Developing Mental Health - A Reflection in the Afternoon of Life

Time and tide wait for no man. Once upon a time we were young. We were healthy, strong, and brimming with youthful confidence. It seems at that time that we can take on the world and there is nothing that we are not capable of doing. But then the years marched by so silently fast, many things happened in the meantime, and before we know it middle-age has caught up with us. We are no longer that young.

The youthful and naïve confidence that we once had is there no longer, replaced, hopefully, by confidence born of experience. But if recklessness was our way of life in those younger days, or if fortune was not on our side, regrets over the lost years or despair over what the future holds may now surface. At early middle-age, unless we are really unfortunate, we can still very well perform most of the physical and mental activities that we did when we were younger. But our health and strength are beginning to show the early signs of clear decline.

Skin and hairs begin to age at an accelerated pace. Eyesight begins the slow process of diminishing. We would soon, if we haven't already, be needing a pair of spectacles. Muscles and bones start to weaken. And unless we are still recklessly holding on to the delusion of youth, things such as regular exercise, healthy diet, regular sleeping hours, abstinence from drinking and smoking, have become necessities. At forties, or, for our era, even earlier than that, we begin to hear of people coming down with various kinds of ailments: Hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart diseases, even cancer. These are but some of the tell-tale signs that the sure process of aging is asserting itself.

Aging is a process that had been going on since the day we were born. But when we were young aging is not called aging. It is called growing up, maturing, the flowering of youth, or some other sugar coated expression like these. But whatever we choose to call it there is an undeniable process of change going on continuously since our birth, nay, since our conception in our mothers' womb. However, once we hit forties aging starts to become simply what it is: the process of getting old. At
forties we may still be relatively young but the slow march towards the grave has begun in earnest. As one teacher once put it, we have arrived in the afternoon of our life. And we may also add that evening is not too far away.

In traditional Buddhist texts we find mention of people who are moved by a spiritual sense of urgency (saṃvega) on encountering the first sign of aging. We hear, for example, of kings who renounced their kingdom and wealth and took to the ascetic life upon seeing the first strand of white hair on their crown; Bodhisattas whose heart was stirred by the sight of an old man, sick man, and a corpse, and moved to action by the sight of an ascetic to also renounce as the kings did; and many others who upon hearing of or observing for themselves, the truth of birth, aging, sickness, and death in their  life, very quickly embarked on an earnest spiritual quest to seek an answer to these existential suffering.

As Buddhists, we have read their accounts in books or heard them during one of the Dhamma talks we attended. And many of us have been inspired by them. Yet when we arrived at middle-age and the reality of aging, sickness, and death begins to impress itself more clearly in our life, the first thought that comes to the mind of most people is seldom motivated by a spiritual sense of urgency to begin practising the Dhamma more earnestly.

Instead, we find that most people, seized by concern about their failing health, will turn their attention first to various exercises like qigong, taiqi, yoga, pilates, aerobics, various kinds of diet regime, various kinds of tonics and health supplements, etc. Such concern with health is of course understandable. Unless kamma or some other circumstances forbid, a person in early middle-age still expects to live for a minimum of another two or three decades, if not more. And if one is to live for that long it might as well be a life of quality. And good health is essential to live a quality life. Good health also decreases the probability of being afflicted with major health problems such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, etc. which requires major health care expenses. And medical expenses these days can cost a fortune.

However, one should also remember that practising the Dhamma is also essential to live a quality life. In fact a life without Dhamma is a life devoid of quality in the truest sense because Dhamma not only supports us in this life and the many lives to come. It also guides, inclines, and leads us gradually to realise the complete release from existential suffering. But in order to practise the Dhamma properly it is helpful again to have good health. Of course those who are skilful in Dhamma practise, those Dhamma heroes and heroines, may be able to carry on the practise even when their health suffers a setback. But good health is undeniably a supportive condition for successful practise of Dhamma. In fact in Bodhirājakumāra Sutta (Majjhima-Nikāya Sutta 85) the Buddha listed good health as one among the five factors of striving (padhāniyaṅgāni), possessing which one is capable of realising the goal of the holy life, i.e. liberation from suffering, even within a single day. The other four factors are faith, freedom from deceitfulness and insincerity, having aroused-energy, and wisdom.

Therefore one who is practising Dhamma should indeed show some concern for the state of one's health. However, one should also be careful not to let this concern about health turn into an obsession such that the thought about one's health begins to preoccupy one's mind all the time to the exclusion of other more important matters like for example the practise of Dhamma. Good health is just a means to an end, not the end itself.

