Feixiao Xin---week 5

Shamanism believes that mental illness signals "the birth of a healer. They think mental illness is caused by the fusion of two energies. Shamanism believes that mental patients often have very strong special abilities. Mental illness belongs to the category of psychology. Shamanism is surprised that western countries send mental patients to hospitals for treatment. Shamanism believes that taking medicine does not solve this problem. Only through their special rituals can mental illness be controlled. It reminds me of an interview of Venerable Tenzin (Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo). As an outstanding Buddhist teacher, she explained the issues of mental illness and other emotional problems with the idea of Buddhism, saying that they do not only focus on spirits though it is important for both mental stuff and Buddhism. Buddhism teaches people to observe and treat the world in a more peaceful way and show them what matters for real to our lives. Thus people would get rid of the unnecessary worries they used to have that caused them mental illness. And globally, we adopt the mainstream western psychological theories. Driven by Freud, western psychology has become the mainstream school. Due to cultural differences, people all over the world have different research methods on mental illness. In studying religion/spirituality, US psychologists have emphasized empirical work, whereas the Indian psychology movement has emphasized insights from experience and realization. I think two different schools should learn from each other. Only in this way can we promote the rapid development of human society. Religion is a destructive branch of human culture. But over the years, many religious cultures have been destroyed. Religious culture should be protected and utilized all over the world. Only through cooperation can we achieve win-win results. We need to respect all differences. Only by learning from different cultures can we become strong.

The video of Venerable Tenzin’s interview could be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0ChZpIBgSo