Have you ever had an unusual experience while chanting or connected to your Buddhist practice? I think weve all had them. Its very rare to hear anomalies associated with our chanting or practice discussed at district meetings. However, when talking to our close Buddhist friends in a relaxed atmosphere, there are occasions when the weird and unexplained are discussed, and we all have a laugh or feel amazed. I learned early on to avoid discussion of the anomalous or strange with my more tight-assed leaders.
Today I want to share with you a small sampling of my own experiences. I will also share with you one experience that wasnt anomalous, but just plain bizarre. As a challenge to all you readers out there Id like to request that you write me and share your story. Sign your letter any way you want, we just want to hear your close encounters of the curious kind.
1. The Big Download
It was the summer of 1974. I was young, inexperienced at the practice, and filled with anticipation. I took my small wooden altar into an apple orchard behind my parents house and began to chant daimoku. Within a few minutes, the characters on the Gohonzon began to undulate until all I saw was Nam-myoho-renge-kyo down the center. Light seemed to radiate from the Gohonzon.
Totally enraptured by the experience, my mind began to speak with the Gohonzon. I began to ask questions. What is Buddhism? What is the Gohonzon? What does Nam-myoho-renge-kyo mean? I asked.
Time stood still for me. The answers to my questions seem to flood my mind, coming directly from the Gohonzon. In hindsight, the most likely explanation was the reflection of my own life and mind from the Gohonzon, like sunlight bouncing off a mirror. Whatever happened that day, my life was altered in the most amazing way. It was my first samadhi or fusion with the Gohonzon? Maybe it was my youthful imagination running wild.
2. A Creepy Koan: What is the Sound of No One Chanting?
In 1977, I was the toban (youth division security chief) for the Chicago Community Center on Foster Avenue. I was responsible for providing young mens division security from 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM seven days a week. If a shift was unfilled or there was a problem, I would have to cover it. I knew every inch of the Community Center. Having spent untold nights there, I was familiar with every smell, sound, and rhythm both inside and outside the center.
One night after everyone was long gone and the doors were locked, around 11:00 PM, my partner and I heard chanting coming from the Gohonzon room. Since our reception desk was right next to the Gohonzon room, we both got up and looked inside through the small window. No one was there. The chanting stopped when we opened the door. It was perfectly quiet. A few minutes after we sat down, the chanting started again. The voices were deeply resonant and it was impossible to tell if it was daimoku or gongyo because the sound was so obscure, but it definitely was chanting. Was it an auditory hallucination experienced by two people? I mentioned my experience to our mens division senior leader and he just rolled his eyes wondering what I had been smoking. Unfortunately, nothing.
3. 3D Gohonzon
Ive had some interesting experiences while chanting to the Gohonzon that defy logical explanation. On more than one occasion, while deeply praying and focusing on the Gohonzon, the characters seemed to become bolder, the white background became whiter, and the letters seemed to grow larger and smaller. To some visionary types, this kind of experience might seem like childs play. The center characters of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo seemed to rise off the paper like a 3D image. The first time it happened I thought that it might have been a severe case of eyestrain. But there were other times when the Gohonzon seemed to come alive, or perhaps I animated it with my mind. Most likely this is an optical illusion from viewing the black and white contrast of the characters in vastly different sizes. Who knows?
One time, in the late 90s, I began morning gongyo and after a few minutes, I saw a small character on the bottom left side of the Gohonzon travel up to the myoho character near the top center, where it fused into myoho, as if it were a drop of black ink traveling upwards against gravity. I shook my head in disbelief. Did I have some bug playing around on my Gohonzon? I checked the face of the Gohonzon carefully no bugs. I remember one time at the Chicago Community Center when it was invaded by big cockroaches, and they seemed to like the butsudan and joju Gohonzon inscribed by Nittatsu Shonin, but I digress. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before or since. I chalked it up to a silly anomaly that made no sense it just was.
