Buddhist Healing
by Steven Lane
Mention chakra disturbances, spirit intervention or karma to most people and
they may ask what planet you live on! Whichever planet, Buddhist healing
works with all such forces, and many more, and can obtain extraordinary
results.
Of course, it is not for everyone! It requires time and effort, and the
willingness to take responsibility for your own health. Buddhist healing, in
common with other esoteric traditions, believes that the power of the mind
can be employed to combat illness and restore health.
Modern research is beginning to support the idea that visualisation and
imagery can have hugely beneficial effects for health, as can joy and
relaxation - all aspects of Buddhist practice. So, whilst Buddhist healing
methods are centuries old, modern science, as it begins to observe and
understand the mind-body connection, is cautiously opening itself to its
possibilities.
The Buddhist view is that all phenomena and experiences are
manifestations of causes, gross and subtle, and ultimately linked to the
individual experiencing them, and beginning in the mind.
What is the cause of disease? All of the alternative therapies have
their own answers and because they achieve results, they probably all claim
to be right.
Homoeopathy attributes disease to a disturbance of the vital force and
this in turn is caused by an array of factors: hereditary, environmental,
life-style, diet, emotional, suppressive allopathic drugs, etc.
Nutritionally led disciplines say, "you are what you eat".
Extraordinary cures are obtained from special diets.
Hypnoanalysis and psychotherapy lay the blame at repressed memories,
inner conflicts, unfulfilled needs etc.
Still others claim that unhealthy electro-magnetic waves, natural and
man made are contributors.
Buddhism recognises all of these explanations of disease as valid, but
would claim that such causes of disease were themselves manifestations of
deeper causes.
The Buddhist concept of disease is a multitiered system of causes. The
following analogy will explain: A man drinks a bottle of vodka, steps out of
the pub, and blindly walks into the road, where he is at once knocked down
and killed by an oncoming bus. What was the cause of the man's death?
The apparent cause was being knocked down by a bus - analogous to dying
of lung cancer. A deeper cause was being drunk - analogous to the cancer
being caused by smoking. But why was he drunk? Because he was unhappy -
analogous to the actual cause originating in the mind. And why was he
unhappy? Because his wife had left him - analogous to the law of cause and
effect (karma).
Hence Buddhists would ultimately say that the lung cancer was created
by negative karma: the negative energy created in dependence upon a negative
thought or its consequent actions (in this life or a past life), and
therefore ultimately to remove somebody's predisposition to disease one
would need to remove the negative karma.
Karma makes sense of why two similar people can both spend their lives
smoking 40 cigarettes a day and why one dies of lung cancer and the other
lives to be a hundred and dies of natural causes. Unless the root cause of
negative karma to experience a particular effect exists, the secondary
causes cannot function.
Whilst karma is virtually impossible to prove to a sceptic, I suggest
there is a link between the negative energy created by karma, and the vital
force as perceived in homoeopathy, or even a disturbance of the libido as
described by Freud. Experiments with Kirlian photography clearly show that
the electro-magnetic field surrounding the body (aura) is affected by
thought forms and that there is a definite correlation between the weakening
of the aura and disease (this also supports the theory put forward by Dr
Edward Bach, which has much in common with Buddhist thought).
Buddhist healing involves working with both the primary and the
secondary causes. Many of the methods act upon both and one aim is to
restore physical and emotional balance. In common with the system of Chinese
medicine, Buddhism recognises that the mechanism of disease is to disturb
and imbalance the inner elements, so many healing exercises are aimed at
harmonising the elements.
The ultimate healing in Buddhism which acts upon primary and secondary
causes and also re-establishes equilibrium is to destroy the innate concept
we have of the self as being a real and solid entity. As a result of such
ego identification we generate fearful, tight and negative minds: the
ultimate cause of all disease, mental and physical. By learning to relax our
grasping and see through the illusion like ego we gain a state of openness
and ease, and physical afflictions can melt away. However, this is not an
easy practice and requires considerable instruction.
Buddhism calls upon a great range of methods to alleviate pain and
illness, some of which can be performed by oneself and others which require
the assistance of another person. They include many different
visualisations, breathing exercises, mantra recitation and rituals. Perhaps
one of the most strange types of healing is the pacification of "malevolent
spirits".
For most Westerners (including Western Buddhists) this seems quite hard
to believe and is almost always relegated to the realms of primitive
beliefs. I have however had direct experience of spirits causing both
physical and mental disturbances. Some years ago I entered a room in a
Buddhist temple to discover a young man suffering from an epileptic fit.
