Q: I have been diagnosed with depression. I am constantly stuck in my own mind, have trouble sleeping, and feel irritable and disturbed. What should I do?
A:
- In most cases, mental disorders such as depression, epilepsy, etc. can be classified as illnesses related to karmic obstacles and foreign spirits.
- These types of illnesses all originate from one’s karmic obstacles from previous lives and foreign spirits. If you have committed serious wrongdoings in your previous lives, resulting in major karmic obstacles, your karmic creditors will come to claim their karmic debts in this lifetime. This is when you undergo karmic retributions. They may manifest in the form of feelings of irritability and disturbance, or even lead to your being unable to control your own emotions or willpower. This is because your mind can be controlled by foreign spirits.
- Once you realise the cause of your illness, you should repent and diligently perform recitations to eliminate your karmic obstacles and repay your karmic debts. The law of cause and effect is real. You should realise that it is all because you failed to do meritorious deeds in your previous lives. Instead, you committed numerous wrongdoings to others. That is the reason you have to undergo karmic retribution. You have no one to blame but yourself.
Therefore, you must sincerely repent and eliminate your karmic obstacles, to repay your karmic debts, and complete recitations to help your karmic creditors ascend to a higher spiritual realm. Once you have eliminated your karmic obstacles and paid off your karmic debts, then you will recover naturally.
- It is recommended that you recite the following sutras and mantras:
- Recite the Great Compassion Mantra 7 times or more per day. You can say the following prayer: “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me, <your full name>, grant me good health, and help me to increase my level of merits and virtues.”
- Recite the Heart Sutra 21 times per day. You can say the following prayer: “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me, <your full name>, grant me wisdom, and cure my depression (or any other mental illnesses).”
- Recite the Eighty-Eight Buddhas Great Repentance 5 times per day. You can say the following prayer: “May the Greatly Merciful and Greatly Compassionate Guan Yin Bodhisattva protect and bless me, <your full name>, help me to repent and eliminate karmic obstacles that have caused my depression (or any other mental illnesses), and to cure my illness.”
- You should recite 3 or more Little Houses per week. These types of illnesses are usually caused by major karmic obstacles. You should start with 21 Little Houses as the first batch, followed by 21 Little Houses for each subsequent batch until you have fully recovered.
- At the same time, you can combine your recitations with making great vows and frequently performing life liberations. This will increase the effectiveness of treating your depression (or other mental illnesses).