Ancient Buddhist Tales Reveal Prophesy Of Psychiatry

MessageToEagle.com – Ancient Buddhist tales reveal several number of DSM-defined disorders like hysteria, sexual dysfunction, gender dysphoria, paraphilias, substance abuse, personality disorders, psychosis, schizophrenia, depression, autism, and even Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder and Intermittent Explosive Disorder.

The Buddha used such stories to heal people with emotional and spiritual problems.

According to archaeological and literary evidence, the Játaka stories were compiled in the period, the 3rd Century B.C. to the 5th Century A.D.

“The Buddhist Játaka stories describe various types of mental disorders and how it affects the individual as well as the society,” writes medical doctor Ruwan M. Jayatunge.

“For centuries these stories helped the people to treat individuals with mental illnesses with utmost compassion. There is no evidence of persecution of psychiatric patients in the ancient Buddhist societies.”

“The Khuddaka Nikáya contains 550 stories the Buddha told of his previous lifetimes as an aspiring Bodhisattva or a person who compassionately refrains from entering nirvana in order to save others and is worshipped as a deity in Mahayana Buddhism…

Jakata
The Jataka Stories or the collection of the stories of the previous births of Sakyamuni Buddha, (563 BC-483 BC).

The Játaka stories were a form of teaching approach which used the case method. This method consists in presenting the disciples with a case and did descriptive, exploratory analysis of a person, his mental state, actions and consequences.

The Buddha knew the power of storytelling. The Buddha used such stories to heal people with emotional and spiritual problems. These stories gave insight and created Aha moments,” Dr. Jayatunge explains.

The mind is central to Buddhists. Gaining peace and tranquility of mind is of great importance to Buddhists. Buddhist meditation practices focus on inner transformation leading to calm and peacefulness. Inner transformation is attained by one’s own efforts.

There are some deep rooted aspects of the human nature which keep clouding our mind, disturbing its calm, not allowing us to keep our mind at ease.

They make our mind instable and keep it away from tranquility. These deep rooted aspects of human nature are referred to in Buddhist teachings as ‘Lobha, Dosha and Moha’ or greed, hatred and delusion respectively, which are considered as the three mental poisons.

They cause us to like and get attracted to certain things and to dislike and run away from other things (aversion). They are responsible for unwholesome deeds that we commit as we travel through life.

On a psychological and emotional level they prevent us from seeing things from a balanced perspective and because of them, our sense of reality is always twisted and distorted.

Buddhist meditation practices help one to develop a state of consciousness leading to a state of awakening to realities of life, to self understanding, and eventually to the ultimate meaning of life.

Still, as the ancient Jaacute;taka stories reveal, Buddhist teachings were also familiar with mental illness and disorders and the accounts written down in these scripts can be considered the beginning of modern psychiatry and definition of DSM disorders.

© MessageToEagle.com