4. Out of Body Not Out of My Mind
Im not going to lie to you and tell you that Ive never had out of body experiences. I have, both before and after becoming a Buddhist. The most unusual and accidental experience that I had in this regard occurred about two months after I joined. I was just learning gongyo and was doing pretty well. We were performing evening prayers and I had it down. I remember looking at the words in the sutra book and being right in rhythm with the group. The next thing I realized was that I was looking down on myself from outside my body. This lasted just a few moments long enough for me to become startled and then I was back in my body. Cool, I thought. Such an experience where I just left my body without intention or warning never happened to me again. Granted, there had been a number of meetings where I would have loved to have an out-of-body experience.
5. Chasing VP Izumi Through OHare Airport
This experience is anomalous not because it has any metaphysical implications, but because it was so bizarre. In 1981, Chicago hosted the first World Peace Grand Culture Festival and the opening of Myogyoji Temple. President Ikeda and Nikken came and every other muckity-muck cho that could get to Chicago was there. There were about 60 priests and their staff. There were hundreds of SGI and SGI-USA big shots and wanna bes. Included in this compound cluster-fuck was SGI VP Izumi. Most long time members know who Mr. Izumi is hes written a book and is prominently featured in the Human Revolution. Hes a rather imposing man. First, hes completely bald and doesnt smile much. Im guessing, but I put him at about 59 and about 300 pounds, give or take 50 pounds (to the plus side.)
My assignment for this movement was co-security chief for Nikken and the priestly entourage. I was responsible for making sure everyone and their momma was safe. Thats a whole other story, my friends. I had the uncomfortable and dubious fortune of keeping an eye on Mr. Izumi after the temple opening. I didnt speak Japanese and he didnt speak English. It was quite clear to me that he wasnt interested in making eternal friends with any of us youth division. Its not that he didnt like us, but he had that look about him that silently screamed, dont bother me, boy.
When Nikken and his entourage of priests were departing OHare Airport, the whole super-cho team wanted to see him off. Nikken never had it so good. He had a battalion of people kissing his royal ass all the way to the tarmac. It was madness. President Ikeda and his wife along with a half dozen other security people were passed through a security checkpoint a few minutes before Mr. Izumi and myself were stopped and made to go through security. When we got through, PI was way far ahead of us. Mr. Izumi was at least 60-70 years old and smoked like a chimney, but that didnt stop him from running at full speed to try and catch PI and Nikken. I was astonished at how fast a 300 pound, chain smoking. 65-year-old man could run. I felt like I was in Spain running with the bulls.
When we finally caught up with PI, he was bowing feverishly to Nikken, saying good-bye. I would just like to say for the record that it was my direct experience that the SGI and especially president Ikeda extended the greatest courtesy and respect to those ungrateful priests. Every morning PI would greet Nikken with deep bows and every night he would do the same. Here at the airport, he did the same, bowing like an oil derrick.
Even to this day, whenever I need a chuckle, I think of Mr. Izumi running like a charging bull to be with PI and say bon voyage to that ungrateful high priest Nikken. To me, that was the most surreal moment of all.
So my friends, do you have any surreal experience that you could share with your fellow readers? If so, blow some minds.
Comments
Chuck! I love your X-Files postings!
It was early in my practice -- maybe a year or two into chanting -- and I was unemployed. I had been chanting for a job. One night, fairly late -- I tend to be a night owl -- I was chanting softly in my living room. I don't remember what I was thinking because I wasn't thinking about anything. I was not paying attention in front of the Gohonzon. I was just chanting.
The floor fell away. The walls fell away. I was suspended in the air in a non-place in a non-time.
I thought, "Gee, I'm suspended in the air." Immediately, I found myself again on the carpet in my familiar LA condo.
I can't tell you how many times I've tried to re-create this experience of "suspended voidness." The only way to get there seems to be through inadvertent and sincere non-trying. Arrrgh!
Sometimes, when I conclude my gongyo prayers, I feel a "frisson," a chill down my back. Yes, this is possibly ridiculous spookiness, I'll grant you.
