4 Eye-Opening Mindfulness Lessons I Learned from a Depressed Buddhist Monk
How to make peace with your mind?
After being a Buddhist monk for 12 years, Gelong Thubten became depressed. It was a shock for him. And for me, too, when he shared his story. I thought monks have it all figured out.
When we think we have arrived, we are stuck. We can always learn something new about ourselves wherever we are on our journey.
Gelong joined a 4-year retreat on a Scottish island, cut off from the outside world. No news, no internet, no meetings with people outside the retreat location.
He describes the first two years as “falling through space with nothing to hold him”. Gelong thought this retreat is gonna be a piece of cake, and then he found himself depressed and anxious.
When he reached rock-bottom after half of the retreat, something changed and made him overcome his depression.
What is it that can even make a monk with 12 years of meditation experience depressed? Do you recognize his situation? Have we not also been locked away, cut off from the people we love by the pandemic.
Since March, I barely left the house and only met very few people. For normal humans, the pandemic is like being on a retreat for monks.
