Changing karma may be the quintessential benefit of practicing Nichiren Buddhism. Karma is the flow of internal cause to latent effect in time and space. If you want to know why your life is the way it is right now, look at all the causes that have preceded the present moment. If you want to know your future, look at what you're doing right now.

When we chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, we gain the ability to change our karma. How is this possible? What does it mean?
In a writing entitled "On Prolonging Life," Nichiren wrote about karma and our ability to change it: "When I, Nichiren, prayed for my mother, not only was her illness cured, but her life was prolonged by four years." He was not bragging about his ability to cure people. What he was referencing -- and specifically writes about elsewhere in the same letter -- are the Buddhist concepts of mutable and immutable karma.

Both of these may be good or bad, but mutable karma is considered to have a lesser influence and can usually be transformed by simple, consistent effort.

Immutable karma, however, is another story. From the Buddhist perspective, it is much more deeply rooted, determines much more about the basic course of our lives. As its name suggests, it is next to impossible to change. In the older texts, things such as appearance and personality are talked about as being immutable karma. However, between plastic surgery and prozac, I'm not sure that's the case any more.

In any event, the Daishonin mentioning the moment of his mother's death was in truth an allusion to the most immutable karma of all -- the moment of death.

Science has not yet come up with a way of allowing us to function after death and, as such, dying must be viewed as a real turning point in our ability to lead our life. I may sound facetious, but I wouldn't want my sarcasm to obscure the very real fact that all our hopes, dreams and aspirations essentially go out the window when we die. That is why, whether we address it or not, the moment of death is so pivotal in the Buddhist teaching.

As Buddhists, we are not primarily concerned with what happens after death or where we might or might not be going. Death is an effect that, at least temporarily, causes the total cessation of all life activity. Buddhism views it as a critical point because it is the moment at which there is total clarity as to whether or not the life it impacts is enlightened and complete or diminished by ignorance and unfinished business.

The Daishonin's contention that he changed his mother's moment of death is really an affirmation of his belief that if the chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo can change the most immutable karma, it can change anything.

Sometimes I worry that Westerners in general do not pay enough attention to the importance of the moment of death. This is not to say everyone should sit around worrying or obsessing about when and how they're going to die. On the contrary, if people had a more natural awareness of death as just part of an ongoing, eternal cycle, it would not hold so much dread.

What I am saying is that the way we define death informs the way we live to a tremendous extent. How we conceive death, in terms of "no meaning" and "no life activity," is exactly what comprises the basis for how we define meaning and activity at present. It is at the heart of our beliefs about life and the behaviors that reflect those beliefs.

If people are only concerned about what transpires after death and where they are going, it may serve to put them into procrastination mode -- kind of like, "well, I'm going on this trip eventually, so I can always pack for it later."

If, on the other hand, we acknowledge that the moment of death is immutable karma that we may experience at any time, the awareness can cause us to fundamentally transform the causes we are making right now. We develop the consciousness to live as though it were "the first day of the rest of our life," at the same time that we "live each day as though it were our last."

This is not just a mind game I'm talking about here. How many times have we heard people who've had near-death experiences talk about cherishing each day and making sure you tell the people you love that you do because one never knows if you'll have the opportunity again? This identical consciousness will naturally arise as a result of the Buddhist practice -- you don't have to nearly die to create it.

Of course, all this raises the question: "If death is the most immutable karma and Nichiren says that even this can be transformed by chanting, why not just chant to live as long as I want and, as long as I'm at it, have nothing but good things happen to me?"

Please remember that for all the confidence the Daishonin exudes about the efficacy of practicing his Buddhism, he remains firmly within the context of the mystic law and the workings of the universe. Admittedly that is a fairly large context.

Life and death are the natural order of things. His point is that death is not something to be overcome, but rather an effect to be recognized as both immutable and important. Its importance lies in how it serves the way we live each day.

The goal is enlightenment -- defined as a complete understanding of our life proven by the complete actualization of our human potential.

