactly the same way of applying effort, one person falls ill and another does not. The reason is that each person's constitution is different, and each person's aptitude and strength of merit are different. It is like eating: the same hot, spicy or harmful food makes one person ill while another feels refreshed. It is like the affairs of the world: one person does something wrong and is at once ridiculed and cursed, while another does the same thing and no one says anything.

In the same way, almost all methods have advantages in one respect and shortcomings in another; no method is absolutely complete in advantages, even though the master teachers always extol the perfect superiority of the method they are propagating. Today, in the spirit of objective study, we should not be attracted by such self-praise from the methods. Very many master teachers have even dared to disparage the Buddha's own teachings in order to exalt their own method. This is a sad phenomenon in Buddhism.

Even so, although a method has shortcomings, there are still people who practise it with good results that add to the method's prestige. And conversely, there are also people who practise it and fall ill.

When we follow the path from the lowest foundation of settling the body, building ethics and accumulating merit, the advantage is that we do not suffer these kinds of meditation illness, but we must accept that it takes time.

1. Headache

Headache has many causes.

First, while we are concentrating in sitting meditation, we may be drawn by some topic and keep drifting along with thought without end. Deliberately keeping up thinking while sitting in meditation is a grave fault, and so the headache appears. To cure this condition, we must recite the Buddha's name in repentance and then firmly let go of every matter, however important that matter may be. We must see the world as a dream so as not to regard anything as too important. Only keeping the mind pure in order to reach non-self is the essential matter. With such a stance, we gradually escape the pull of delusive thoughts and cure the headache.

Second, we may be using a method that pays too much attention to the head, so that the Yin force is depleted and force runs up to the head, producing tension. Some people practise a method that constantly focuses attention on the head but do not get headaches, only because such a person has a very strong innate true Yin, and the force below is never depleted however much he attends to the head. To cure headache in this case, we must change to a method whose attention points downward, such as settling the body, abiding the mind at a single point at the Đan điền, the palms of the hands, and so on. Above all, paying attention to keeping the body soft and motionless helps the brain's health a great deal.

Third, we may be practising some contemplation inaccurately. Perhaps we contemplate that all things are impermanent, illusory, empty and so on, but do not penetrate it successfully, stopping at the level of thinking, so that it turns into agitation and headache. To cure this case, we must temporarily switch to the practice of following the breath, keeping the mind below the abdomen. Only afterwards should we study again how to practise Prajna contemplation. Moreover, Prajna contemplation, which sees everything in the world as illusory, is suitable only for people who have too much merit, are too successful, and have many blessings in life, and is not suitable for people lacking merit. People lacking merit who meet much adversity must reflect on the law of cause and effect in order to repent, and must not regard life as nothing.

Fourth, the headache may be because we have just had a mistaken thought about the Buddha, about the teachings, or about some venerable elder worthy of respect. That is, this headache is because we have lost merit through a reckless thought. We must trace back the thoughts of recent times and quickly repent, and it will go away. Fifth, sometimes a headache is not a meditation illness but a physical illness such as sinusitis, a chill, high blood pressure and so on. Those illnesses can still reduce our ability to gather the mind. Sometimes, when we sit in meditation with the head raised high, we also get a headache.

2. Bodily illnesses

Back pain may be because we are sitting with a bent back. Conversely, if we sit with the back arched too much, the chest will hurt. Sitting with the chest thrust out too much makes the chest hurt and the brain tense. Conversely, if we sit with a bent back, the back hurts and the mind gradually weakens. Therefore we must choose the straightness of the back moderately and suitably, so that it looks good from outside and feels right to ourselves.

Weak legs may be because we got up and walked off in a hurry when ending meditation. We must wait a while until the legs are truly normal before standing up and walking. Massaging the legs after ending meditation is also a necessary action. It is also good to know some important acupoints in the leg region, such as zusanli (túc tam lý), yongquan (dũng tuyền), sanyinjiao (tam âm giao) and so on, and press them each time we end meditation.