Also -- and this is *so* Los Angeleez -- I went to a hypnotherapist (Elsa) who said she could do a "past-life regression" for me. I was awake the whole time, I swear. Whether the incidents and themes witnessed in my "regression" were objectively true or were merely metaphors dredged from my unconscious, I don't know. (And what would be the difference?)
During a regression, Elsa asked, "What do you see?"
"A Gohonzon," I said, but it was unlike any Gohonzon that I had seen in my current lifetime. The kanji characters were all there, making a recognizable Gohonzon, and I felt friendly and amicable toward it, although I had never seen such a scroll in all my (current) life.
Generally, I sense that I met the Gohonzon long ago, before my current incarnation.
But who can know? I feel these things and know them intuitively with utter certainty. But I cannot say that I know any objective truth about these subjective matters.
Thanks for reading.
Lisa J.
Lisa:
That was an amazing experience! It almost sounded like a lucid dream.
Doesn't that always seem to be the case? That when we are just fused into our meditation and not expecting anything - a remarkable experience unfolds for us? No matter how hard we try and recreate the mood the exact concentration or situation, a repeat experience alludes us. I think that the viable reptition of experience is what gave to the formalization of many meditative and occult practices like divination.
Because experience seems to be random, that is why substantiating ESP or psychic power is so elusive. I know that a number of readers and people with a skeptical bent point to the lack of proof that such things are real, but that's because they are trying to substantiate kutai phenomena with ketai hard logic. The same such logic applied by these skeptics has proven to be baseless when looking at the quantum world where things don't behave the way they do in our mundane physcial reality.
I hope a lot of other readers will come forward to offer their own unique experiences.
Charles
In 1976, in San Diego, there were nightly tosos ( I believe from 10 until 11pm) at the Pt. Loma Community Center. After our almost nightly district meetings we usually drove from Escondido to Pt. Loma to chant.
The chanting at these sessions was powerful. Most of us had just left discussion meetings and were full of committment to create world peace with our own lives.
Our unity of purpose came from the inside out. We were a tribe, almost primitive in our idealistic energy and compassion. The leaders just had to get in front or get out of the way. We had heroin addicts sitting beside business people, hippies and military guys. What we had in common transcended the costumes.
One night, because of early exams the next morning, we decided not to attend but to chant at home at the same time. We had no mind altering drugs, not even alcohol at the time. While chanting, we both heard the voices and distinctive bell of the Pt Loma Center. When we stopped and asked each other about it, the chanting stopped. But when we began chanting, we were once more included in the whole aural experience.
Very strange and wonderful memory.
I'm enjoying your thoughts and experiences more than I can say. Thank you. Patty Musgrove
Patty:
I'm so happy you shared your experience. One of the things that makes your experience so amazing is that it was both of you hearing the bell and chanting. What is so interesting to me is that when I read it, I actually felt your experience and emotion - don't know how that's possible, but it was as if I was there too.
Also, the time you speak of and the ichinen of so many highly energetic youth really brought me back to that wonderful time where we were exuding daimoku power. It was so true that the enegy level was so awesome that leaders had to lead or move out of the way.
Thank you so much for a drugless trip down memory lane and reminding me of that great time.
Charles
When I read about all these outlandish experiences with chanting & the Gohonzon walls falling away, endless depths within the piece of paper, characters moving, out of body experiences, mysterious voices chanting in adjoining rooms -- I wonder, what have I been missing! No one who knows me could accuse me of having an underactive imagination, but Im afraid I have nothing spectacular to report just a few garden-variety hallucinations, thats all. Nothing yet to make me rub my eyes. How hum drum!
