CONSCIOUSNESS
Mahayana Buddhism identifies nine levels of consciousness associated with all life. The first six are: the five senses of taste, touch, smell, sound, sight, and the conscious mind. On a basic level, the seventh realm is the manos-vijnana—the subconscious, where all bodily functions are managed, and from whence the impulses for survival emerge. The manos consciousness is the integrator and processor of all sensory input.
The eighth level is what the psychologist Carl Jung termed “the collective unconscious.” In Mahayana Buddhism, it is called the alaya-vijnana, or karma repository. Alaya consciousness is the limitless storehouse of perceptions, conceptions, words, and actions that we experience or create in life. At the same time, the eighth level is an ethereal seed bank of our latent karma, which we experience in life as we interact with our environment. Alaya-vijnana has its counterparts in countless other modern and ancient traditions: Deepak Chopra's quantum consciousness; Larry Dossey's concept of non-local consciousness; the Akashic Record; the bardo states of intermediate existence after manifest life. They are all the same thing—a sort of “on-ramp” to the ultimate reality, the actual source of healing and the ninth level of consciousness known as amala-vijnana in Mahayana Buddhism.
Amala-vijnana, or cosmic consciousness, is the true entity of life, fundamentally pure, and impervious to time, space, suffering, or death. The karmic seed bank of alaya-vijnana and the cosmic consciousness amala-vijnana fuse with the universe at death, to be reborn, reassembling themselves as a living being comprised of the five components of form, perception, conception, volition, and consciousness.
Buddhism teaches that there is no such thing as pure matter or pure spirit; there is only the ultimate reality of life itself, which invariably manifests both a physical and spiritual aspect, no matter how coarse or fine the actual manifestation. This ultimate, unchanging reality flows through both the physical and spiritual, in an ever-changing cycle of actualization and dormancy. For this reason, the Western idea of an individual soul does not exist in Buddhism. The Buddhist view sees our individual incarnations as ephemeral unions of form, perception, conception, volition, and consciousness, all of which merges into pure consciousness when we die, like moisture returning to the sea. In Christianity the idea of an individual soul is central to the idea of life after death in heaven. If there is no soul, as Buddhism asserts, then what is that spiritual essence of ours that journeys into the afterlife? If there is no eternal soul or self, what is there? The thought of annihilation of personal consciousness is troubling indeed, unless you understand that the true entity of your life is life, as vast as the universe, indestructible, and eternal.
At the root of karma is the eternity of life. Virtually every religion teaches that life is eternal, although they differ on the conditions. I was taught that life begins as an original soul that, after death, lives forever. In Buddhism, there is no discontinuity between the past, present, and future. If the fundamental cause for illness is not apparent or the illness is inherited, we might consider the eternity of life and the causes we brought forward to this existence. We often think that “the eternity of life” means that after we die, we each live forever as a soul in heaven. That's what I was taught. Actually, eternity means without beginning or end.
Contemplating eternity staggers the mind, especially when we consider the idea that each life has no beginning; it has always existed, repeating the two states of life and death in an unbroken pattern. If we have lived before, not once or twice, but countless times, it would help explain why there is so much suffering in the world and the seemingly inexplicable randomness of it all.
Even acknowledging that we may have lived before still does not answer the question of what kind of karmic causes we made for us to experience life as we do, because we can't see back into our previous lives. Many of us can't even remember the details of our childhood or the faces of friends we haven't seen in twenty years. Even if we could know with certainty what we did in our previous lives, what could we actually do about it that would solve our problems today? Changing karma in the alaya-vijnana is a function of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and is the means by which even diseases such as advanced cancer can possibly be overcome.
KARMA AND THE CAUSES OF ILLNESS
Karma has often been associated with guilt and negativity. Karma is actually regarded as neutral in that free will can change something negative into something positive or vice-versa; it depends what we do with the circumstance. Many of the famous advocates of self-healing seem to have distanced themselves from the pre-Buddhist principle of karma and individual accountability as if it were some baseless holdover of medieval superstition. Regarding illness and the judgment of God(s), or what Buddhists might term “negative” karma, John Camp described this conundrum in his book, Magic, Myth and Medicine: “The idea that illness and disease were brought about by the displeasure of the gods has meant that the art of healing has always been closely linked with religious beliefs. Such beliefs did not always help medical progress, for as religious thought became more organized, and a single God displaced the many gods of ancient times, the rights and wrongs of man-made healing became a major issue.1
Buddha taught that negative karma can and does manifest as illness of the body, mind, and spirit. The seemingly incomprehensible, interdependent cause and effect relationship of thoughts, words, and deeds carried over from one lifetime to the next, manifesting as affliction and circumstance, has not been embraced by many of the popular advocates of self-healing. Nichiren addressed the subject of karma and illness in his Gosho (“honored writings,” used to refer to the body or an individual piece of Nichiren's writing), “On Curing Karmic Illness”:
The Nirvana Sutra reads: “There are three types of people whose illness is extremely difficult to cure. The first is those who slander the great vehicle; the second, those who commit the five cardinal sins; and the third, icchantikas, or persons of incorrigible disbelief. These three categories of illness are the gravest in the world.”