A choked, tight breath is because we deliberately control the breath to go up and down. In that control we press a little, use a little force. Or anyone who imagines the breath going deep into the flesh will also feel choked and tight. To cure this illness, we must relax the whole body, know the breath clearly but not interfere or control it, and let the breath go in and out naturally. Knowing clearly but not interfering is the key point in the work of practising the breath. If we gently abide at a single point at the Đan điền, that also helps the breath open up. In addition, breathing while having too many delusive thoughts also makes the breath choked and uncomfortable.

Exhaustion may be because we force ourselves to sit longer than our strength allows in order to complete the hours prescribed in the assembly. When we do not yet have enough power of concentration, forcing ourselves to sit for a long time while enduring the pain in the legs wears down our health a great deal. We need to endure pain to train the will, but we must not endure pain for too long, only a moderate amount suited to our level. Later, when merit is sufficient and the power of concentration is there, the time of sitting in meditation will naturally become longer.

Sloth and torpor has two causes. Either we are short of sleep, and now when we sit in meditation and the mind settles, sleep immediately comes over us to make up for it. The second cause is that past karmic obstacles are making trouble, so that our mind keeps sinking into dullness and stillness; sitting in meditation we feel sleepy, and on ending meditation we are wide awake. If it is the first cause, lack of sleep, we should allow ourselves to nap a little, and then, sitting in meditation afterwards, we will be alert as normal.

If it is the second cause, we must use our will to fight the sleepiness and must not indulge it. In addition, we must bow to the Buddha in repentance a great deal, and at the same time accumulate much merit to resolve our karma.

Whoever has eliminated the hindrance of restlessness no longer suffers from sloth and torpor.

Itching in the skin of the face or below the body, as if ants or mosquitoes were poking and prodding, is due to mild irritation of the nerves. When we begin practising gathering the mind, there is a tug-of-war between the habit of thinking and the wish to end thinking. This tug-of-war mildly irritates the nerves of the skin and creates the sensation of itching. After a period of applying effort, that itching sensation will go away by itself. Another cause is that unwholesome thoughts still present are also signalled by an itching sensation in the skin.

Trembling of the two legs while sitting in meditation has two causes. One is that the tendons of the legs are still too stiff, not yet supple, so when squeezed into the full lotus posture the legs tremble violently. Or it is because the mind is too tense while sitting in meditation, causing the brain to send signals into the legs that make an artificial trembling. Therefore, if it is because the tendons of the legs are stiff, it will go away by itself after a while, when the legs are supple. If it is because of tension, we must quickly let go of the whole body and let go of the whole mind, and it will go away.

3. Personality disorders

In some cases, after a period of practising meditative concentration by some method, we suffer psychological disturbance or personality disorder. The cause in each case differs, as follows. Being more irritable than before is because we feel ourselves superior to others, that is, a mind of arrogance and pride has appeared. Or because we think that we know how to practise while others are deluded and do not know how to practise. Or because the path of our method teaches us to exalt ourselves excessively. The theory of the true mind and Buddha-nature also contributes to making practitioners see themselves as too lofty. The practitioner needs to aim resolutely at the goal of non-self to avoid this illness of self-importance. The thought of regarding oneself as straw, dust and sand is very effective in preventing the mind of arrogance and pride from appearing (see Moral Psychology).

Irritability also appears because we apply effort by suppression, not knowing how to be unhurried and gentle. Irritability sometimes also arises because we apply effort by paying too much attention to the head, so the true energy runs upward and does not settle below. When the true Yin loses its force, the psychology also becomes unstable.

Indifference to everyone and everything around us is also a personality disorder. If we practise rightly, we will be both calm in the face of life's upheavals and more caring towards people than before. But if we practise wrongly, we become indifferent and no longer concerned about those around us. That is a sign that compassion is not developing but tending to decline. The cause is that we gather the mind quickly and easily without having gone beforehand through a basis of much intention of compassion. In fact, gathering the mind too easily is a disadvantage for ourselves and for others later, because we will pass on a deficient method. Many Zen masters achieved very great things themselves but left behind a teaching full of weaknesses, and this too is from such a cause. To cure this illness, we must contemplate compassion a great deal.

