Last Updated on March 11, 2025 by pg@petergamma.org
Richard Davidsons Center of Healthy Minds in Madison started with around 100 people working there. Now, it went down to about 75 people:
https://centerhealthyminds.org/about/people
And the Meditation Research Institute Switzerland (MRIS) had four scientists. Three of those did not work for the MRIS but they worked outside. And the MRIS is lead by Peter Gamma from www.petergamma.org, a neuroscientist from Switzerland who s psychotherapist was not able to heal him up to the present day:
But isn t it the job of a scientist to do science? And was not Milarepa also a scientist? He wanted to find out how to be free from suffering in this life. And is this not the same as being completely mentally healthy?
But did Milarepa not start as a psychotic person?
What would happen if Milarepa would live today in Switzreland and talk to a psychiatrist, and tell him that he has killed more than 80 people with his occult power? Would he not offer psychotherapy and drugs to Milarepa? And would Milarepa not be supported financially? And would the psychotherapist who treat him fail to heal Milarepa?
So is here is there an issue in Psychotherapy in Switzerland for people like Milarepa?
Milarepa was able to heal himself in a cave. Something which eventually a Swiss psychotherapist would not be able to do with Milarepa. But how did Milarepa heal himself?
Milarepa meditated in his cave until he was enlightened. And he learned this from a Guru from India.
Milarepa became the most famous author of Tibet. And he was also a major figure in the history of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milarepa
Milarepa had students. And they founded monasteries for Tibetan Buddhism. And Milarepa has students even in the 21 th century. And does this not mean that there is something special about him? For instance, that he was able to do something 1000 years ago, which psychotherapists in Switzerland are not able to accomplish in any case, and that is to become completely mentally healthy?
Milarepa s way of living is not part of the Swiss culture.
We have Christian Monasteries in Switzerland. Some of them are funded by foundations. But what Milarepa did 1 000 years ago, could this not also be helpful for the Swiss society of today?
Is mental health not a major issue in Switzerland, if we look for instance at the problems young people have in this country and how they try to get help if they are sick?
Psychotherapy in Switzerland has developed over around 100 years. But the Buddhist way how to get enlightened which is according to Buddha being completely mentally healthy has evolved over 2 500 years. And does this not make the Buddhist path superior in some aspects?
One of the issues of the path of the Buddha is lack of knowledge of the Swiss about it. Richard Davidson and Daniel Golemann say, there are communities in India who support meditators who meditate all the time. And to get enlightened takes at least 12 years of full-time training. The Swiss society supports students who have the goal of an academic degree. This takes around 12 years full-time training as well. But why do we not have more schools in Switzerland next to for instance the Rikon Tibet Institute Monastery where we can learn how to get enlightened?
And is the Rikon Institute really attractive for the Swiss?
Kundalini Yoga has 20 000 exercises. And the teachings of the Buddha is written down in 200 volumes. But who wants to learn all of these exercises and read all these books?
Isn t it time that scientists as Peter Gamma from www.petergamma.org
take out these teachings of their spiritual context and make a secular practice out of it, as the Dalai Lama the 14 th wanted it? And since Peters psychotherapist was not able to heal him up to the present day, why should Peter not try to heal himself at home, as Milarepa did it in his cave, and investigate this scientifically?:
One of the issues for the MRIS are affordable physiological sensor devices, which are required to do research as a private project. And Peter is very alone as a scientist. Loten Dahortsang has his 17 years of full-time training, and Lama Pema Wangyal, too. But do not both of them struggle with worldly matters, as Peter Gamma from www.petergamma.org struggles as well? But so did Milarepa, who was alone at the beginning, too. But although Milarepa started as an extreme outsider
the 14th Dalai Lama who is the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism still gets emotional about Milarepa even today 1000 years after his death
And must there not be something special about Milarepa, if a Nobel Prize laureate even today gets emotional about a person who died 1000 years ago? And was Milarepa not so special, that he is a guiding star even today for some people even in a non Buddhist country as Switzeland? A guiding star Swiss who suffer from mental issues, are looking for happiness and found a way to fund the way in which Milarepa was living?