It also states: “One who creates evil karma in this life . . . will surely suffer in hell. . . . But by making offerings to the three treasures [Samgha], one can avoid falling in hell and instead receives retribution in this life, in the form of afflictions of the head, eye, or back.” Great Concentration and Insight [the Maka Shikan] states, “Even if one has committed grave offenses . . . their retribution can be lessened in this life. Thus, illness occurs when evil karma is about to be dissipated.”2
Buddhism reveals that the reality of life is shaped by karmic cause and effect in an unbroken pattern from the infinite past. In relationship to illness and healing, the Chinese Buddhist master Chih-i, founder of the Tendai School of Buddhism, delineated six causes of illness.
The first cause of illness is disorders of the five elements of the human body: earth, wind, fire, water, and ku. Earth is the flesh, wind is our respiration, fire is our metabolism, water is the blood and fluids of our body, and ku (or shunyata) is the spiritual potential of life and consciousness that transcends existence and non-existence. The second cause is immoderate eating and drinking. The third cause is improper practice of seated meditation, but has also been designated as a life out of rhythm with itself and the world. The fourth is an attack by external forces that the ancients called demons, but in modern terms we call pathogens, disease germs, or environmental poisons. The fifth cause is termed the “work of devils.” These are latent, internal conditions that emerge when the time or circumstances are right. The fifth type of illness might include a genetic predisposition or emergence of chemical imbalances, or diseases such as cancer, diabetes, or heart disease. The sixth cause is the effects of karma that often appear without a direct causal link to any misconduct in one's present life. The first four causes manifest as physical illness, and the fifth and sixth causes of illness manifest as both physical and mental illness. When we understand that karma is the law of cause and effect operating on the physical and spiritual levels, we can see all
illness as actually being the result of karma. To change karma that is unresponsive to any treatment requires the power of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. But if we are to avoid making the causes that create illness, we must first understand what to avoid.
What creates bad karma has been spelled out by the major religions of the world. Buddhism has laid down “ten evil acts” that result in negative karma and cause one to be reborn into the Four Evil Paths—Hell, Hunger, Animality, and Anger. There are three physical acts of killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct. The four verbal acts are lying, flattery or irresponsible speech, defamation, and duplicity. The three mental evils arise from holding mistaken views and are known as greed, anger, and stupidity. Those basic ten evil acts have numerous shadings that include betrayal, cheating, intentionally harming others, and so on. These actions create karmic debt that must be paid back later; some effects appear immediately and others show up in later rebirths. With karma, nothing is ever missed, no virtuous act unrewarded, or evil deed unreturned.
From a modern perspective, contributing factors to creating our own future health problems might include such attitudes and behaviors as: complaint, cynicism, criticism, rage, cruelty, vanity, vindictiveness, perversity, ruthlessness, addiction, sorrow, apathy, and having no passionate life work.
Slander is an extremely negative cause that results in the most severe effects, including incurable illness manifesting in a single lifetime or appearing in an indeterminate number of subsequent existences. Slander arises in fourteen different ways, through: arrogance; negligence; arbitrary, egotistical judgment; shallow, self-satisfied understanding; attachment to earthly desires; lack of a seeking spirit; not believing; aversion; deluded doubt; vilification; contempt; hatred; jealousy; and holding grudges.
Obviously, we humans are in many ways products of our environment and upbringing. The events of life often hammer us down like protruding nails. It is hard to live up to the examples of moral conduct, attitude, and conviction that the past masters have shown us. Yet it is our thoughts, words, and deeds that constitute our current state and will determine our future. For this reason, having the intent to improve our ways is the most important step of all.
MEDITATION
Dhyana is a Sanskrit word that means “meditation.” It is generally a practice of focusing the mind on one point to purify the heart, dissolve illusion, and realize truth. From the discipline of dhyana, Zen Buddhism rose out of China, purporting meditation as the sole means of attaining enlightenment. Practiced even before the time of Shakyamuni, dhyana was an integral practice in eradicating illusion and perceiving truth. Dhyana in Buddhism is the fulfillment of the fifth of the six paramitas (practices to attain enlightenment—see Glossary). But meditation is not such a simple concept as closing the eyes and stilling the mind.
Dhyana includes the constant practice of four ascending levels of meditation that result in self-mastery and the promise of favorable spiritual rebirth. Under the direction of a mentor, one undergoes a varied and complex series of exercises and lifestyle constraints that can take the form of diet restrictions, mudras, mantras, yoga, esoteric meditations, and mandala meditations. From this way of life, which cannot be fully achieved in a casual manner, one seeks to gain knowledge, wisdom, spiritual power, and enlightenment. Upon completion of the first stage of dhyana, the meditator is freed of desires arising from their senses, as well as from their past evil deeds. This supposedly produces feelings of boundless pleasure, but to move deeper into the stages of dhyana, even pleasure must be transcended. But consider the idea that mastering just the first stage of meditation might not be possible during a single lifetime. It was once believed that the paramita of meditation took many thousands of lifetimes to achieve.
