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Post by lowell on Mar 18, 2022 23:30:16 GMT -6
easystreet asked this in the shoutbox.
Decades ago, near the end of the 70's, I was a Han-Cho (men's division group leader) in NSA (Nichiren Shoshu Academy). The group's Han-Tan (Women's division group leader) was diagnosed with cancer. Her doctor wanted her on chemotherapy. She asked the Priest of the Nichiren Shoshu Temple in Pinole, California for advice. She was told the regimen of chanting that she needed to follow to cure the cancer. She elected not to use the chemotherapy. She was given Kofu (rice paper that was used to clean the Dai-Goohonzon [the supreme object of worship at Taisekiji, Japan] ). After a year of chanting and studying and introducing people to True Buddhism just as the Priest directed, the cancer which had gone into remission after the first month, was gone.
I have never had cancer that I know of. I am confident that any person with cancer that converts to Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism and seeks the counsel of the Nichiren Shoshu priest at their local temple (there are 5 of them in the United States), and follows that counsel completely, will be cured.
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Post by James T. Kirk on Mar 19, 2022 7:21:38 GMT -6
So do you think it's the chant that cures the cancer or the belief that the chant will cure the cancer, that cures it?
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Post by lowell on Mar 19, 2022 12:14:29 GMT -6
I think it is a bit of both. It takes some faith to be able to continue practicing daily for an extended period of time. The daily practice is an expression of faith. The vibration of the chant has its own power.
This is a vibratory reality. Everything that exists must vibrate or cease to exist as real in our 3 dimensional universe. Even gravity has been shown to have a vibratory existence with the discovery of gravity waves that move at the speed of light. Time is considered by some to be an added dimension and the phrase space-time is used by physicists. That would make it a 4 dimensional reality. The unification of all the vibratory forces focuses on a fundamental vibratory force that in theory broke apart at the time shortly after the big bang, resulting in the electro magnetic force as distinguishable from the "weak" forces, and both as distinguishable from the "strong" forces. "The unification of forces is the idea that it’s possible to view all of nature’s forces as manifestations of one single, all-encompassing force. Scientists have made great strides toward the goal of understanding how the forces can be combined." "Maxwell demonstrated that the electric and magnetic forces are aspects of a single electromagnetic force. Finally, in the 20th century, Steven Weinberg, Abdus Salam and Sheldon Lee Glashow discovered that, at high energies, the electromagnetic and weak force—without which the sun wouldn’t shine—merge into a single electroweak force. Today, scientists seek to unify this with the strong force—without which the nucleus of an atom wouldn’t hold together—under a Grand Unified Theory. Unfortunately, the predicted energy at which these forces would experimentally combine is about 100 billion times the energy produced by today's most powerful particle accelerators. And even if we succeed in figuring out how the strong force fits into the puzzle, we will still need to look to even higher energies to combine these forces with gravity. But it will be worth it. Understanding whether the known subatomic forces have a common origin is key to creating a Theory of Everything." The proposal of Buddhism is that the vibration of the chant is the vibration of that common vibratory origin that exists in parallel dimensions. Mathematically, membrane theory (New Physics) is closest to unifying all vibrational reality. It proposes 10 dimensions as possible and 11 if you consider time to be a dimension.
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Post by James T. Kirk on Mar 19, 2022 12:45:59 GMT -6
I asked because it seems every religion/belief system has accounts of people being cured of some disease, usually a cancer of some kind, through prayer. I have no personal proof of it, but I prayed very hard for my brother both times he's dealt with cancer, once in his colon and then in a lung. He is currently doing very well. Admittedly he did do chemotherapy the first go around. The second time around the surgeon removed the tumor and afterward said he was amazed how cleanly and easily it went and that no chemo or radiation would be necessary. He recovered very quickly, but then he was in excellent health otherwise for a man his age. He has always exercised and takes good care of himself.
I'm a believer in the theory you should do whatever it takes. Pray for the patient, pray for the doctors and just pray however else you can when dealing with something like cancer. While you're at, pray you don't end up with it yourself.
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Post by lowell on Mar 19, 2022 14:56:06 GMT -6
I was raised a Methodist. We attended church regularly and I studied the Bible. I also was persuaded to study piano for many years. Most of the instruction was from a college professor at a local college. She had her students perform together with the students of other teachers at the college conservatory of music in recitals. I was very nervous onstage and my anxiety increased before my scheduled performance. My hands would sweat and sweat would be literally dripping off them by the time I played the first notes of the song. The keyboard would get wet and my fingers would slip on the keys. The next performer would be angry with me and sometimes they demanded a towel to dry the keyboard with.
Once I began to get wet hands while waiting and I snuck off to a private room in the conservatory and prayed to Jesus and God fervently to be calm enough to be able to play the song selection. As I prayed, the anxiety increased and my prayer failed.
When I was in the 6th grade I somehow won the competition to perform at the Washington State Music Teacher's Convention in Seattle. It was held in a auditorium at the University of Washington in the summer. My mother and my music professor went with me. I flew there on a DC3. They sat on their tail and you walked up the ramp to get to your seat. As the plane accelerated to take off the tail would lift and the plane would be horizontal before the wing wheels lifted from the runway.
I was the ice breaker for the competition. I was the first student to perform. I was also one of the youngest. I played a well known Beethoven Sonatina. As I walked to the stage I realized that the hundreds of music teachers and students and family in the audience all knew this song very well, and I imagined what it would be like if all of them winced at the same time if I made a mistake.
