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26 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS
DHARMA AND
DEPRESSION
By Sergio Leon
Sergio León Candia was born in Probably most of us have been there to some degree, at least once. We
Santiago de Chile, South America. probably have felt sadness, despair, sorrow or grief for different reasons. We
He Holds a Bachelor in Education are aware of the existence of these emotions. It is normal for humans to feel
degree and is a P.E teacher and them. Sometimes we succeed in overcoming them. The Buddha´s motivation
Personal Trainer. Later he studied was to look for freedom from them, to end unsatisfactoriness and suffering
English in New York, USA, and (dukkha). And yet we keep going, looking for more pleasure and happiness
became a TEFL teacher. In 2011 until the conditions aren´t what we expected and we feel those negative
he came to Thailand and went emotions again and again, over our whole lifetime. It is part of life some
would say. But I understand that the Buddha taught that they are part of
on different meditation retreats.
an unenlightened life, a life of clinging. They originate in an ignorance that
He holds a Master’s degree
doesn’t let us see things as they really are, and from the clinging to pleasure
in Buddhist Studies from the
and aversion to pain that we naturally develop. It is in our DNA to do so.
International Buddhist College in
The Buddha taught a way to overcome this, and I think that everything he
Thailand. He has a Permaculture taught was to be free from these negative emotions that permeate and that
Designer Certificate and is the sometimes overcome us, sometimes more often that we wish. We try our
founder and director of an best to practice the middle way taught by Him. Sometimes we succeed, but
ecological project in Chile. sometimes we don’t. Sometimes these negative emotions grow and grow
until they become so strong that we are not able to disconnect from them
anymore. Although we have our Dharma medicine to cope with it, we still
sometimes fail. Or so we think. Can you imagine how it is for people who
don’t even have the Dharma to support them?
The Buddha advised that we become an island to ourselves, to be our own
refuge, with the Dharma as our only refuge. It is our responsibility to train
diligently to end unsatisfactoriness. I have faith that this is possible. But
sometimes we can’t see the light. Sometimes these emotions of anxiety and
despair take control; we become them, we make them our own. We are born
in a realm of anger, sadness, and despair and create a hell for ourselves.
Often there are many factors that influence this reality. The main one is our
mind and its reactions to what surround us and what is within us. Many
times that is a burden too heavy to carry around, and we fall. Hard.
I was raised in a culture where anyone who suffered from depression,
sadness, or despair was label as “weak” and “a failure”. They were pointed
to as someone who wasn’t strong enough to cope with life’s difficulties. In a
way, that was true. They couldn’t cope. But it is not because they were weak
but because for some people, the unsatisfactoriness and suffering was too