The current SGI Gohonzon is fairly straight and orderly as Gohonzons go (all the characters are in marching order, as one commentator put it), but I must give the Nichikan credit: he did Nam Myoho Renge Kyo with great flourish, sending tails of sumi ink from the 6 (7?) characters right across a number of the other characters (those to our left, or rather, to its right, or rather, left or is it right?). Quite often as I chant, I see those tails ever-so-softly lift and fall, like streamers in a gentle breeze. To my mind, there is nothing especially strange about this: stare at anything long enough, and it will appear to shift. I see little faces all over the Gohonzon: in the lower part of Taho, there is a definite face with narrowed eyes (though not particularly menacing maybe those are prescription glasses hes wearing). Sometimes he seems to have a cigar in his mouth, sometimes its his black tongue (again, not so sinister as it sounds). In the lower part of the Shakyamuni figure, there is a face with what looks like a strong chin or Grecian nose; same with Bodhisattva Boundless Practices. See them? Face-recognition seems to be built into our DNA: even a new-born baby will return a smile to the image of a smiley-face. Then down there is Nichikans seal, which looks very much like a man fishing in a pond. Sometimes I see his fishing pole dipping up and down ever so slightly, and even hear the water rippling. Then there are all these stick figures (crosses with two legs) all over the Gohonzon: sometimes they seem to bound across the paper, like a cave-painting of a hunt. Then the wheel that is Kishimojins head starts to turn
The two sanscrit characters on either side have always appealed to me: Earthly Desires are Enlightenment, and The Sufferings of Birth and Death are Nirvana. The other day I saw them come together, join hands, and do a jig all over my Butsudan. All the other characters in the Ceremony of the Air cheered and clapped. Then they started to spin round the great tower of Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, faster, faster, until they were a blur
No one ever accused me of having an underactive imagination
Brian Campbell
P.S. Rereading (a few hours later) what I just posted, I realize that in my first paragraph I should have written, in place of "characters moving", "characters changing position all over the scroll" or something of that sort. I stand corrected (by myself).
Brian:
Thanks for the letter. Yes, you do have a vibrant imagination. I especially like your image of the Bodhisattvas joining hands.
Charles
Well, I haven't had any out-of-body experiences while chanting, without the help of psychedelics, but here's a couple of surreal experiences.
While on Tozan (pilgrimage) in November, 1988, we were on a bus to a meeting in Taito Ward, Tokyo, in the middle of the day. The bus stopped in traffic, and a young man came out of the side door of a restaurant, with an apron on, and began to dance. He did a little dance for us, then the traffic cleared and the bus moved on.
On the same pilgrimage, our flight from Seattle to Tokyo was delayed 24 hours due to mechanical problems. We missed a meeting with President Ikeda due to the delay.
One day in Tokyo we were given free time and another man (Gene) in our group and I went for a walk. We went to a restaurant off the beaten path, and Gene ordered for me (he spoke Japanese). Then we walked around and found Buddhist temples on nearly every block. They were small, dark and tucked into alleys or between larger buildings. Most of them seemed to be occupied by only one or two people, and in spite of being rather gloomy inside, provided a respite from the busy streets of Tokyo.
At the same time we were on our walk, a specialtour of the Soka Gakkai Headquarters in Shinjuku was arranged for our group, because we had missed the meeting with President Ikeda. Everyone had returned to the hotel except Gene and me. The tour was leaving in 30 minutes, so everyone gathered in one hotel room and quietly chanted for Gene and me to return in time for the tour.
For some reason Gene became anxious and wanted to return to the hotel and we did, unaware of the tour. When we walked into the hotel room where everyone was waiting for us, everyone cheered.
As we were leaving the Headquarters after the tour, we ran into Vice President Tsuji. It was five o'clock and he was walking home from work. He broke into an impromptu lecture on how Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo is related to various parts of the body.
One morning in about 1972 I was answering the phone at the San Francisco Community Center in Daly City. It is a beautiful site. It sits on a cliff above the Pacific Ocean, and is often wrapped in thick fog. But on a clear morning it is a magical experience.
I had a grave shift job and I had been awake for a long time. I was feeling very discouraged in general. At about 9:00, Lynn Rachuy, then San Francisco Vice-Headquarters chief, walked in. (He had a great car, a Lincoln Continental with suicide doors).
