So you’re a Buddhist monk, devoted to a life of spiritual enlightenment and peace.  So you’re Trinley Dorje, the only senior Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader recognized by Beijing, the Tibetans, and India alike and holder of the title Karampa Lama being head of one of four schools of Tibetan Buddhism.  You’ve escaped the Chinese government’s strangle-hold on Tibet, being controlled by Beijing, leaving behind your beloved teacher, the Dalai Lama as you find your new home in India.  So as a Dharma practitioner, how do you deal with your emotional turmoil and release your anger in a healthy way?  Meditation?  Forgiveness?  Prayer?

Trinley Dorje, the Karampa Lama, a spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism.

Well yes, of course!

But as Trinley Dorje revealed to The Times of India, he also has another healthy form of emotional therapy: he plays war games on his Playstation to decompress.

“Well, I view video games as something of an emotional therapy, a mundane level of emotional therapy for me. We all have emotions whether we’re Buddhist practitioners or not, all of us have emotions, happy emotions, sad emotions, displeased emotions and we need to figure out a way to deal with them when they arise.

So, for me sometimes it can be a relief, a kind of decompression to just play some video games. If I’m having some negative thoughts or negative feelings, video games are one way in which I can release that energy in the context of the illusion of the game. I feel better afterwards.

The aggression that comes out in the video game satiates whatever desire I might have to express that feeling. For me, that’s very skilful because when I do that I don’t have to go and hit anyone over the head.”

Truly words to live by.