The focus of maintaining a good health is primarily on the body. But when it comes to Dhamma it is the mind that takes precedence over the body. The Buddha is famously quoted to have said that when the body is sick let not the mind also be sick (Saṃyutta-Nikāya, Khandhasaṃyutta, Sutta  1). This means that even in the absence of a healthy body we must not neglect nor give up the training of the mind. After all, despite all the time, effort, and money we spent taking care of the body, this body will be with us and support us for only this life. The mind, however, will follow us into the many lives to come. It will in fact follow us until the day we attain the complete release from saṃsāric suffering. And so it is the mind that is more important, and its development emphasised by the Buddha. Therefore while it is important that we take care to keep our body healthy we must also never neglect the health of our mind.

Just as we exercise our body regularly we must also exercise the mind. When we exercise the body we exert various part of the body in order to strengthen, develop, and keep them in good shape so that they can continue to work efficiently and reliably for us. Similarly and for the same purpose we need to exercise the various parts of the mind. What are these parts of the mind that we need to exercise? They are all the wholesome and beneficial mental-factors (cetasika) that constitute the mind, such as faith (confidence), mindfulness, clear-comprehension, energetic-effort, concentration, joy, detachment, loving-kindness, equanimity, tranquillity, etc. When we develop and fill our mind with these wholesome and beneficial mental-factors, exercise them regularly to make them firm and strong, our mind will become clear, steady, balanced and able to perform its work efficiently and reliably.

How do we develop and exercise them? We do so by developing and exercising the mind in a wholesome way through the mental-aerobics exercise that the Buddha had taught us, i.e. through meditation. To develop these wholesome and beneficial mental-factors we need to meditate regularly. Unless one is a spiritual prodigy with vast accumulation of pāramīs or qualities of spiritual-perfection from having practised much in past lives, mindfulness in daily life is not going to be enough. Remember that even our Bodhisatta, prior to his enlightenment, spent all his time meditating intensively in the forest. Many of his arahant disciples did likewise. To really develop these mental-factors to a degree where they can possess the strength and right balance to work efficiently and reliably we need to systematically develop, strengthen, hone, sharpen, and balance them through meditative practises. Developed in this way these mental-factors can serve as positive transformative agents that can uplift the quality of our mind and therefore our life. Ultimately they may even bring us all the way to attain enlightenment and liberation from existential suffering, if that is in fact what we are aiming for.

Meditation teachers usually advice to set aside special time daily for formal meditative practise. One should at least do one or two session of formal sitting meditation practise daily. And of course one should also try to maintain mindfulness and clear-comprehension during other parts of the day when  one goes about one's daily life routine. And, more importantly, from time to time one should also make it a point to go for a meditation retreat to meditate intensively for a period of at least ten days to two weeks. If one is able to meditate longer than this, so much the better.

It is during this time of intensive meditative practise that the opportunity really arises to develop these wholesome and beneficial mental-factors to greater heights and excellence. The mind can really be strengthened, become clearer, healthy, and balanced through a period of dedicated intensive meditation practise. One will emerge wiser, more detached, with greater mental strength and clarity to do the dictates of wisdom and resists the demands of the mental-defilements. This would in turn help to boost one's confidence and courage to do what is right and in accordance with the Dhamma and to avoid what is wrong and against the Dhamma. One's accumulation of good kamma increases and of bad kamma decreases. And as one persists on continuously in the practise of Dhamma and one's insight into the nature of life deepens one will gradually begin to let go of more and more of saṃsāric suffering. All these will go a long way towards uplifting the quality of one's life.

And just as we take care of our body by watching our diet, by not bringing into our body unhealthy and toxic food, by ingesting only healthy and nutritious food, in the same way we must watch what we bring into our mind. For example unwholesome mental-defilements such as greed, obsessive desire, conceit, ill-will, aversion, jealousy, avariciousness, fear, restlessness, delusion, etc. are unhealthy to our mind and should be prevented from entering into our mind. When they do enter into our mind they are toxic and poison the mind, causing mental unrest, obsession, irritation, or even psychological disorder in extreme cases. They cause the mind to fall sick.

We must provide the mind with healthy and wholesome nutriments so that it can become healthy, strong and free from diseases (i.e. free from mental-defilements). What are these healthy and wholesome nutriments for the mind? They are again the wholesome and beneficial mental-factors such as faith, mindfulness, clear-comprehension, energetic-effort, concentration, joy, detachment, loving-kindness, equanimity, tranquillity, etc. Of particular importance are faith, energetic-effort, mindfulness, and clear-comprehension, because it is mainly from these that all the other wholesome mental-factors can develop properly.