Conventional measures were applied without alleviating the horrendous
convulsions. Remembering the possibility of spirit intervention, I began to
recite the mantra of a wrathful deity very forcefully and within no more
than a minute the fit stopped and the young man came back to his senses
muttering something about having been possessed. A similar event happened
some weeks later and consequently I gave the man an exercise to do daily to
give him protection. During the 3 months that he performed the exercise he
was free of epilepsy. Shortly after stopping the exercises the fits
returned.
Buddhist masters cite spirits as the cause of more than half of all
illnesses and claim that many serious illnesses can be cured with the help
of certain rituals. Immediately one thinks of Western style exorcists and
indeed the rituals do have much in common, the fundamental difference being
that the foundation of Buddhism is compassion and therefore it is not
permissible to harm the spirits when encouraging them to leave. Perhaps the
belief in spirits does not seem so impossible if we consider Western beliefs
in positive forms of spirit like entities such as fairies and devas. Is it
not the case that huge vegetables have been grown with the help of devas? Of
course, there are many interpretations, and many a Western psychotherapist
writes off malevolent spirits as negative thought forms, or claim that the
healing rituals work via a trance-induced suggestion.
Buddhism talks about the life force and this may be the same force as
talked about in homoeopathy: the vital force. For example, Buddhism
attributes 3 main causes to death: the karmically determined lifespan ends,
the positive energy (karma) becomes exhausted or the life force becomes
depleted. The life force is a subtle energy which sustains life and all of
the functions of the body. It can be depleted through any excess use of
energy - for example sexual activity or even jogging etc., as well as
sleeping too much or too little, eating unwholesome food, emotional
disturbances etc. Other Eastern forms of thought and medicine aim to cure
life force disturbances with exercise methods such as Chi Kung and emphasise
that Western forms of aerobic exercise are seriously harmful to the life
force if practised in excess.
One method described by many Buddhist teachers to increase the life
force is extracted from the tantric teachings and presented in a simplified
form which can be learnt in a few minutes (Yoga teaches a similar method).
The technique is performed either in a traditional meditation posture
or sitting on a chair, with an erect but relaxed spine. One begins inhaling
deeply with abdominal breathing, whilst mentally hearing the sound OM (Aum).
The breath is then held and imagined at the spiritual heart (midway between
the breast towards the spine) whilst mentally hearing the sound Ah. After
holding the breath for 3-5 seconds, or until it becomes uncomfortable, the
breath is exhaled whilst mentally hearing the sound Hum (Hung). The whole
process is then repeated for between 5 and 20 minutes. It is not necessary
to take exaggerated breaths and it is essential to perform the exercise
whilst remaining physically and mentally relaxed. Many people engage in
meditation to overcome stress and illness and finish up worse than before
because they push and strain in meditation. There are a number of variations
on this meditation linked to colour. One is to think of the colour white
whilst inhaling the OM, to think of red whilst holding the Ah at the heart
and to think of blue whilst exhaling the Hum. Those who practice this
exercise, diligently, every day for a few weeks will soon start to notice
the benefits.
Mantras are very powerful healing aids. They are not simply sounds in
the conventional sense but are the resonance of subtle primordial energies
which we have within ourselves, the vibrations of which distribute gentle
healing energies throughout our being.
Most healers have their fair share of failures. Often it is said that
when a patient doesn't get better it is because he does not wish to get
better. Of course, sometimes this is the case: when the illness provides the
patient with a significant benefit; but sometimes the cause of failure is
deep rooted negative karma going back to a previous life. Such a case is
difficult to heal and sometimes not possible at all. The Buddhist solution
is to purify the negative karma and Buddhism teaches many methods of
purification.
One powerful method taught initially centuries ago in India is the
practice of Taking. Some years ago I was approached by a man who had been
diagnosed as having AIDS, and was estimated by his doctor to live only 3-6
months more (in itself a dangerous negative suggestion). I instructed him in
the practice of Taking, as well as another Buddhist purification practice
and suggested that he enter a retreat for a few weeks. He was very
sceptical, but nevertheless agreed to try. After the retreat he continued to
practice and a few months later he told me that the doctor had noticed a
considerable improvement and could not understand it - at the same time the
doctor ridiculed the practice he was doing. Three months later the man
returned to say that the doctors were now saying there was no trace left of
AIDS and that they must have mis-diagnosed him. Interestingly the man
himself arrived at the same conclusion some months later and dismissed the
practice he had done as wishful thinking. Most healers will be familiar with
such occurrences of post recovery denial.
The practice of Taking generally depends upon two things: compassion
and faith. Compassion is like the power which heals and faith is like the
fuel which sustains the power.
