There are many views on the mind and
body relationship. Some views, for example, are: when the mind and body interact, God makes it
happen; mind and body are the two sides of the same coin; mind is a byproduct
of the brain; and mind and body are separate but they affect one another.
However, there is no view which both traditional and scientific perspectives encompass
and accept. In this article I wish to present prospective views on the
mind-body relationship according to Tibetan medicine after explaining some of
the Western philosophical views.
The Two Major Views in Western Philosophy
There are two major views on the
mind-body relationship: monism and dualism. Monism is the belief that the mind
and body are the same thing, and that they are not separate entities. There are
two basic types of monism according to Saul McLeod: materialism and subjective
idealism.
Phenomenalism (also called Subjective
Idealism) is the belief that physical objects and events are
reducible to mental objects, properties, events. Ultimately, only mental objects,
i.e. the mind, exist (McLeod 2007).
Dualism is the belief
that the mind and the body are separate and not the same thing. According to Saul McLeod, there are two basic types of dualism: Descartes
dualism and Cartesian. Descartes dualism is the view that the mind and body
function separately, without interchange. Cartesian dualism argues that there
is a two-way interaction between mental and physical substances (McLeod 2007).
I am
totally confused on the classification of dualism by Saul McLeod as Cartesian
dualism, which is ascribed to Rene Descartes (1596-1650), according to the Psychology
Dictionary, is a theory of Descartes that says the mind could exist if the
material body did not. Rene Descartes said, “I think,
therefore I am” (Cogito Ergo Sum). “I think” might indicate the
existence of the non-material substance, the mind which can think, while
“therefore I am” might indicate the existence of the material substance, the
brain which can occupy space, which the mind cannot. Many philosophers refuted
his work by asking how the mind, which is immaterial, affects the material
body, and vice versa. Descartes argued that the interaction between the mind
and the body occurred in the pineal gland, the seat of the soul, without a detailed
explanation.
Tibetan medicine is neither monistic
nor Cartesian dualistic. From a Tibetan medical perspective, monism would be
considered irrational as the cause of the mind must be the nature of the mind
itself- an immaterial one that evolves from the afterlife of a living being. Just
as a seed of rice do not give rise to barley, the brain being material never
results in the origination of mind and thereby, the mind is not a byproduct of the
physical brain. Cartesian dualism, which believes that the mind and body are
two different substances, also goes beyond the concept of Tibetan medicine because
mind is ultimately not reducible to a substance. According to the Oxford
Advanced American Dictionary, substance means a type of solid, liquid, or gas that
has a particular quality.
In Tibetan medicine, mind and loong (rlung) are interrelated and carry out both mental and physical
activities by means of depending on the mechanism of trillions of neuron cells
in the brain as well as other parts of the body, thereby establishing an
interdependent nature of a mind-body relationship.
What is Mind?
The two qualities of the mind[1] generally
mentioned in Buddhist text books are clarity (gsal ba) and knowing (rig pa).
Clarity refers to the ultimate purity or enlightened state of mind, resembling
a blue sky without the emergence of clouds. However, the mind is continuously contaminated
with afflictive emotions, such as hatred, delusion, and attachment, unless
ignorance, the ultimate source of sufferings and diseases, is uprooted. Knowing
refers to the ability to know or cognize objects clearly.
The clarity of mind resembles a
light, which makes an object visible without perceiving any experiences. The
continuity of the mind resembles a river flowing into the sea continuously from
time immemorial.
Mind has the Nature of the Five Elements
Many scientists and philosophers
refute Cartesian dualism by saying that the immaterial substance of
consciousness or mind cannot not affect the material substance of the brain. In
Tibetan medicine, the mind and body relationship arises from their same natures
of the five elements, namely earth, water, fire, air and space. The nature of
the five elements particularly refers to their proportional qualities. Water
that we use every day and the water element I have mentioned above are totally
different. The normal water, which we use every day, has gross proportional
qualities of the five elements upon which it can be in variable states, namely
liquid, gas, and solid. Therefore, the mind being the possessor of elementary
nature does not reveal to a material substance.
Pragmatically, if the mind is devoid
of the elementary nature, it would not be able to unite with gamete (sperm and
ovum) during the embryological process. The formation of a human body occurs as
and when sperm, ovum and primary mind (rnam shes) get mingled simultaneously in
a mother’s womb. requires sperm , and nor
give rise to the five sensory consciousnesses. To form a human body, sperm,
ovum and mind The union of mind and body
The formation of a human body which experience the external environment through
gradual adaptation. In order to prove this concept, Desi Sangye Gyatso (1653-1706)
cited verses from the Tantra of Four Vajra Seats in his work of the Blue Beryl,
a commentary on the Four Tantras or Gyueshi (2006: 104):
“Mind has the nature of the water element
For being the source of ‘fluid’
That is why, after the departure of mind,
The body is not impregnated with water.
