Hola,
Before this one slips by me, since I have been thinking about it from the first post, here are some personal thoughts/observations. Being an SGI member for a very long time, it was quite difficult for me, at one point in the recent past, to chant "NaMU-Myoho-Renge-Kyo", but one of my Nichiren friends chants that way and, out of curiosity and respect for her, I tried that out. It was very interesting to me.
It seemed to me that the Namu prefix specifically stood back and honored the MRK. As in, perhaps, and this is just my take on it, "I honor/send energy to the principles elucidated in the Wondrous Lotus Sutra to address whatever I am chanting about." Nichiren Shu folk, correct me if this is not the thought in mind. Kind of enabling everything in the LS to address the problem at hand.
Now, when I chant "NAM-Myoho-Renge-Kyo", what, to me, is involved with that? I am still knocking my head over this after 40 years of chanting. Sometimes I think, "Here's the problem, Mystic Law, I don't have a clue how to solve it, but you do. I've done my apologies for the karma involved, the conduit of my life is clean, here's the energy to address the problem." A macro approach.
Sometimes I think of the inherently transformational capabilities of daimoku. The "I devote myself to the principle/reality of changing chaos, illness, suffering, etc. (Myo) into harmony, health, happiness and so forth (Ho). With every daimoku of this sort, I think about sending energy to that revolution into goodness that I am concerned about. On occasion, I think of this transformative change incrementally, like, "With every daimoku we are creating a new reality, step by step." Sort of a new quantum future, a correction into creating the (a better) path for the true Way.
Yesterday, I wasn't feeling well and was reading and thinking about this and found on the Web, as recommended, the Dalai Lama's explanation of Om Mani Padme Hum. I found a site that had a lovely, musical chant of it and found it very calming, soothing, and dedicated. As I continued to study about it and listen, chant it, I found a resonance in my heart that was already there from my other practice -- the true dedication to develop compassion, wisdom, and other qualities of my own personal Buddha nature. It was sweet and musical, reinforcing a mindset I had also gained long ago, in Mr. William's time, and have been pursuing personally ever since (there is no end to this, apparently).
However, as a main mantra, I did not find OMPH with a message or intent to address problems outside of one's own life as we do with NMRK. Of course, first we learn to change the inside (the projector) so when we chant about external reality (the movie on the wall) we have the clear authority to do something about it. Otherwise, dealing with "mundane/'real' reality" we would just be trying to alter the movie on the wall. That just fundamentally doesn't work, in my experience, and probably why the planet is not a whole lot better in the last 2,000 years.
I liked the singing and the mmmming of OMPH. It was rich and tasty for my soul. But, for me, it really only reinforced something I had already learned and established as a practice from my experience with my forebears in the Nichiren experience. And then, there are all those problems in our outer lives and environment that need our wisdom, compassion, and so forth to address correctly and directly.
Some thoughts. You may have other experiences...
Armchair
6 comments
Armchair-I'm glad you had the openness and, might I say, the courage to try something outside of your Buddhist tradition. Reciting mantras in a melodic way can be very helpful. It is relaxing, helps to calm and center our restless minds, and it is that restlessness that often inhibits our spiritual progress. I don't know if I understand you correctly, but I'd like to tell you that a mantra does not need nor does its efficacy depend on a message or intent. You know, technically, NMRK is not a mantra, but the title of a sutra. However, it is used as a mantra is, of course. Mantras are somewhat like music, which as Lama Govinda notes, "is subtler than poetry, because it carries us beyond the meaning of words into a state of intuitive receptivity." A mantra does not need a precise meaning. Yet at the same time, all mantras have inner meanings. Mantras do not need to be directed at anything outside of our own life, they are directed inwardly where the source of most of our troubles are. If we cannot give a mantra a conventional meaning, then it cannot be made to serve utilitarian ends, nor can we subject it to our own preconceived notions. Then, too, as one gets to know a certain mantra, a clearer meaning may appear over time, and as one get deeper into the mantra that meaning may change and grow more profound. It takes time to get to know a mantra, deeply. As for intent, the purpose is the same for all: to become one with the inspirational force of the urge towards enlightenment.
