Buddhism: From Depression to Happiness

A local order member from Friends of the Western Buddhist Order often teaches a class here called, “Moving from dukkha to shraddha” (or from suffering to confidence). I haven’t taken the class, but I know it highlights a pivotal point in the Buddhist path; a revolution of sorts from aimless pathlessness to spiritual progress.

Sangharakshita describes shraddha (confidence-trust or faith) thus:

…faith consists in deep conviction of what is real, lucidity as to what has value, and longing for what is possible.

It marks an early, though significant change in a person’s life. It means 1) refusing to give up – ever; 2) finding what works and sticking with it; and 3) setting big goals while relishing the path which is life itself.

Dukkha need not be any deep sense of suffering, either. It is often translated as dis-ease, or unsatisfactoriness (which is most accurate, but clumsy). Dukkha is, in a sense, ‘the human condition’ insofar as we are all born with a certain degree of ignorance about the way things work, ignorance that is generally reinforced and multiplied by society. Outright suffering, such as depression or a traumatic injury often makes unavoidably obvious. If we use these experiences to move to dukkhashraddha, they actually become a blessing, a source of empowerment.

(think of the suffering of Rev. MLK or Thich Nhat Hanh, Jesus or the Buddha – countless social workers and youth addiction counselors who were themselves abused and/or addicted)

If we never realize dukkha, generally because we are caught up in the roller-coaster of pleasure-desire-craving-aversion-pleasure-desire (…), then we will simply ‘sleep-walk’ through life. There’s no great harm in that, from a Buddhist perspective, except for the suffering you inevitably cause others when you sleep-walk all over them. But sleep-walking through life, as so many people do, does represent a certain failure or waste of wonderful opportunities.

Every moment is an opportunity. And if suffering does nothing else, it brings us to this moment. Once you get here, you have two choices: face it and grow or reject it.

And facing it is not a one-time deal. Nor is it easy, especially at first. Depression in my experience consists of a brooding, a mind unable to just settle, a disconnection between the world around me and my experience. Meditation then is simply the exercise in settling the mind, over and over and over again, on the breath. It’s like a work-out regimen for the mind.

Nature-walks do similar work, with a much less ‘subtle’ object – the world of here and now. Our senses are heightened in nature, our biological-evolutionary bodies awaken. Society, walls, cars, etc allow so much of us to fall asleep – to forget our connection with the world and people. It’s no wonder we are depressed! But in nature, our mind is jerked into the present moment – now a bird chirping, now a deer bolting, now a raindrop, wet, cool. In the moment, everything is ok. There can even be the sense that, even with the suffering, ‘this is how it is supposed to be.’

And it is. 🙂