Perhaps I'm sounding a bit evasive here, but I want to make very sure that chanting is not construed as some kind of magic or supernatural force. True, some things seem magical or beyond the ken of reason when one chants, and with remarkable regularity.

But I hope all people who begin to practice Buddhism in the future do so with a long-term, broad perspective. We can't all be rich, we can't all be famous and we certainly can't all be good-looking and smart -- these things are not part and parcel of Buddhism's promise and I will not lie to you.

A lot of this wasn't even important a few centuries ago. The delusions that we in the modern technological age live under are truly mind-boggling. This may be what Sakyamuni was referring to when he spoke of the "corrupt latter day of the law."

Nonetheless, we can each lead the most fulfilling lives possible in terms of breaking the karmic bonds that constrain us and actualizing our deepest dreams -- dreams we may not even be conscious of at present.

Aside from the moment of death, what exactly might these immutable karmic bonds be? This is the big question, because for each of us the answer is completely different. That is why it is easy to look at the world and see all kinds of examples of those who seemingly have overcome what to us looks impossible.

Why chant when you know of all kinds of people who have overcome cancer, maintained a happy marriage, raised happy, healthy children, or come from poverty to become rich?

First of all, it is impossible to perceive the depths of another's life to determine what is mutable and what is immutable. What another may seemingly change with ease seems like Mt. Everest to us. So, as with everything else in life, it is probably not wise to judge ourselves in comparison to others. The fact that someone else may seem to have a process that works for them should have little impact on what we decide to do.

Only we can know what forms "the insurmountable obstacle" within our own life. Good advice notwithstanding, the Buddhist practice enables each person to isolate for him or herself what it is that stands in the way of happiness so that a frontal assault can be mounted.

I'm talking here about the things that we, over the years, have become resigned to: those nagging circumstances or attributes about which we have come to think, "that's just the way it is" or "those are the cards I've been dealt."

Four causes of immutable karma

According to one of the ancient teachers who succeeded Sakyamuni in India, there are four causes which create immutable karma. They are:

1. Earthly desires arising from the fundamental darkness inherent in life;

2. A pure, seeking mind toward Buddhism;

3. Habit; and

4. Buddhist or secular sins along the lines of killing a Buddha, one's parents, another person, etc.

Number one asks us to recognize that a lot of what we may want stems from delusional attitudes concerning the realities of life. A lack of awareness with regard to our own or others' Buddha nature combined with a shallow, materialistic view of life may find us acting from a pretty dark place.

Unlike earlier forms of Buddhism and even certain Western religions however, the Daishonin's teachings do not admonish us to do away with attachments or even repudiate earthly and carnal desires. He encourages his believers that the pursuit of earthly desire is ultimately what transforms one into a more enlightened being.

His point is that rather than take the unrealistic approach that insists we immediately elevate ourselves beyond who we are, the chanting of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo will ultimately show us which pursuits and which desires are truly part of our enlightenment. Cause and effect is the name of the game and all we have to do is chant in order to create the proper causes.

What this means is that it is totally possible to be a fully credentialed Buddhist acting with the purest of faith and still go after the goodies. Wealth, power, sex, property -- none of these things is necessarily out of the purview of the Buddhist. What is most important is that we keep in mind that these are not end games. Their acquisition carries with it the implicit responsibility to act in an enlightened fashion as a Bodhisattiva.

On the other hand, if despite our best efforts at both cause-making and chanting, our attainment of these things is either thwarted or serves to create suffering in ourselves or others, then perhaps it is time to try and tap a greater portion of Buddhist wisdom in order to redefine our goals. It may have been our unwise behavior in the past in pursuing certain goals that led to our most difficult karma at present. That is something to always keep in mind.

Number two is pretty self-explanatory and obviously is talking about that which creates only the best kind of karma, like chanting. Enough said -- anything more would be too obviously self-serving.

