..续本文上一页so on. They are therefore able to face disaster with courage and resolution. From this, we can see that balancing the mind is very important, possibly more important than medical treatment alone, because if someone is mentally healthy he or she is able to deal with hardship, even serious physical illness.

　　IV The Tibetan Buddhist Way of Prolonging Life

　　In the Tibetan region, there are many Buddhist practitioners with not only healthy physical bodies but also very optimistic and healthy minds. The reasons for this are not because they have better material conditions than others, nor because they have a more comfortable natural environment. On the contrary, if you have been to Tibet you will know that the weather is unpredictable, it is at a very high altitude and lacks oxygen, and that these are great challenges to the inhabitants. In this kind of harsh environment, Tibetans still have minds radiating like the sun, satisfied and content with what they have, and full of a sense of happiness and joy. What is the secret recipe for this

　　 The answer comes from the effects of Tibetan Buddhism.

　　Tibetan Buddhism is one of the three main Buddhist lineages, dating back to the eighth century, when it was brought from India to Tibet. Ninety-nine percent of Tibetans believe in Buddhism from their childhood, and this gives them a joyful and happy life. This is particularly the case with those that engage in Tibetan Vajrayana practice. They are mostly very healthy and have a long life; we can easily find examples of this. Master Sonam Dhondup of the Tibetan Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Religious Studies, while researching forty people who had achieved the rainbow body at death, found that the majority of them lived to be over one hundred, with the youngest in the eighties and the oldest one hundred and forty years old. As we can see, Tibetan Vajrayana practice can truly promote human health and longevity significantly.

　　1. Balancing your mind

　　When someone is unhealthy, the cause is normally nothing more than being caught up with mental agitation and torn between doubt about what might happen and what the person hopes to gain. Buddhism focuses on working with the mind as the basis of all practice, because when the mind is balanced, the body will naturally be healthy, too.

　　In the Tibetan region, there are countless scriptures, treatises, and tantras, but the core teachings of all of these can be summarized as “work with the mind.” In addition, the Tibetan medical Four Tantras also say that all diseases and illness originate from dualistic and deluded thoughts. Atisha said in the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment:

　　The great ignorance of conceptuality

　　Makes us fall into the ocean of cyclic existence.

　　Resting in non-conceptual stabilization,

　　Space-like non-conceptuality manifests clearly.

　　It is inevitable that our body and mind will become unhealthy when dualistic thoughts and emotions such as desire and hatred arise in our mind. If you argue and fight with someone, then, in those few days, your mind is plagued with the fire of anger, which can even cause insomnia. If you balance your mind properly, all illness will be eliminated entirely at its root. The Han Buddhist master Zhi Zhe said, in Pithy Instructions for Practicing Calm Abiding and Meditation, that “Whoever can control their mind will avoid the four hundred and four diseases naturally.”

　　Therefore, the first method in Tibetan Buddhism for healthy living is to balance your mind. In your daily life, if you feel overworked or exhausted, you should relax your mind and not attach onto anything strongly. This in turn can help you to gain comfort and happiness, and then your body and mind will naturally be healthy.

　　2. Balancing your diet

　　At present, most people have an unb…

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