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WACOD
—Mark Coleman, “A Breath of Fresh Air”
BD PRAYER
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has. ATTRIBUTED TO MARGARET MEAD, CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGIST
I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. F. L. EMERSON
Zemblanity: The faculty of making unhappy, unlucky, and expected discoveries; the opposite of serendipity
I’ve had this discussion actually. Having been to Tibet, I was surprised that people say the phrase all the time, often under their breath. While driving, eating - even once in a car accident, the driver knelt down and said a prayer that included it. The question isn’t “are they saying it?” It’s “What does it mean?”
It literally means (as I understand it) “Praise to the knowledge in the lotus sutra.” The words themselves - praise to the lotus - are referring to the teaching that the Buddha gave where he explained how everything has relatively meaning - everything is constantly changing, who we are, what our body is, the meaning of things in terms of what we think they mean, or what they might mean. Adding that kind of judgment to things makes it harder for us to see the nature of reality.
So it’s a valuable thing to remember - of course - because anything that bothers us, bugs us, upsets us can be batted away by thinking about it from the insight this teaching gave people. It’s the equivalent of when the Dalai Lama says “I can’t control how others behave, but I can control how I react to them.” That’s how we can control our reactions - but thinking about what the Lotus sutra represents.
What’s fascinating is that Nichiren Shoshu - the monk who created NSA (SGI) came up with an identical phrase - “Praise to the knowledge in the Lotus sutra” in Japanese. “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.” For fans of Flipside or the Backstage Pass books,, they know that our friend on the flipside Luana Anders was a devout “chanter” of the phrase and credits it with “saving her life” or made her life worth living. (Oddly enough the director Hal Ashby had her chant in the film “Last Detail” - they were friends and remain friends on the flipside.)
So that’s two for two.
The phrase doesn’t have any power per se - like words having power, they’re relative to whoever is listening. Like prayer has power - but only in relation to the person doing the prayer.
However, there are physiological reactions that can be measured - the research of Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin proves that meditation can “cure or alleviate symptoms of depression.” The meditation (“tonglen”) he used in the study directly affects the amygdala, the regulator of serotonin - so in essence “prayer” or “imagining that one can heal someone from a distance using the healing light of the universe” actually cures the person doing the meditation. (Instead of stopping serotonin like SSRI drugs do, the meditation fixes the amygdala - or repairs it to function properly).
So the ideation of something can have a direct effect on the brain.
Literally - and I mean this sincerely because it’s in the research (look up “richard davidson amygdala” for the medical citations) that meditating can heal a person. Meditation can “cure or alleviate symptoms of depression.” Not my opinion, theory or belief - it’s in the data.
No reason chanting something wouldn’t have the same effect.
So yes - the words can heal someone - there’s no evidence (at least in peer reviewed studies) that the words have a healing effect on others, but it’s true that imagining healing someone else does heal the person doing the imagining.
On a quantum mechanics level - we could discuss how intent and ideation (or observing outcomes) has an effect on reality. But perhaps a bit too large for this forum.
In the study done by Davidson, he used a “modified” version of tonglen. Instead of imagining healing a friend or someone else, he had them imagine “healing the earth.” That way the results wouldn’t be skewed by thinking of one person. So throughout that study, people were thinking about healing the earth. Is the earth being healed? Perhaps. I think the Earth has its own opinion about that (as reported in “Hacking the Afterlife”) - another topic for another discussion.
But yes - intent - in prayer, meditation or otherwise - does have a direct healing effect on the person doing the ideation. There is no hard evidence I’m aware of that it affects the person or planet being prayed for (some argue that it does, but I’m pointing out that there is peer reviewed studies that show that meditation can “cure or alleviate symptoms of depression”)… but let’s put it this way.
It can’t hurt. It heals the person saying it - whether it heals the thing the person is praying about may come about because the person who did the prayer or did the meditation has been healed and therefore is capable of helping someone else. A round about way of saying “Why not?”
The folks on the flipside claim to be aware of us saying their names - including saying prayers to them, about them - or asking for intercession. They say they can’t interfere with our planned path or journey, but they can help us in other ways. They point out that our guides and teachers are always tethered to us… so that’s something worth noting as well. If one is saying a prayer to help someone else - then they are aware that by doing so we are healing ourselves. And that alone makes it worthwhile.
However, one wouldn’t have to praise the knowledge in the lotus sutra - one could say a prayer about a flower, or to share love and healing with someone else - it shouldn’t make a difference. I have heard of some folks using the “Jewel tree meditation of Tibet” (focuses on anger issues) and that they have had a “direct positive result” by doing so. (The person who hated them or had ire in their direction, changed their attitude in a dramatic fashion.) So again - worth trying. Can’t hurt.