Dhyana's second level results in razor-sharp mental powers of a transcendental quality and experiencing true inner serenity. The third level brings feelings of unbridled joy, composure, and firmness of mind. The fourth level produces a mental and spiritual state that transcends both joy and suffering.
The second major type of meditation is called samadhi, which involves intensely focusing and concentrating the mind on one point without letting it waver, which produces a state of inner serenity. Samadhi states of consciousness are described in the Lotus Sutra and are ever ascending, eventually leading to supreme and perfect enlightenment. All schools of meditation and spiritual prayer can be classified in the two categories of dhyana and samadhi. For example, when a Christian looks at the cross and prays or meditates, they are practicing samadhi, while a Quaker in contemplative silence might be considered practicing the first level of dhyana. Nichiren Daishonin taught that meditation or samadhi means chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
BODY & MIND
When we are sick, we expect our physician to prescribe the most effective medicine so we can get well as soon as possible. We trust our physician to make the right diagnosis and administer the proper treatment. We should ask no less for our mind and spirit. There is a mirror image relationship between our body and mind. Although body and mind seem to be two, they are actually inseparable, like the two sides of a coin. In Buddhism, this ancient principle is termed shiki-shin funi. Conventional medicine is good at fixing the body when it malfunctions, but what of the mind and spirit? Psychosomatic illness is a scientific fact, and so is the beneficial effect of prayer and faith on the immune system. The importance in the oneness of body and mind in our quest for recovery is knowing how to influence the reciprocal nature of our body and mind, like simply pushing a button to calibrate a sensitive instrument.
The principle of the oneness of body and mind, shiki-shin funi, is one of the most compelling concepts in Buddhist healing. More accurately, shiki-shin funi is the essential oneness of the material and spiritual. Modern science has opened new paths in psychosomatic medicine and is rapidly approaching the ancient wisdom that the mind and body are two, yet not two. Body and mind, or spirit, are inseparably linked, exerting reciprocal influence on each other. Further, the body is not the basis for the mind and vice versa.
In interpreting the relationship between body and mind in terms of the true entity of all phenomena, the Buddhist teacher T'ien-t'ai regards the distinction between material and spiritual as pertaining to the level of “all phenomena,” and their essential oneness, to that of “true entity.”3 The oneness of body and mind, or of matter and spirit, is an expression of the true entity or ultimate reality of life. Nichiren Daishonin states in the “Record of Orally Transmitted Teachings,” the “Ongi Kuden”: “The ultimate principle reveals that these two [the physical and the spiritual] are integral aspects of every single life.”4
When the mind is disturbed, there is a corresponding depression in the immune system, whereas faith, happiness, and encouragement seem to bolster the immune system. The integrating force of the oneness of body and mind is the life-dynamic of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. This knowledge and power is especially valuable for children stricken by cancer and debilitating disease, as well as for their parents, because chanting offers tremendous hope for the innocent and it is easy for them to master.
The mind is always in a radical state of flux in relationship with the external world and therefore cannot be completely relied on to bring forth healing. Therefore, the reality of attaining a true harmonious body-mind relationship is not possible until we recognize and employ a third, much deeper source of healing. This spiritual force has many different names all over the world, including: the Holy Spirit, prana, chi, kundalini, and life force. Throughout history, spiritual masters have looked to God in order to understand our life in the universe, while contemporary physicists have sought the same knowledge of a unifying law that encompasses the quantum world with the macrocosm. Even before the days of Moses, holy men asserted that God's name was unknowable and inexpressible; only in death was such grace possible. Today, scientists study the cosmos, superluminal phenomena, light waves, and such mysterious subatomic particles as tachyons, luxons, and neutrinos in search of that ultimate unifying p
rinciple. Nichiren revealed this Mystic Law or absolute reality as Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
NICHIREN AND THE DAIMOKU OF THE LOTUS SUTRA
Time has proven that Nichiren Daishonin (1222-1282) was an unrivaled Buddhist master. Describing Nichiren, the late British historian, Arnold Toynbee wrote: “‘Prophet’ is an appropriate description of Nichiren; for in many ways Nichiren has more affinity with the prophets of Western Asia than with any of the other propagators and interpreters of Buddhism in India and in Eastern Asia. Zoroastrian, Muslim, Christian, and Jewish readers will recognize Nichiren's affinity with Zarathustra, Muhammad, and the prophets of Israel and Judah.”5
Nichiren gave birth to the widespread chanting of the Lotus Sutra's title and essence, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, stating that this was the supreme medicine for all illnesses of body, mind, and spirit. What does Nam-myoho-renge-kyo mean? It expresses the true entity of life that allows each individual to directly tap his or her enlightened nature. Only its invocation can reveal its deepest meaning, but the literal meaning of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is: devotion, the fusion of one's life with the universal (Nam); the entity of the universe and its phenomenal manifestations is the Mystic Law (myoho); the simultaneity of cause and effect (represented in the lotus, renge, which is the only known flower to bear seeds and blossom at the same time); and all phenomena and activities in life (kyo, Buddha's teaching).
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