Healing through meditation, interview with Tulkou Thondoup Rinpotche

With the progress of psychology, and transpersonal psychology in particular, Westerners are beginning to understand the benefits of practicing meditation to ensure good mental health.

By Jean-Claude Cartier

But they may still find it hard to imagine that this same meditation can have any impact on their physical health.

How can we show them the power of the mind in the body's healing process?

Indeed, the power of the mind is enormous; and meditation, or prayer, can heal us physically, or at least have a great influence on healing.

And it's not just a figure of speech, but a certainty in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition that healing with the mind is part of our way of life.

In Tibet, for example, when someone is ill, they first consult a lama, who will suggest a meditation practice. Only then do they go to the doctor. (But we're not in Tibet...and consulting a doctor here in the West is a prerequisite to any practice....)

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In other cases, when medication has proved ineffective against the disease, meditation or specific mantras can reverse the pathological process and have quite positive effects.

A friend of mine in my Massachusetts community had cancer twice. The first time, the doctors condemned him, telling him he had only five months to live. So he prepared himself for the eventuality of dying and began practicing meditation intensively.

Five months later, not only was he still alive, but there was no trace of cancer cells left. The doctors didn't understand

He lived a trouble-free five years, then suffered a recurrence. The same threats from the medical authorities: surgery or death! But, as he was also promised to end his life in a wheelchair after the operation, my friend preferred meditation... which, once again, cured him.

He is now eighty-three years old and doing perfectly well. (Please note that this is an example from the author, and should not be taken as a reason not to consult general practitioners and specialists)

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How to explain such wars

There are two reasons.

The first is easy to understand: when you meditate, your mind becomes calmer and quieter... and this quickly leads to physical and energetic relaxation. This kind of relaxation creates a space in which energies can flow more easily. Remember, if we are ever ill, it's because of a blockage at the energetic level. Body and mind are obviously linked; and any disconnection between them, however partial, any disharmony, however temporary, disrupts the energetic current and encourages the onset of illness.

Through meditation, we can recreate harmony between body and mind.

But beyond this basic relaxation - and this is the second reason for healing - there are specific techniques, such as visualization, which can positively stimulate the healing forces.

What are these techniques?

There are many of them, but they should obviously not be approached without a minimum of preparation. First and foremost, of course, you need to know how to relax, adopt an appropriate posture, breathe correctly, create a mental space of peace, then learn to visualize, concentrate, be attentive, open up, melt away...

Once this has been acquired, it's important to learn how to deal with problems in the right way. First of all, we need to accept them, recognize them, then find their source, resolve them by feeling them fully, and all this in a calm environment. But the most important thing is to see our problems as positive, to become their friend, and to understand how they help us to evolve.

Finally, we need to learn to rely on a source of power. For Buddhists, this might be the image, presence and blessing of a spiritual being or divinity, like the Buddha. Others rely on the contemplation of God or a sacred image, according to their personal beliefs. In fact, any form, entity or positive force can be chosen: the Sun, the Moon, space, a light, a sound, a smell... any form of energy to which we willingly lend the power to inspire and heal us.

Once we've completed this preliminary training, we can begin the exercises aimed at clearing energy blockages, or healing emotions and physical disorders, in short: awakening healing energies. And to do this, we'll have a number of techniques at our disposal, such as visualizing light...

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More specifically, where does meditation come into play in these techniques?

Meditation is obviously at the heart of all our techniques. Let's take the example of light again. In our tradition, light visualizations are the most common methods for healing emotional blockages and physical ailments such as tumors or arterial blockages.

Before starting visualization, we create a relaxed atmosphere, breathe deeply and mentally follow our breathing for a while. Then, depending on the nature and location of the blockage, a particular protocol is used. When, for example, the illness is heat-related, we visualize a cool white light emanating from the power source and encircling the upper part of the body. This light will attract illness like a magnet, drawing it out through your skull and dissolving it in the sky.

There are thus a great many meditation exercises specifically designed to treat particular health problems. Most of these exercises involve four steps: identifying the problem to be solved, using a source of power, applying the healing method, and the healing itself. But for healing to be effective, we need to use our powers of imagination, our understanding and our feelings, and we need to believe strongly in the healing process.

In this way, each of the four basic steps can be strengthened by four techniques: picturing the ailment we wish to cure in the form of an image, thinking of the term that designates it, feeling its particular qualities, and believing in its efficacy. Indeed, thoughts acquire greater power when they are given concrete form. When we see them, they become alive and immediately accessible. When we name them, we give them power. When we feel them, we become truly absorbed in them. And when we believe in their power, they become reality.

All this is meditation! A meditation which, overall, uses four tools: visualization of a positive image, which leads to positive thinking, which, in turn, leads to positive feeling, and then to positive belief.

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With these four tools, everyone can modify the energy system inside their body, facilitating energy circulation and thus helping the body to function better.

But the most important thing for good health is to feel peace, joy, strength and stability.

Now, all these feelings come from the mind, which confirms that the mind directs everything, that it is the source of everything.

And since everything comes from the mind, why not use the mind as a method?

Isn't there a difference between the peace created by the spirit, and the peace that begins when the spirit is silent e In the Christian tradition, a distinction is made between earthly peace and heavenly peace, notably in John's Gospel, where Christ says: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give it to you.

For Buddhists, peace is a concept!

By saying this, we want to draw your attention to a mental mechanism that you need to free yourself from.

If peace and detachment are synonymous with health, why is it that so many spiritual masters have died of cancer?

From the moment we are incarnated in a gross body, there are certain illnesses that we can cure... and others that we cannot.

What's more, illness is perceived in an entirely different way by a spiritual master. It is not only tolerated, but gratefully welcomed, and becomes a source of inspiration.

More generally, in Buddhism, the way we conceive of healing is different from the way Westerners see it. Our aim is not so much to eliminate a symptom as to achieve global healing, i.e. healing of the whole being.