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OLDEST HUMAN
I’ve had this discussion actually. Having been to Tibet, I was surprised that people say the phrase all the time, often under their breath. While driving, eating - even once in a car accident, the driver knelt down and said a prayer that included it. The question isn’t “are they saying it?” It’s “What does it mean?”
It literally means (as I understand it) “Praise to the knowledge in the lotus sutra.” The words themselves - praise to the lotus - are referring to the teaching that the Buddha gave where he explained how everything has relatively meaning - everything is constantly changing, who we are, what our body is, the meaning of things in terms of what we think they mean, or what they might mean. Adding that kind of judgment to things makes it harder for us to see the nature of reality.
So it’s a valuable thing to remember - of course - because anything that bothers us, bugs us, upsets us can be batted away by thinking about it from the insight this teaching gave people. It’s the equivalent of when the Dalai Lama says “I can’t control how others behave, but I can control how I react to them.” That’s how we can control our reactions - but thinking about what the Lotus sutra represents.
What’s fascinating is that Nichiren Shoshu - the monk who created NSA (SGI) came up with an identical phrase - “Praise to the knowledge in the Lotus sutra” in Japanese. “Nam Myoho Renge Kyo.” For fans of Flipside or the Backstage Pass books,, they know that our friend on the flipside Luana Anders was a devout “chanter” of the phrase and credits it with “saving her life” or made her life worth living. (Oddly enough the director Hal Ashby had her chant in the film “Last Detail” - they were friends and remain friends on the flipside.)
So that’s two for two.
The phrase doesn’t have any power per se - like words having power, they’re relative to whoever is listening. Like prayer has power - but only in relation to the person doing the prayer.
However, there are physiological reactions that can be measured - the research of Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin proves that meditation can “cure or alleviate symptoms of depression.” The meditation (“tonglen”) he used in the study directly affects the amygdala, the regulator of serotonin - so in essence “prayer” or “imagining that one can heal someone from a distance using the healing light of the universe” actually cures the person doing the meditation. (Instead of stopping serotonin like SSRI drugs do, the meditation fixes the amygdala - or repairs it to function properly).
So the ideation of something can have a direct effect on the brain.
Literally - and I mean this sincerely because it’s in the research (look up “richard davidson amygdala” for the medical citations) that meditating can heal a person. Meditation can “cure or alleviate symptoms of depression.” Not my opinion, theory or belief - it’s in the data.
No reason chanting something wouldn’t have the same effect.
So yes - the words can heal someone - there’s no evidence (at least in peer reviewed studies) that the words have a healing effect on others, but it’s true that imagining healing someone else does heal the person doing the imagining.
On a quantum mechanics level - we could discuss how intent and ideation (or observing outcomes) has an effect on reality. But perhaps a bit too large for this forum.
In the study done by Davidson, he used a “modified” version of tonglen. Instead of imagining healing a friend or someone else, he had them imagine “healing the earth.” That way the results wouldn’t be skewed by thinking of one person. So throughout that study, people were thinking about healing the earth. Is the earth being healed? Perhaps. I think the Earth has its own opinion about that (as reported in “Hacking the Afterlife”) - another topic for another discussion.
But yes - intent - in prayer, meditation or otherwise - does have a direct healing effect on the person doing the ideation. There is no hard evidence I’m aware of that it affects the person or planet being prayed for (some argue that it does, but I’m pointing out that there is peer reviewed studies that show that meditation can “cure or alleviate symptoms of depression”)… but let’s put it this way.
It can’t hurt. It heals the person saying it - whether it heals the thing the person is praying about may come about because the person who did the prayer or did the meditation has been healed and therefore is capable of helping someone else. A round about way of saying “Why not?”
The folks on the flipside claim to be aware of us saying their names - including saying prayers to them, about them - or asking for intercession. They say they can’t interfere with our planned path or journey, but they can help us in other ways. They point out that our guides and teachers are always tethered to us… so that’s something worth noting as well. If one is saying a prayer to help someone else - then they are aware that by doing so we are healing ourselves. And that alone makes it worthwhile.
However, one wouldn’t have to praise the knowledge in the lotus sutra - one could say a prayer about a flower, or to share love and healing with someone else - it shouldn’t make a difference. I have heard of some folks using the “Jewel tree meditation of Tibet” (focuses on anger issues) and that they have had a “direct positive result” by doing so. (The person who hated them or had ire in their direction, changed their attitude in a dramatic fashion.) So again -
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