Edited by Nicholas Ribush - Buddhism

1 EBUDDHANET'SBOOKLIBRARYE-mail: site: Dharma Education Association by Nicholas RibushBecoming Your Own Therapist by Ven. Thubten YesheBecoming Your Own Therapist by Ven. Thubten YesheBecoming Your Own TherapistAn Introduction to the Buddhist Way of Thoughtby Ven. Lama Thubten YesheEdited by Nicholas Ribushpage 1 Lama Yeshe Wisdom ArchiveVen. Lama Thubten Yeshepage 2 First published 199810,000 copies for free distributionLama Yeshe Wisdom ArchivePO Box 356 Brookline MA 02496, USA FPMT 1998 Please do not reproduce any part of this PDF by any means whatsoever without our 1 891868 00 4 Please contact the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive at: for printed versions of this PDF Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive: Becoming Your Own Therapistpage 3 Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive: Becoming Your Own TherapistContentsEditor s Introduction Finding Ourselves Through Buddhism Religion.

2 The Path of Inquiry A Glimpse of Buddhist Psychology Biographies Publisher s Acknowledgements page 4 Publisher s AppreciationIn this, the first publication of the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive, we pay tribute to our holyguru, Geshe Lama Thubten Yeshe Rinpoche, who brought the light of Dharma to the Tibetan,yeshemeans divine wisdom , and in this booklet, Lama s divine wisdom, love andcompassion radiate from every word of his precious teachings, blessing all who read them, alleviatingtheir suffering and bringing them quickly to enlightenment. It is our great joy to share Lama sprofound wisdom with you forever we take refuge in our peerless teacher, Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, who hasintroduced thousands of people to the Dharma and guided us in every way since Lama Yeshe passedaway in 1984.

3 Out of his great kindness and compassion, Rinpoche established the Archive in May,1996, to make available the teachings it contains. We pray for his continued guidance until samsara would also like to express our appreciation for the incredible work done by Peter and NicoleKedge and Ven. Ailsa Cameron in developing the Archive over the past ten years or so. Without theirdedication and skill, this limitless source of infinite wisdom would not be nearly as accessible as it of their efforts, fortunate readers all over the world have been able to read the teachings ofLama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche and in future will be able to read many RibushDirectorJanuary 1998 Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive: Becoming Your Own Therapistpage 5 Editor s IntroductionLama Yeshe s teachings are unique.

4 Nobody taught like Lama. Spontaneous, from the heart,in the moment, direct; every word an instruction to be practiced. Lama s English wasunique. Nobody spoke like Lama. Highly creative, Lama expressed himself not onlyverbally, but physically and facially as well. How to convey this miraculous transmission on paper? As I have noted elsewhere, those of us presented with this challenge do the best we Lama frequently liked to point out, his teachings were not dry, academic, philosophicaldiscourses but practical, down to earth methods for looking within and understanding the always challenged us to find out who we are, what we are. In his inimitable, provocative style, hewould dare us to examine our preconceptions fearlessly, in the hope that we would see for ourselveshow everything comes from the mind; that we create our own suffering and happiness; that we musttake personal responsibility for whatever we experience, good or we offer three talks by Lama Yeshe on the general topic of Buddhism .

5 They were publiclectures given more than twenty years ago to mainly Western audiences. Nevertheless, as Lama alsoliked to point out, Lord Buddha s timeless teachings are as universally relevant today as they werewhen they were first given, over 2,500 years ago. Therefore, there is no doubt that now, a mere twodecades down the road, Lama Yeshe s teachings are as globally applicable as they were back in the lecture is followed by a question and answer session. Lama and his audiences always enjoyedthe give and take of these lively exchanges, and pretty much anything went. For most people, it wasLama Yeshe Wisdom Archive: Becoming Your Own Therapistpage 6their first ever encounter with a Tibetan lama, and they brought along several years worth ofquestions.

6 As is apparent, Lama handled everything with great compassion, humor and these talks were called lectures, I think Lama would have each of us use them as a mirrorfor our minds and look beyond the words, find ourselves, and become our own would like to thank Cheryl Bentsen, Rand Engel and Wendy Cook for their insightful comments,which greatly improved the Edited version of these talks, and Garrett Brown and Jennifer Martin fortheir help in the design and production of the Yeshe Wisdom Archive: Becoming Your Own Therapistpage 7 Finding Ourselves Through BuddhismWhen we study Buddhism , we are studying ourselves, the nature of our own of focusing on some supreme being, Buddhism emphasizes more practicalmatters, such as how to lead our lives, how to integrate our minds and how to keepour everyday lives peaceful and healthy.

7 In other words, Buddhism always accentuates experientialknowledge wisdom rather than some dogmatic view. In fact, we don t even consider Buddhism to bea religion in the usual sense of the term. From the lamas point of view, Buddhist teachings are morein the realm of philosophy, science or human mind instinctively seeks happiness. East, West there s no difference; everybody s doingthe same thing. But if your search for happiness is causing you to grasp emotionally at the senseworld, it can be very dangerous. You have no , don t think that control is an Eastern thing, a Buddhist thing. We all need control, especiallythose of us caught up in the materialistic life; psychologically, emotionally, we re too involved inobjects of attachment.

8 From the Buddhist point of view, that s an unhealthy mind; the person ismentally , you already know that external, scientific technological development alone cannot satisfythe desires of your attachment or solve your other emotional problems. But what Lord Buddha steaching shows you is the characteristic nature of human potential, the capacity of the human you study Buddhism , you learn what you are and how to develop further; instead ofemphasizing some kind of supernatural belief system, Buddhist methods teach you to develop a deepunderstanding of yourself and all other Yeshe Wisdom Archive: Becoming Your Own Therapistpage 8 However, whether you are religious or a materialist, a believer or an atheist, it is crucial that youknow how your own mind works.

9 If you don t, you ll go around thinking you re healthy, when inreality, the deep root of afflictive emotions, the true cause of all psychological disease, is there,growing within you. Because of that, all it takes is some tiny external thing changing, somethinginsignificant going wrong, and within a few seconds, you re completely upset. To me, that showsyou re mentally ill. Why? Because you re obsessed with the sense world, blinded by attachment, andunder the control of the fundamental cause of all problems, not knowing the nature of your own doesn t matter if you try to refute what I m saying by telling me that you don t believe it. It s not aquestion of belief. No matter how much you say, I don t believe I have a nose, your nose is still there,right between your eyes.

10 Your nose is always there, whether you believe it or ve met many people who proudly proclaim, I m not a believer. They re so proud of theirprofessed lack of belief in anything. You check up; this is important to know. In the world today thereare so many contradictions. Scientific materialists boast, I don t believe ; religious people say, I believe. But no matter what you think, you still need to know the characteristic nature of yourown mind. If you don t, then no matter how much you talk about the shortcomings of attachment,you have no idea what attachment actually is or how to control it. Words are easy. What s reallydifficult is to understand the true nature of example, when people first made cars and planes, their intention was to be able to do thingsmore quickly so that they d have more time for rest.