How do we prevent the unhealthy mental-defilements from entering the mind and how do we imbue it with healthy and wholesome mental-factors? We do this by practising the Dhamma of sīla (virtuous-conduct), samādhi (concentration), and paññā (wisdom). We establish ourselves in sīla in order to restrain the gross mental-defilements that result in gross violation of acceptable moral values. We restrain the mental-defilements further by practising sense-restraint, exercising mindfulness and clear-comprehension of all our experiences arising at the doors of our six-senses. We tranquillise the defilements by settling down the mind, focussing it in a wholesome way through the practise of samādhi. By developing insight into the nature of impermanence, suffering, and non-self, we can gradually weaken the latent tendencies in the mind towards these defilements. And when insight wisdom reaches the peak of maturity, knowledge of the Noble Path (magga-ñāṇa) will arise that will eradicate the defilements completely and irreversibly.

As much as we possibly can we should also try to avoid objects that tend to arouse the mental-defilements and people who are possess of gross mental-defilements. Of course we do not live in an ideal world. For lay people especially it is impossible to live a life insulated from such objects and people. It is impossible even for monks to acquire such an ideal environment all the time. Inevitably we  will come into contact with them. What do we do when we do encounter them? We recourse again to mindfulness and clear-comprehension and with faith and energetic-effort, firmly incline our mind towards the Dhamma, towards what is wholesome.

And to help us incline our mind towards the wholesome Dhamma we associate with noble, virtuous, and wise people, people whose life exemplify the Dhamma, people who are the epitome of the  Dhamma, who speak the Dhamma, and encourage others to walk the way of Dhamma. We seek out the company of such wise and knowledgeable teachers and learn their teaching, ask them questions and ponder over their teaching repeatedly in our mind. And more importantly we put them into practise.

Besides association with such noble and wise teachers it is also helpful to read Dhamma books and listen to Dhamma talks written or spoken by credible and respectable teachers. Association with like minded people, people who are also interested in the practise of the Dhamma like us, is also very helpful. For the faithful, objects connected with the Dhamma are helpful tools to incline the mind to the Dhamma. Objects such as Buddha images, pagodas, shrines, the Saṅgha of monks, a group of yogis meditating quietly and diligently together in a meditation hall, etc. are very inspiring objects to those of faithful nature. For those inclined towards wisdom, a Dhamma discussion with a wise and knowledgeable teacher or a yogi with deep experience of insight will serve the same purpose. All these are helpful towards inclining our mind in the direction of the wholesome Dhamma.

But above all these, and most important of all, we need to meditate. Meditation is the best way to incline the mind towards the Dhamma. Satipaṭṭhāna Vipassanā meditation is the best way to incline the mind towards the highest Dhamma: liberation from all existential suffering. Meditation is also the best way to prevent all the toxic and poison of the mental-defilements from entering into our minds and to fill it with wholesome and healthy nutrition consisting in the wholesome mental-factors as mentioned above.

In conclusion, the Buddha, as mentioned above, had said that when the body is sick let not the mind also be sick. While physical health is important and very helpful, mental health is of paramount importance. A person may have a healthy and strong body. But if the mind is not healthy it is not happy and the quality of life suffers regardless. On the other hand a person may suffer from certain physical ailments, but if the mind is healthy then it is able to understand, to accept, to cope, to maintain mental equilibrium and remain in equanimity. Through wholesome reflection of the Dhamma the mind can even become happy and joyful. So the quality of life does not suffer despite one's poor health.

A healthy mind guided by Dhamma is kept free from mental-defilements and tends to accumulate more wholesome kamma then unwholesome ones. And this is very helpful in raising the quality of our life not only for this life but in many lives to come, for as long as we still remain in saṃsāra. Guided by the Dhamma also the healthy mind will develop insight into the nature of life, into the nature of impermanence, suffering, and non-self. This will eventually lead us to realise the complete cessation of existential suffering.

Meditation, especially Satipaṭṭhāna Vipassanā meditation is the best way to develop and cultivate a  healthy mind. So while we take care of our physical health let us not neglect to also take care of our mental health. Let us pursue the practise of meditation earnestly so that when it is time for us to depart from this life we do not only leave behind a broken up body but also bring with us into the next life a healthy and wholesome mind that has been developed and cultivated through a lifetime of Dhamma practise. Only then can we say that our existence as a human being had been worth it.