The Infinite Healing Power of the Mind According to Tulku Thondup's Tibetan Buddhism

Everyone knows this saying: “A healthy mind in a healthy body”. Well, the subject of this book by Tulku Thondup could be summed up as: "A healthy body grace to a healthy mind. Intended for the widest possible audience, Buddhist or not, the author presents to us in a clear and very pleasant style some meditation techniques of Tibetan Buddhism capable of making us feel better, both psychologically and physically. As psychologist Daniel Goleman reminds us in his foreword, scientific progress in the field of psycho-neuro-immunology attests to the link between emotions and health, that those who suffer chronically emotionally because of their anxiety , their depression or other, run twice the risk of suffering from a major health problem. Conversely, one whose mind is at peace with itself keeps the body healthy. As you will have understood, we are here in the preventive, because even if the mind has its – important – role to play in any healing, it should not be concluded from this that we can do without medicine to treat serious illnesses.

Tulku Thondup, grand master of the Nyingmapa tradition, discusses in this book the main principles of the Tibetan vision of health, in particular the links that unite the physical and mental domains, without omitting the spiritual dimension. In this work broken down into three main parts, the author first poses the diagnosis of Buddhism according to which suffering is due to the mind, and that all our problems ultimately go back to the attachment to the "self" perceived as being autogenous, independent and immutable. In our societies today, it is so easy to pose as a victim, to blame others for the causes of our suffering, when it would "just" suffice to review our conception of things for us to in portions so much better. Tulku Thondup therefore invites us on a journey, this one inside, because it is in oneself that we can find peace, and that this can then reflect in physical and mental well-being.

In the following two parts, concrete meditation exercises are explained that can contribute to well-being, whether by unraveling energy blockages, by getting rid of disturbing emotions (fear, self-denigration, neurosis, etc.) ruin our daily lives, or by changing our attitude, our way of acting as our days go by. The framework for well-being proposed by Tulku Thondup is not necessarily easy to implement as decision-making, but really within everyone's reach, the most important thing being to take the first step by objectively facing what torments us, to develop the self-confidence that we can achieve well-being, and to indulge – with regularity – in the exercises or meditations suggested.

In his novel The day I learned to live, Laurent Gounelle writes: “The world is the result of our individual acts. Changing yourself is the only way to a better world. A better world where life is good”. The Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Prize winner, says the same thing when he proclaims: “It is our daily behavior that builds our happiness and induces a feeling of satisfaction or frustration”. To meditate is “to accustom one's mind to…”. This is what is proposed to us here: to accustom our mind to reconsider the events that strike us in order to no longer suffer them. We'll only be better off!