Talking too much is also a kind of psychological disorder. By rights, the more we practise meditation, the less we should say meaningless things, saying only what is necessary, but because we apply effort wrongly, we become more talkative than before. The cause is that we have not achieved the power of concentration, so the cortex is agitated and thoughts pour out, pushing the mouth to chatter. Another cause is that we pay too much attention to the head, so force runs up to the brain and agitates it. A person with this illness opens his mouth and talks about the Dharma all day without tiring, but listening carefully we will find it full of boasting and conceit. Such a person is also prone to flare up in anger. To cure this illness, the practitioner must bow to the Buddha in repentance a great deal, then change the way of applying effort so that the mind settles and force sinks downward.

Rivalry and conceit is the most dangerous illness of a person who practises meditation. A person with this illness often argues right and wrong with everyone, especially about the Dharma and Zen sayings. The Dharma is a path for practising, but for a person with the illness of rivalry, the Dharma has become a means of contesting who is higher or lower. They look for every little slip in each other's words in order to take the win for themselves. In a person with this illness, the humble mind vanishes; he always looks down on people, regards no one as anything, and even disparages virtuous senior elders.

Many new sects that have appeared with the intent of undermining Buddhism also pass on to their followers the idea of disparaging the Buddha and the senior elders of Buddhism. We need to contribute our efforts to wiping out such dangerous sects, because to undermine Buddhism is to commit the foremost crime in the world, none greater. As for those infected with the thought of disparaging the Buddha's Dharma in this way, they have lost all good roots and will fall into the evil realms.

A person with the illness of conceit finds it very hard to escape, because that person never sees himself as mistaken and stubbornly insists that he is the most correct in the world. If they do not have the good fortune to escape this conceit, much misfortune awaits them in the future, either dire poverty and continual failure, or severe mental disorder.

If at any time we recognise that we have this illness and want to escape it, we must bow to the Buddha in repentance a great deal, and at the same time regard ourselves as dust, sand and straw, thinking that there are countless people in the world who are millions upon millions of times more talented and virtuous than we are. In life we must be careful of each thought of arrogance that is always lying in wait to disparage others. We must always put ourselves down so that thoughts of arrogance are restrained. After a long time, when the humble mind has been restored, there is then a way for merit to rise up.

Seeing everything as nothing is an illness arising from a mistaken understanding of the Prajna teaching. Many Prajna sutras intended for Bodhisattvas of boundless merit taught that Bodhisattvas must regard the whole world as an illusion, as a dream. For example, the end of the Diamond Sutra also has a famous verse setting out the view of all conditioned things as a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow in a mirror, like dew that quickly melts, like lightning that quickly vanishes. A reader at once forgets all the teaching before it and knows only the final passage, and from then on regards everything as nothing, ignoring even the extremely important principle of karmic results. Seeing everything as nothing leads to the harm of belittling many things that ought to be cherished and treasured. There are matters of ethics that we must take seriously, but a person who misunderstands Prajna belittles everything.

Moreover, when we are in adverse and difficult circumstances, we should only contemplate karmic conditions to see our own past faults. After accepting the fault on ourselves, we will feel our soul calmer and steadier, and good fortune will also come more easily. Only when we have achieved boundless merit should we contemplate all things as empty so as not to cling or be proud. When we are still too lacking in merit and keep regarding everything as empty, merit is damaged further because we have unwittingly belittled what we should have respected. Sexual arousal is also recorded as having occurred in some people who were diligently in retreat. The cause is also paying too much attention above the head. Although the sensation of sexual arousal is located in the lower reproductive organs, in fact the mechanism that controls sexual sensation lies in the brain above. When we pay attention above, or when we give rise to a hidden thought of arrogance, at once the region of the brain controlling sexual activity is set in motion. To cure this illness, we need to intend humility and bow to the Buddha in repentance. Then we place the mind down at the Đan điền and, if necessary, look straight at that sensation with resolute defiance. After a few times of facing and looking straight at the sensation of arousal, that sensation will dissolve. This illness is very hard to cure in anyone who is too arrogant. The more arrogant a person is, the more easily he is governed by sensual desire, even though outwardly he acts talented and well versed in the Dharma.