Mr. Rachuy walked past my desk and as he did, he looked at me and said only, Everything will be fine, and walked back to his office.
A few years ago I returned to the Community Center, which SGI-USA had since sold to a Korean Church. In 1974, President Ikeda opened a park on half of a steep hillside next to the Community Center. The youth division planted pine trees in this little park.
I asked someone standing outside the Church if I could look around, and they said yes. I walked to the park and the trees were now 25 feet tall. In a recent storm, the bare portion of the hillside had slid to the bottom, taking one house and part of another one with it.
The side with the trees had not slid at all, saving the Church from the same fate as the houses. This is not so mystical, but an example of foresight, I guess.
John:
Excellent! If you've read my book, you'd know that it's based on Mr. Tsuji's "discovery" and revelation of daimoku corresponding to the different parts of our body. How fortunate for you to have that experience. When Modern Buddhist Healing was published, I sent a copy to him through the offices of the Executive Director of SGI Publications. Mr. Tsuji was 83 and amazed that his guidance on overcoming illness had helped me (and others, I'm sure). His son translated the book for him - the key parts - and read them to his father. I was so moved when he sent a message to me expressing his thanks and appreciation. "He was so happy," said the executive director.
Based on your opening remarks about psychedlics, perhaps you will enjoy my upcoming Samsara blog on samadhi states of consciusness and psychedelics-psychotropic substances.
Thanks so much for the moving letter.
Charles
Hi Charles,
I like this question. I know Buddhism is about personal change over time, but I really love the amazing experiences too. Hey, who doesn't need some magic in their life from time to time?
Before I tell my experience, I want to say that I get alot from your writings. I received Gohonzon in 1978. Practiced off and on for about 7 years. Got burned out and fed up with the extreme demands on time and boundaries (by that I mean I was getting embarrassed of doing door to door shakubuku). The "Onward Buddhist Soldiers" mindset was not really in tune with who I am either; I don't like the militaristic fighting metaphor, whether its Christian or Buddhist.
I recently started chanting again, found my Gohonzon and am working on making the deep connection that was overlooked way back when I was desperate for help and lacking self-awareness.
When I started chanting again, about 2 1/2 months ago (after a hiatus of about 18 years), I had come to a point of now being able to discern my inner states much more clearly (thanks to alot of personal work over the years). What I immediately recognized this time was a feeling of increased "life force", and an alleviation of the emotional negativity I was stuck in, a positive change that I didn't have to struggle to maintain. That was my first month; now I have to put forth a little more effort. ;)
Now, on to the amazing experience:
Even though I was fairly unable back then to register events of a subtle nature, or to appreciate cumulative inner change, there is a particularly mind-boggling (for me) experience that I treasure. I think its a great indicator of the Universal connection that Nam Myoho Renge Kyo taps into. Of course, in my mundane affairs, I forget that connection, but this experience is a great reminder.
Here's what happened:
My ex-husband and I were house sitting at a friend's place out in the country. We were doing evening gongyo. During Daimoku, I noticed a very cute bright green moth fluttering around, maybe 5 feet away from us. As I was chanting, I was filled with a loving feeling for this moth (thats not unusual for me...I really like bugs and animals). Anyway, the moth was so cute, fluttering in that goofy way that moths have; I wanted so deeply for this moth to know the loving feelings I had welling up. So, I directed my Daimoku at the moth, that somehow that moth could feel my "good vibes".
Lo and behold, the moth then fluttered over to me and landed on my nose. I nudged my then-husband to check this out! As we watched, (yeah, I was cross-eyed from watching the end of my nose), the moth walked around in circles on my nose for quite awhile; maybe 3 or so minutes? Then, he/she fluttered off and onto my shoulder where she/he sat and hung-out for a few minutes more. Then the moth fluttered off and out the window.
We kept chanting, softly, the whole time and just looked at each other in amazement afterward.
This was just so perfect an experience for me...it connects with my feeling for tiny miraculous living creatures, and my love of silliness.
So that's my experience--thanks for this forum!
Cindy