Coping with long-term emotional problems

| China Retreat 2014 Q&A (3 March 2014 PM; 59:09 – 1:03:08)

Now you know that your mind cannot watch objectively. First, you must acknowledge this situation. Then continue to be aware of this process (thinking and emotion) again and again until wisdom arises. It takes time. Because the old habit is strong, attachment to the idea is already there. You cannot change in a short time. We don’t know when the change can happen; but depending on your level of practice, wisdom can grow.

In my battle with depression, it took 2-3 years to truly understand why the mind suffered so much.

Now you try to think that the emotional problem is nature, it doesn’t belong to you. But this is not your understanding. It is second hand knowledge – you use other people’s understanding first. It is not your understanding yet; that’s why the mind still believes that this mind is ‘me’, feeling is ‘me’, body is ‘me’. Then you notice ‘Oh, the mind is still attached’. That’s it; just recognizing what is happening.

You must recognize that there is ‘I’, there is ‘I’. But when the ‘I’ disappears, at that time it is very obvious in the mind. Then only it becomes your own understanding.