Today I had to make a long drive alone in the car. I spent two full hours chanting like a total goofball, varying my rhythm, volume, melody. I was chanting NMRK, and most of the time, I was getting extremely silly with it. Know what I was chanting for? Dazzling benefit! Something! Whatever!Was I reverent, high-minded or compassionate? Nah, I was just having a blast.My point, I guess, is that IN MY OPINION it's OK to have fun invoking the mystic law. It's OK to chant "for" whatever wacked out thing you're thinking about. With NMRK, you can relax and have fun. Every utterance of every syllable need not ripple with meaning and need not shine with purity of intention.I add this comment not as a direct response to any of the previous comments. Rather, I offer it as a general attitude about chanting.
Hola, DMR,I do understand the concepts that one doesn't necessarily have to completely understand what one is saying (so, why do it?), that these matters are complicated and maybe can only be understood experientially and that the ultimate battle is with oneself. I do agree that the latter is so.Where is this happiness the SGI promises me? I do fine, but the longer I practice, the more I am aware of every life on this planet and maybe elsewhere, that is suffering terribly. Was Nichiren ever happy a day of his life from 12 years old? I doubt it. He was wracked with the problem of foreign invasion and bodies stacked 10 high on the streets. Very recently in the US, there was some insane bastard that killed and mutilated 33 cats in Florida. Am I not supposed to notice/care about that? In my own country? They arrested some guy for that today. Openness? Do I want that? I have maybe way too much.We look at the sitch in Tibet, overwhelmed by a rapacious China. Is the problem in the purity of the Tibetan people about how they concentrate on the compassion in their lives and conduct themselves, OMPH? No, clearly not. But if one believes in the principles that Nichiren elucidated about how to protect the Land and the globe, we have some questions here.I do think the main point is to get cleaned up, personally, but then what? I heard some guidance from a Zen master lately. He said, and I paraphrase, "That's the thing about endeavoring to take the True Way. It's so simple." I take that to mean that we learn to say "NO!!!" to evil temporary paths every single time and once we understand that, our Path is simple. "NO" is "NO" is "NO" as in "NOT EVER" will I ever again commit harm to another living being no matter what appears to be the short term gain. NO!!Until then, maybe we are just treading water or maybe sinking regarding cleaning our own personal self so that we can address the horrible pains in our environment.Just some thoughts, Armchair
I think we often get confused about the happiness thing. We think it means the absence of suffering. But it doesn't. Suffering will never go away. Happiness comes from overcoming the suffering. Pushing through it, standing above it. What we are talking about is indestructible happiness, meaning a state of mind that is not defeated by problems, troubles, challenges. So, yeah, Nichiren suffered. Buddha suffered. You suffer. I suffer. Suffering is a fact of life. There is a famous phrase in Mahayana Buddhism, which originated in the Prajna-Paramita Sutra, and which Nichiren borrowed several times: Sufferings are nirvana. How? Sufferings become nirvanic when we transcend suffering, when we change poison into medicine. Nirvana is another word for happiness. If there were not suffering, there could be no happiness. And vice versa. Entering nirvana, becoming happy does not mean that suffering disappears. What's important is how suffering affects our mind. When suffering comes along are we tempted toward negative states of mind, which could include sadness, despair, depression and anger, or are we drawn to higher, more positive states of mind? In either case, neither suffering or happiness goes away. When we are suffering, happiness remains, as a beacon of light for us to move toward. When we are happy, suffering remains to challenge us.As for protecting the land and the globe, I am not too sure about some of Nichiren's principles in that regard. I think it is a mistake to blame the Chinese occupation of Tibet on the kinds of Buddhism the Tibetan people practice. It implies some sort of karmic punishment, which begs a discussion too lengthy for this. Have you ever read the "Inscription on the Faith-Mind?" It's a famous Zen "poem". It starts: "The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences. . . " It describes what your Zen Master was talking about. To read this piece, you can go here:http://www.zencenteroflascruce...or, here is a place with a lot of background info: http://www.sacred-texts.com/bu...
DD, joyful silliness is good for practice, but unseriousness isn't. There's a fine line between having fun while chanting and making fun of chanting. That being said, most of us chanters could stand to lighten up and remember that chanting is a joyful thing, not a meditation on suffering.
Good points, DMR. Suffering never disappears. Focusing too much on suffering (ours or others) can bring on a crushing feeling of paralysis. Suffering becomes overwhelming and insurmountable. It can freeze you in your tracks. I'm not saying that suffering isn't real and horrible -- it is. But it's like anything: What you focus on becomes dominant. It can be real simple. For example, if you start listing things in life you're grateful for, you start noticing those things more. All about emphasis.