Madness is the meditation illness most often heard of, so much so that many people, out of fear, dare not enter the practice of meditation. Madness appears only when merit has been very seriously damaged. In physiological terms, madness appears only when the brain has been damaged. The brain is damaged because force from below rushes up and smashes it. But in fact the force rushing up from below only makes the head tense and does not cause madness. Only when the force rushing up from below meets a thought of self-importance and arrogance lying in wait does it create an explosion that shatters the brain and makes the person truly mad. Almost always, once a person has gone mad, this life is regarded as lost; even if cured, it is hard for him to progress in practice. That person can only create merit and repent, waiting for rebirth in a later life with a new brain to practise again.

A mad person also cannot save himself any longer; he can only rely on relatives to create merit and dedicate it to him, and then be taken to a psychiatric hospital to be treated to some extent by doctors using specialised therapy.

Many people who study diligently and well and then go mad, like people who practise meditation diligently and well and then go mad, share the same structure: concentrating too much on the head, together with a fair amount of self-important thought. Practitioners who often belittle the Saints, even regard themselves as equal to the Buddha, regard everyone as beneath them, think themselves lofty and extraordinary, and so on, have already sown the causes of madness, and only await the day the results appear. That is also hell in the present life.

In the present age, quite many people suffer mental illness simply because a culture of humility and courtesy is being replaced by a way of life of arrogance, conceit and discourtesy. The young are no longer required to respect their elders, and are even indulged so that they become fierce, stubborn and discourteous. This is the cause that creates the dense mental disorders in the world today. Parents who love their children must know how to teach them to be courteous and respectful to everyone, and must teach them to revere the Triple Gem. That is precisely the way to keep a child's brain healthy and lasting in later life.

4. Abuse of supernatural powers

This is a kind of meditation illness for practitioners who are so successful that they begin to have some supernatural powers, such as knowing how to read people, hearing the tiniest sounds of insects, composing poems as fast as lightning, going many days without needing sleep, making the body radiate a halo, and so on. But because they do not know how to restrain themselves, the practitioners use them constantly until they cannot get free any more, and it becomes an illness.

Always giving rise to the mind that observes everything about those around him, such as temperament, fortune, past and future, and so on, eventually the mind cannot settle, and only the observing mind remains until the mind becomes extremely disordered again and he goes mad. When one can look at a person and know about their life, of course one already regards oneself as a superman. It is precisely because we are proud and delighted that we use that power constantly and bring disaster on ourselves. A person who practises meditation must wisely let supernatural powers pass in order to avoid such meditation illnesses.

Composing poems as fast as lightning is also a supernatural power. In fact, composing poetry is very hard, because besides the idea, the words must be arranged according to a complex rule of rhyme and metre. Sometimes a poet has to search for three or four days to find a single word that satisfies him. Yet a person who attains this kind of supernatural power opens his mouth and it becomes a poem, with rhyme and metre too, sometimes clumsy and shallow, but overall it still forms a poem. Praised by those around him again and again, this person composes poems continually to give to the world, and in the end the ideas of poetry in his head will not go out. The final result everyone knows. Only a person with good roots who knows to give it up at once and find ways to enter deep concentration can escape.

Other kinds of supernatural power, when displayed and abused, all have similar consequences. Therefore a person who practises meditation, even if he attains supernatural powers, must know to let them pass, and must not display them or be proud of them, so as to avoid this kind of meditation illness, because it is very hard to cure.

In fact there are very many kinds of meditation illness peculiar to each person that cannot be listed in full, but they all have a structure like the kinds we have mentioned. If we only know clearly the mechanism by which illness arises, handling it is within reach.

Question: Observe the signs of meditation illness in ourselves and in those around us.