Of course my hands were sweating. As I played the first couple of notes, I blacked out. When I came to, I was playing the last couple of notes. I had practiced for hours every day for a month prior to the performance, so apparently I could play it while unconscious from finger motor memory. The audience clapped and I stood and bowed and hurried off stage. Later in the reception area I asked my professor how I did. She said "Oh fine. Why - don't you know?" I answered no, and told her I had blacked out. She became angry.
Many years later after getting the early out to go to college (from the Army), I had the opportunity to get private piano lessons from a professor at the college (for free). There were about 35 other people who wanted free lessons and I had to compete with them. I was standing in the hallway with the other students lined up against a wall and when the person before me was called, my hands began to sweat. I had joined Nichiren Shoshu several months before, and I pressed my hands together in front of my chin and chanted Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo with the prayer to be calm. Everyone in the hallway turned and looked at me. Nevertheless the hands stopped sweating and I felt calm. I went into the professor's office where 3 music professors had me play scales major and minor over 4 octaves with both hands. They picked the key of the scales and the type of minor (harmonic, natural, or melodic), and had me play two major compositions by two classical composers. I played a work by Brahms and one by Debussy. I won one of the coveted free private lessons for the school year.
So where my prayers as a Christian had failed, my prayers as a Buddhist worked for me. I have used the prayers for many things since then, some more mundane, like finding something I have mislaid.
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Post by James T. Kirk on Mar 19, 2022 16:00:29 GMT -6
I was raised a Methodist. We attended church regularly and I studied the Bible. I also was persuaded to study piano for many years. Most of the instruction was from a college professor at a local college. She had her students perform together with the students of other teachers at the college conservatory of music in recitals. I was very nervous onstage and my anxiety increased before my scheduled performance. My hands would sweat and sweat would be literally dripping off them by the time I played the first notes of the song. The keyboard would get wet and my fingers would slip on the keys. The next performer would be angry with me and sometimes they demanded a towel to dry the keyboard with. Once I began to get wet hands while waiting and I snuck off to a private room in the conservatory and prayed to Jesus and God fervently to be calm enough to be able to play the song selection. As I prayed, the anxiety increased and my prayer failed. When I was in the 6th grade I somehow won the competition to perform at the Washington State Music Teacher's Convention in Seattle. It was held in a auditorium at the University of Washington in the summer. My mother and my music professor went with me. I flew there on a DC3. They sat on their tail and you walked up the ramp to get to your seat. As the plane accelerated to take off the tail would lift and the plane would be horizontal before the wing wheels lifted from the runway. I was the ice breaker for the competition. I was the first student to perform. I was also one of the youngest. I played a well known Beethoven Sonatina. As I walked to the stage I realized that the hundreds of music teachers and students and family in the audience all knew this song very well, and I imagined what it would be like if all of them winced at the same time if I made a mistake. Of course my hands were sweating. As I played the first couple of notes, I blacked out. When I came to, I was playing the last couple of notes. I had practiced for hours every day for a month prior to the performance, so apparently I could play it while unconscious from finger motor memory. The audience clapped and I stood and bowed and hurried off stage. Later in the reception area I asked my professor how I did. She said "Oh fine. Why - don't you know?" I answered no, and told her I had blacked out. She became angry. Many years later after getting the early out to go to college (from the Army), I had the opportunity to get private piano lessons from a professor at the college (for free). There were about 35 other people who wanted free lessons and I had to compete with them. I was standing in the hallway with the other students lined up against a wall and when the person before me was called, my hands began to sweat. I had joined Nichiren Shoshu several months before, and I pressed my hands together in front of my chin and chanted Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo with the prayer to be calm. Everyone in the hallway turned and looked at me. Nevertheless the hands stopped sweating and I felt calm. I went into the professor's office where 3 music professor's had me play scales major and minor over 4 octaves with both hands. They picked the key of the scales and the type of minor (harmonic, natural, or melodic), and had me play two major compositions by two classical composers. I played a work by Brahms and one by Debussy. I won one of the coveted free private lessons for the school year. So where my prayers as a Christian had failed, my prayers as a Buddhist worked for me. I have used the prayers for many things since then, some more mundane, like finding something I have mislaid. Or, maybe your prayers as a child failed, but your prayers as a man worked. It's possible if you had been raised Buddhist as a child and chose Christianity as a adult after deciding for himself, things might be different. Maybe not. I think that might be where the belief/faith part could play a role.
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Post by lowell on Aug 28, 2022 14:09:58 GMT -6
Each person can compare and experiment with different religions. This is one of the great things about the United States. My experiences with Nichiren Shoshu have convinced me that it is superior to all the other religions I tried. Besides the Methodist childhood, (I also tried a Methodist church in Seattle after the Army), I was a Mormon for 3 months after getting a Dear John while in the Army in Germany. I tried being a Jehovah's Witness for a month, and I looked into Scientology (Elron Hubbard) and did the lemon juice and molasses diet for a month. So as an adult, other religions failed to provide the benefits I found in Nichiren Shoshu. Also as a teen, I attended an Episcopalian church service with a girl I met at a church sponsored dance. If that had been beneficial, I would have had a very different future.
Incorrect beliefs cause suffering, so the choice of religion is very important.
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Post by James T. Kirk on Aug 29, 2022 17:11:12 GMT -6
...very important, and very personal. I'm glad you've found what you were seeking.
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