ESP. Everyone has the capacity for it -- some more than others. Most folks have had a personal glimpse. People want more of it, but usually for the wrong reasons. Extra Sensory Perception is generally random and highly elusive kind of like catching lightening in a bottle. One can see that the birth of myriad forms of divination was a natural attempt to harness the advantage of knowing the future and what is obscure. Chanting must somehow make us more sensitive to these universal potentials. How many of us have looked into the eyes of a senior leader, then had our faith and life condition micro-analyzed? Im guilty of this myself. Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo (upholding the Lotus Sutra, et al.) is the greatest form of extra sensory exercise in the world, so says the Lotus Sutra in chapter nineteen, Benefits of the Teacher of the Law. I still remember the late, great, Ted Osaki talking about chanting a lifetime and getting to the point where you can remember the future. I liked that.

The skeptics call ESP flim flam. Buddhism teaches us not to seek such powers for their own sake, but ascribe such mysterious potentials as psychic enhancements from the realm of the six supernatural powers, attained through assiduous practice. As with any power, there are natural mediating forces in the universe to turn back the foolish and spiritually or ethically flawed ask any serious practitioner of the occult or advanced yogis. I agree with Ram Dass in his classic book, Be Here Now, when he states that when one gives up the greedy desire to have such powers, they come in abundance, all by themselves. However, sometimes people just have the power naturally.

For example, my great grandfather, Isaac Wilson Atkins, born in 1844, was the best dowser in Southern Indiana, near the Kentucky border. He would use a forked willow rod to locate precious water sources for farmers and settlers. Water meant survival and there were no geologists or modern scientific equipment to find the sources. This responsibility fell upon the dowser. Of course, the dowser used all of his skill to survey the landscape, and then he let his dowsing rod narrow the possibilities. Not only could Isaac find the water, but he could tell how deep in was too. When he had made his selection, his sons would dig the well. My grandfather told me that he and his brothers constantly tested Isaac by putting ten plates around their table with either a gold or silver piece under one to try and fool him. He never missed. How was that possible? Although dowsing is a form of divination, it involves a high degree of sensitivity. ESP is a magnification of the six senses, coming into resonance, even for a brief moment, with the eighth level of consciousness alaya vijnana, the realm of ku.

What are ESP and its companion powers like telepathy, clairvoyance, remote viewing, and so on? It is impractical to give a scientific, ketai explanation to phenomena that are kutai in origin. ESP is a frequency in the energy field of ku that constantly flows inside us, but also seems to exist independent of the local mind. Our brain filters out this nonlocal current of information like a radio plays only the frequency on which it is set. But occasionally that information crosses over like an FM radio and may pick up an overlapping signal. Personal or familial danger has proved to be the most common and powerful signal that comes through to the conscious mind. When survival is at stake, we are often warned. People who are about to develop critical illness are frequently alerted in a dream. Mothers are so connected to their children they often can feel if something is wrong even when they far away. Identical twins have been reported to know each others thoughts and feelings as naturally as their own, even at great distances in fact, there have been many cases where one twin was injured the other also felt the pain.

ESP is generally random and inconsequential. We may receive a phone call, get a letter, or so happen to meet someone just when we were thinking about them. Sometimes, we get a feeling without any rhyme or reason to go a different route only to learn that by doing so we avoided a bad accident or missed big delays. I vividly remember coming to a stop at a four-way intersection when a little voice inside me said, move to the right. I ignored the voice and a driver from behind plowed into me, causing a three-car collision. I pay a lot more attention to those kinds of messages now.

Each of us is already endowed with a fully developed capacity to know, see, feel, hear, and influence things at a distance. We have the ability to travel anywhere in the mind-spirit body especially when dreaming. Aldous Huxley called this condition of higher sensory perception The Mind at Large. Larry Dossey called it nonlocal mind, and Chinese Buddhism called it alaya-vijnana or karma storehouse the eighth of the nine levels of consciousness. This fundamental energy of existence interpenetrates all beings, life and all matter to the quantum level. The psychic energy of ku abreast of chu and physically manifest in ke, extends throughout the ten directions of space and three realms of past, present, and future. ESP, the prodigal child of kutai even transcends duality and space-time.

If we have this telepathic receiver in our life as an original endowment, then why dont we have broad access to these powers? Who can say for sure? There are some interesting theories such as those of certain esoteric Kaballa inspired magicians who suggest that this power was literally turned off by a higher race of beings thought to be the creative force behind humanity and religion kind of like a cosmic FCC punishing us for abusing the power by pretty much wiping out a once thriving civilization way back when. Some link our lack of easy access ESP to the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. One reason we dont largely have this power is because we are irresponsible and infected by the three poisons of greed, anger, and foolishness.

Personally, I believe we once had full access to this power but it has become dormant, an aeon or two ago. Further, easy access ESP has been rare because it was not necessary for our overall survival as a species, up until now that is. In other words, our heightened senses had been enough to get us to the top of the food chain here in samsara. However, with the growing danger of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction possessed by evil lunatics, this latent capacity for ESP and remote viewing may need to become more active to catch, thwart, and subdue the bad guys. This, I believe is the inevitable future of our species, more so than better killing gadgets, bigger lies, increased subterfuge, or more soldiers.

What does this have to do with faith? As Nichiren Buddhists, we dont need to be concerning ourselves with such esoteric, ambiguous, and legendary powers to be happy. Chanting daimoku, doing gongyo, study, and encouraging others is the primary role we should be fulfilling as bodhisattva-Buddhas in mappo. But why remain ignorant of our amazing Buddhist heritage just because it doesnt conform well to past/current study department emphasis? Although I fully embrace the practice and our mission to widely declare and propagate Nam-myoho-renge-kyo throughout the world, I frequently get bored with the endless concentration on strictly mundane practicalities. Life is more than a succession of meetings and repeating the same study topics month after month, year after year, decade after decade. Its also fun to study and ponder the great mysteries of Buddhism. At meetings I often feel like an old 60s acidhead who stumbled into an Up With People event. We should be able to have meetings where we openly and intelligently discuss topics like ESP, telepathy, spirit travel, supernatural phenomena, life after death, and so on. I find ESP no more esoteric than reincarnation. Some may argue that such topics have nothing to do with peoples happiness (even though such powers were highly coveted in ancient India and were possessed by the Buddha and his Ten Major Disciples). I think our problem is that even though the topic of supernatural powers is replete throughout the Lotus Sutra and Shakyamunis Buddhism, we dont have any expertise in this line of study because we have concentrated on the Ten Worlds, Ichinen-Sanzen, Esho-Funi, and the organization momentum building lessons taught in The Human Revolution.

No, subjects like ESP have nothing to do with faith and happiness as defined by the SGI, but I know theyre important. If granted an opportunity, I believe the members would have a lot of fun with such subjects and it would all work out well in the end. Personally, I dont want to be a compartmentalized, ticky-tacky, Borg collective Buddhist, who only thinks of the next meeting or campaign without giving consideration to depths of Buddhism.

We should be in tune with all aspects of our great Buddhism, including the truly mysterious and mind blowing, like ESP. If chanting can arouse these dormant powers and insights inside our life and this helps us to further the Buddha dharma, I believe thats a very good thing. I pray that we dont become so secular that we completely bury our mystical heritage like historical revisionists obscure and twist facts. Fortunately the Lotus Sutra is in the public domain and available for anyone to read. You dont need some study committee to interpret it for you you can make up your own mind. We are unique, divine beings. Its not just a theory when someone says that you have the Buddha nature its truth. With the Buddha nature are a host of powers and perceptions whether you chose to discover them or not. I choose to explore the unknown. I choose to learn.