Number three, however, is one I find quite interesting because it seems so mundane. The original translation was "daily routine," but this was originally explained to me as habit and I kind of prefer that term. Our daily routine may vary at different points in our lives in accordance with our situation, such as working a job or taking care of children. I don't think the guy who codified this theory on immutable karma (his name was Vasabandhu, by the way) was referring to what time we awake, have dinner or go to bed.

Rather I believe that he was referencing the way in which we habitually deal with that which confronts us each day. If our life itself is viewed as a process of cause and effect, then it is obvious that the causes we create each day do indeed tend to deeply ingrain a variety of effects into our lives.

For example, people who work hard as a matter of course more often than not find themselves rewarded both in terms of what they have accomplished as well as by society in general. People who routinely run late often find themselves missing out on significant events or are not even provided access to those events to begin with. Those who yell at their children generally tend to create more chaotic family environments than those who take the time to communicate a bit more deeply.

Of course there are exceptions to every generalization, but Buddhism suggests that these are karmic glitches -- carryovers of good or bad fortune from previous existences. For the most part, "as ye sow, so shall ye reap."

More often than not, when confronted with a negative experience in our lives, many of us tend to initially react from a similarly negative life-condition. If we are sick, we may despair. If we are fired, we may get angry or lose hope. If a loved one abandons us, we may rage about revenge or give in to profound feelings of worthlessness. The problem is that each time we respond with this kind of negativity, we perpetuate the cycle of suffering. We reinvent the cause that most likely created the situation in the first place.

The Daishonin urged people to chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to reverse these habitual patterns of behavior. When a person chants, he or she actually gains the ability to act, not just think, positively. From the perspective of karmic creation, it is important that spontaneous proactive behavior replace habitual negative response when one is presented with any kind of terrible situation.

Changing one's bad habits can indeed be the key to changing the source of much of his or her suffering. However, many people do not have mental or spiritual stamina to heed the words of Norman Vincent Peale or their empathetic, yet detached, psychologist. Finding the strength to break the karmic chain of habit within is exactly what tapping the Buddha nature is all about.

The fourth cause of immutable karma, much like the second, is pretty self-explanatory. I'm not really sure why the ancient teachers differentiated between Buddhist and secular sin, particularly in the area of murder. It seems to me that if every person indeed possesses the Buddha potential within, then killing anyone becomes tantamount to killing the Buddha. I suspect that the differentiation was made for primitive people in an earlier age who were taught Buddhism in a way that connoted the Buddha as a special, separate entity.

The Diamond Commandment

Similarly it is important to reconfirm that the notion of sin in general -- when defined as the fourth cause for creating unchangeable karma -- has evolved in the Buddhist doctrine.

What were codified and rigid commandments in Sakyamuni's era are far less significant in the Daishonin's teachings. Fundamentally, the only real sin in the Buddhism of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is found in the slander of the Lotus Sutra teachings concerning the reality of the Mystic Law.

In Nichiren Buddhism, there is only the one Diamond Commandment: "Thou shalt chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo to the Gohonzon."

End of story.

More than anything, I desire to stop perpetuating the erroneous concept that Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is some magical mantra.

If rational (albeit theoretical) thought allows us to conclude that this chant may be the name by which we summon our deepest internal consciousness -- the part of us that is fundamentally linked with the "external" universe -- then it is indeed possible that by affirming that name over and over, we illuminate the darkest, unenlightened parts of ourselves.

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Chapter 1: Looking for a Bridge

Chapter 2: Nichiren and the Lotus Sutra

Chapter 3: Defining Nam-myoho-renge-kyo

Chapter 4: The Benefits of Buddhist Practice

Chapter 5: A Focal Point for One's Faith

Chapter 6: The Gohonzon and Bodhisattva Practice

Chapter 7: A Personal Relationship with the Gohonzon

Chapter 8: Theoretical Underpinnings of the Gohonzon

Chapter 9: Theoretical Underpinnings of the Gohonzon, Part Two

Chapter 10: Gongyo, An Intensely Personal Symphony

Chapter 11: The Moment of Death, and Changing Karma