Transforming Neuroses Through Love and Wisdom

“At the inception of Western psychology, when these forces were first being explored, named, and recognized as obstructive patterns, there was a tendency to reduce human experience into a myriad of diagnostic codes. By emphasizing what was wrong, psychology and neuroscience took an approach of “find and fix.” More recent developments in the field of psychology have come closer to the view of tantric Buddhism, which sees inner negative forces as transformable energetic states and not intrinsically bad. Buddhism emphasizes transforming neuroses through love and wisdom. Chöd views human consciousness as free of conditions, as pure awareness, or buddha nature. All of our inner poisons are incidental to that. Their nature is the display of our consciousness, which we should not be attached to. Tantric Buddhism teaches that the nature of everything that exists, including our neuroses, is sacred, and that our true nature is already perfect from the beginning. We work with neuroses in the spirit of love, acceptance, compassion, and playfulness. The vajra dance skillfully releases our neuroses in the most playful and ecstatic way.”

“More recent developments in the field of psychology have come closer to the view of tantric Buddhism, which sees inner negative forces as transformable energetic states and not intrinsically bad. Buddhism emphasizes transforming neuroses through love and wisdom. Chöd views human consciousness as free of conditions, as pure awareness, or buddha nature. All of our inner poisons are incidental to that. Their nature is the display of our consciousness, which we should not be attached to. Tantric Buddhism teaches that the nature of everything that exists, including our neuroses, is sacred, and that our true nature is already perfect from the beginning.”

Excerpt From
Into the Haunted Ground
Anam Thubten