Mind, being the source of ‘fire’,
Keeps our body always warm
That is why, after the departure of mind,
The body does not remain warm.
The body, being the house of consciousness and ‘air’,
Breathes out like the emission of smoke
That is why, after the departure of mind,
The body neither inhales nor exhales.
The mind, being the source of ‘earth’
Is endowed with heaviness
That is why, after the departure of mind,
The body floats on the surface of the water”.
Along with the qualities of the five elements, the three poisons of the
mind give rise to the three principle energies of the body or nyepa sum (nyes pa gsum). The air
element and attachment give rise to loong
(rlung), the movement energy of the
body. The fire element and hatred give rise to tripa (mkhris pa), the
heat energy of the body. The earth and water elements as well as delusion give
rise to baekan (bad kan), solidifying and liquidizing the energy of the body.
Since the mind is endowed with the qualities of the five elements and the
body is made of the same elements, the mind and the body affect each other in
terms of health and disease.
Mind is an Integrated Part of loong (rlung)
Mind and loong in their subtlest forms are two
sides of the same coin, and maybe the last misery of modern science. Loong, at the gross level refers to the
movement energy of the body, while at the subtle level to the carrier or holder
of mind, generally known as loong sem
tramo (rlung sems phra mo) or the
subtlest form of mind and loong.
The functions of loong include the regulation of respiration, movement, and actions
of the body, speech and mind, the delivery of waste products, the smooth flow
of bodily constituents, and the sharpening of all sense organs. A balanced loong
sustains the body as a whole (Yonten
Gompo 2010: 76).
Being mobile and light, loong at the subtle level is the carrier
of mind, flowing through a rich tapestry of channels, similar to neurological
networks, throughout the body. The mind-loong
relationship can be explained metaphorically. The subtle mind without loong is a crippled man to the extent
that he can only see where to go, but he cannot walk; whereas loong without
the subtle mind is like a blind man who can only walk but does not know where
to go. If the two disabled men are amalgamated, the disability of eyes and legs
simultaneously disappears through the synergy of a perfect amalgamation.
Due to the integration of mind/loong, mental problems can be solved by treating loong. For instance, insomnia or
sleeplessness, which can be attributed to many factors such as encountering a life
threat or excessive thinking, can be tackled by treating loong disorders. Conversely, loong
disorders can also be cured by transforming the mind. For instance, a person with loong disorders can be treated by
accompanying him his or her loved ones,
and also through staying in a dark room.
Activities of mind-loong largely depend on the mechanism of
channels
A major breakthrough in neuroscience such as brain mapping
has boosted neurologists’ obsession with the mind or consciousness being the
epiphenomenon of neural activities. The neurological system, which is comprised
of the brain, the spinal cord and nerves spread throughout the body, in Tibetan
medicine is seen as a base for the activities of mind-loong. Just as the hidden phenomenon of neural activities have been
discovered and explained by neuroscientists, similar ideas were already expressed
in Tibetan medical text books, namely the Gyueshi, the fundamental text book of
Tibetan medicine written in the eighth century by Youthok Yonten Gonpo.
The
brain, being the base of the nervous system, is like a vast ocean of channels
from which the spinal cord descends like a descending root. According to the
Tibetan system, there are nineteen peripheral nerves which are responsible for
all physical mobility. Out of these, thirteen concealed nerves are connected
with the internal organs like suspended silk cords, whereas six visible nerves
which further branch into sixteen minor nerves are connected with the outer
limbs (Yonten
Gompo 2011: 56).
In
the medical text “King of the Moon” (zla bai rgyal po), it is mentioned that the
brain, being the controller of the body, is designated as the king of the body.
It is comprised of the cerebrum (klad pa)
and cerebellum (klad snying). Klad
snying resembles a horse hoof equally halved, connecting to the nerves,
ligaments and tendons, eyes, ears, nose, and tongue (1994: 18).
The Gyushi classifies four types of channels of existence.
Accordingly, in the brain there exist five hundred channels of sensory
functions that are responsible for perceiving and grasping their respective
objects. In the heart there are five hundred channels of memory functions that
are responsible for the clarity and development of the consciousness (Yonten
Gompo 2011: 48). If
these channels are adversely affected by the imbalanced state of the three
principle energies of the body, mental disorders might arise, such as nyojey (smyo byed), which today we might call psychosis, and jeejey (brjed byed) which is close to dementia. In the Gyueshi, psychosis
and dementia are considered secondary mental disorders because these disorders
are attributed to the blockage of the consciousness pathways (channels).