Love and compassion are great healers and are two sides of the same coin.
One definition of love is a universal wish for others to experience
happiness. Compassion is a universal wish for others to be free of
suffering. They are not to be confused with our usual self-centred emotional
responses which we attach similar names to. To generate compassion it is
necessary first to reduce our own sense of self importance: most of us feel
as if the world revolves around ourselves. However, we are just one of many
beings seeking happiness. We then need to empathise with others and to
contemplate their suffering.
Faith can refer to many things. It can mean to have confidence. Without
faith most mental healing practices won't work. On the other hand, with
faith miracles can be achieved. One way to understand faith is to perceive
it as a focuser or magnifier. By focusing our healing efforts through the
mind of faith the power of healing is magnified and concentrated. Faith can
also mean acknowledging our innate perfect nature variously described as
Buddha nature, the Inner Guru, the Inner Wisdom or the Higher Self, or
perhaps from a Christian point of view as God. Faith in such an Inner Wisdom
would mean to rely upon the ability we have to perfectly heal ourselves and
provide whatever is necessary for that process. It can help greatly to
imagine our Inner Wisdom as an external source of power and to receive its
healing energy.
Faith can also be understood from a Western psychotherapy point of
view. Faith is to programme the unconscious mind with a certain idea or
image, which then needs to find expression in our everyday life. Therefore
faith would seem to have much in common with the power of suggestion and
many hypnotherapists would say that all ancient healing methods, including
rituals, exorcisms and visualisations are all forms of hypnosis and positive
suggestion.
To perform the practice of Taking one starts by contemplating others
suffering from the same illness or problem (if emotional) as yourself. So
for example if you suffer from cancer, you think about all of the people
suffering from cancer. Many of them are suffering more than you. You think
about their pain, about how they fear death, about the sadness they have
thinking about leaving their family behind, or how they fear and suffer from
any conventional treatment they are due to receive. Essentially you identify
your own pain and then empathise with others who suffer a similar pain. It
is important to think that these people are just like you. They share a
common wish of wanting to be happy and free from suffering.
By thinking like this, in time a warm feeling, a feeling of compassion
will arise in the heart. This is the beginning of real healing. Just
thinking like this already reduces your suffering. Why? Because suffering
depends upon your awareness of it and if your awareness is turned towards
others instead of towards yourself your pain diminishes! The power of the
compassion should not be underestimated! It is said in the Buddhist
scriptures that true strength comes from compassion.
The next step requires a radical thought! Having generated compassion
and the wish for others to be free from suffering, one courageously thinks,
"if I could take on the suffering of all these people and therewith free
them from their pain, I would do."
It is quite a thought, isn't it? Supposing it really were possible that one
person could choose to suffer instead of a million people suffering! We try
to imagine we have the courage to think like that and to identify with that
thought. It is like a man who is taken prisoner and tortured. If he gives in
to the pain and gives his torturer the information he wants, maybe a
thousand people die. He has to choose. Of course, such a choice takes great
courage. So, one tries to think like that. At first, our compassion is so
weak that we cannot genuinely generate that thought. At first we have to
imagine. Imagination is a very powerful tool and since reality depends upon
the mind, imagination can be used to shape reality.
Having generated that thought you then think, "right now I will take on
their suffering". You imagine their suffering and illness dissolving into
thick black smoke and you absorb this smoke into your spiritual heart. As it
dissolves into your heart you think of it destroying your ego grasping; your
selfishness.
Then you imagine all the other people free from their suffering and
such a thought makes you very happy; very joyful. And so you become very
still and bask in that sunshine-like happiness and let it pervade your whole
being. Joy is another powerful healing agent. When joy flows through our
bodies and minds it generates a powerful positive energy which heals,
nurtures, relaxes and regenerates. The practice is repeated several times in
a session if desired, and performed daily. Tibetans are very familiar with
this practice and many people have been cured from seemingly incurable
diseases.
These are just a few of the many techniques which Buddhism has to
offer. Fundamental to all healing, of course, is the power of relaxation.
Half an hour of quality meditation a day can do much to rebalance our minds,
bodies, energies and emotions. When we gain deep awareness of these factors
and learn to harmonise them, healing can be achieved without recourse to
outside influences.
About the Author
Steven Lane has spent 10 years studying Buddhism, the latter 5 as a Buddhist
monk and senior teacher. He is currently in the process of opening a healing
clinic using hypnosis, guided imagery and flower essences, as well as
working as a freelance writer covering holistic health and Eastern
philosophy. Steven Lane lives in Cumbria and can be contacted on 01539
567953.
(submitted by Kehlia TalonShard)