Afflictions and Diseases Are All Projections of the Mind

By carefully contemplating the delusory nature of our mind-consciousness and meticulously observing the illusory arising and ceasing of all phenomena in the world, the mind will reduce its clinging, lessen its fantasies and wandering thoughts, and thus mental illnesses among people will decrease, conditions like neurasthenia and insomnia will lessen, and various other ailments will diminish. Where do diseases originate? One source is the karmic retribution from past actions, and another is the afflictions and deluded thoughts generated in the present life. Sentient beings all create suffering for themselves. When the principle is understood, the mind is free from afflictions; when the principle is not understood, afflictions multiply endlessly, suffering becomes immeasurable—all self-inflicted, not given by others. All diseases are delusory and illusory; they have no origin, and when diseases cease, they have no place of cessation, because they are illusory. Understanding these principles thoroughly can cure all illnesses; no physicians or psychologists are needed, as all disease obstacles arise and cease illusorily. When the Buddha Dharma is mastered, all dharmas are mastered; by learning the Buddha Dharma well, all worldly dharmas are fully understood.

The physical illnesses of worldly people, their mental illnesses, all family troubles, and the anxieties of work and career—all such things result from being bound by one's own ignorance and karmic obstructions. Those who have not studied the Buddha Dharma do not understand these principles; those who have studied it but have not yet comprehended it clearly, failing to engage in profound contemplation and observation, are obscured by their own ignorance. To truly understand the truth of the world, one must first understand oneself; thereafter, all dharmas will be mastered. Therefore, the failure to master worldly dharmas stems from knots and bonds in the mind; what needs untying is one's own mental knots, not the resolution of external circumstances.

We should not complain that external sense objects are so troubling, that they insist on disturbing our minds. Instead, we should reflect on why our own minds are attracted by external forms, why they are seized by external forms. Why do we insist on clinging to external objects? Is it the external objects that seek to bind us, to cling to us? No, it is our own minds that insist on grasping or rejecting them, and consequently, we become stuck by the circumstances. Originally, we intended to grasp the circumstances, but instead, the circumstances grasp us. The five desires and six dusts bind us, causing us to suffer the pains of poverty and rebirth throughout countless lifetimes. Thus are we bound by all dharmas within the six paths of rebirth, bound within this vast ocean of afflictive birth and death.