When Buddhism Goes Bad – How My Mindfulness Practice Led Me to Meltdown

Re:When Buddhism Goes Bad – How My Mindfulness Practice Led ... by ycombinete on Tuesday February 21, 2023 @08:56AM (#34881168)

There are often first-hand comments on about the dangers of mindfulness practice here on HN. But when the commenters describes their practices they are so extreme that it was almost inevitable that they had negative effects.

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Re:When Buddhism Goes Bad – How My Mindfulness Practice Led ... by threatofrain on Tuesday February 21, 2023 @10:07AM (#34881979)

It also makes me wonder whether it’s unusual people who select themselves into such extreme activities, and not that meditation is dangerous.

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Re:When Buddhism Goes Bad – How My Mindfulness Practice Led ... by coffeebeqn on Tuesday February 21, 2023 @10:17AM (#34882076)

There’s quite a spectrum between a 10-20min almost daily habit and trying to actually reach “enlightenment”. These 10 day silent retreats are a lot closer to the Bodhidharma sitting in a cave end of the spectrum. Probably not the first people to go a little crazy attempting that in Buddhist history. Given the context I would imagine it’s mostly overachievers but that is not really a healthy approach to religion or mental health (going hard as a mf)

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Re:When Buddhism Goes Bad – How My Mindfulness Practice Led ... by ycombinete on Tuesday February 21, 2023 @10:21AM (#34882110)

> Probably not the first people to go a little crazy attempting that in Buddhist history

During the signup process for a 10 day Vipassana retreat, they ask for a lot of details about your psychological health. Even warning against doing the retreat if you’re not in a good mental place. So I’m sure you’re right.

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