Health
through Balance
Due to the dependent nature of mind and body, the wellness
of mind affects the physical wellness and vice versa. When a person suffers
from physical illnesses, his mental state never remains unaffected, while
suffering from mental illnesses, his physical body never remains unaffected.
Therefore, health of both mind and body should be maintained through keeping a balance
between materialism and spirituality, excess and deficiency of tastes, as well
as overuse and underuse of physical, mental and verbal activities.
First, there should be a balance between materialism and spirituality.
Materialism hunts happiness and wellness if the person chases the unquenchable
thirst of money. Human beings are afflicted with unhappiness and unhealthiness
as a result of unsatisfactory thoughts. The more they get, the more they want.
It is very essential to limit unquenchable desire, be satisfied with what one
has. But, without financial intervention, proper health cannot be maintained.
Today’s world encounters a rising number of suicides, which might partly be
attributed to a lack of spiritual practice. Spirituality is not just a faith that
believes in the existence of an afterlife as well as a God, but could rather be
seen as a preventive counter measure to mental problems. Even in the advent of
science and technology, the practice of loving kindness, genuine compassion,
and meditation could play a significant role in the optimization of health and
wellness. The verses “Be with one’s lover; be happy always” are frequently
mentioned in the case of both prevention and treatment of diseases in the Four
Tantras of Tibetan medicine.
Second, there should be a balance between excess and
deficiency of tastes. The six tastes are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, hot and astringent.
The human body requires balanced tastes for its sustenance and nourishment, which
should largely be comprised of the former three tastes than the latter three.
For example, a sweet taste deficiency can cause the loss of physical strength, loong and tripa disorders, while a sweet taste excess can cause obesity and
diabetes, and reduces the digestive heat. There is an old saying, “an apple a
day keeps the doctor away”. According to Tibetan medicine, the saying is falsifiable both in principle and practice as
apple does not have all six types of tastes required for the growth and
development of the body.
Third, there should be balance
between underuse and overuse of mental, physical and verbal activities.
Underuse of physical activities, such as a sedentary lifestyle leads to the
development of obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and indigestion, while the
overuse of mental activities such as thinking too much, engaging in the rich
tapestry of a hectic life, contributes to the development of stress, anxiety,
and hypertension.
If all the three points mentioned above are kept in
balance, the three bodily principle energies get balanced, subsequently all the
channels in the body remain unobstructed, which enables energies, blood, and
mind/loong flow smoothly, resorting
to wellness of body and mind.
Diseases
means imbalance
Imbalance of taste, physical, mental and verbal
activities, and views as mentioned above will dismantle the balanced state of
the three principle energies, manifesting itself in various kinds of signs and
symptoms, such as pain and crying.
Consciousness is like a bird
supported by a tree. If the tree is shaken by a cyclone, then the bird also
shakes. If the tree falls, the bird flies away--this resembles the departure of
the consciousness [soul] from the body at death (Dorjee 2000: 16). Due to the interdependent
nature of mind and body as mentioned above, a physical disturbance in the body
explicitly or implicitly affects the healthy state of mind by disturbing the
equilibrium of loong, resulting in
the development of physical disorders and secondary mental disorders such as
psychosis (smyo byed) and dementia (brjed byed), which are partly caused by the
obstruction of the pathways of consciousness.
A mental disturbance affects the
healthy state of the physical body by disturbing the equilibrium state of loong, resulting in the development of loong, neurological disorders, and
primary mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, and evil spirit influences
(gdon). Primary mental disorders
cannot be treated with medicine. For instance, depression due to bereavement
should be treated by asserting the non-reality of life and expressing sweet
words into his or her ears; disorders caused by evil spirit influences are treated
by performing rites and rituals, and spiritual practice like meditating on
“emptiness” which helps to realize that nothing arises from an independent
source and nothing exists independently.
Conclusions
Life is an epiphenomenon of the interdependent
existence of mental and physical realms. The mental realm involves the mind and
the subtle form of loong, while the
physical realm involves the five elements, channels, and the human body. These
two realms interact within the neural networks, through the medium of loong.
In a metaphoric sense, the mind-body
relationship is like a relationship developed between a guest and a guesthouse.
A guest, according to his or her financial status, prefers to live in an
affordable guesthouse for a specific period of time, and eventually leaves the
house. Likewise, the mind, according to its karmic imprints and levels of
negative afflictions, inclines to unite with a forming body, finally leaving
the body, in pursuit of another one.
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