Fourth of the Ten Characteristics is Constancy. By this Chih-I means that the methods we employ for living in disease should all be consistent. Every thought, every effort, every should be focused upon our belief and actions in living in disease. It would be counter productive for us as believers in the Lotus Sutra and Buddhism to then employ thoughts and beliefs that contradict what we say is our core belief. As Nichiren points out in one of his letters, there is no value in mixing rice with sand. When we ascribe to the highest teachings of Buddhism as taught by the Buddha there is no use in mixing it with other less valuable or lower teachings.
This does not mean that we should ignore or not seek out skillful medical providers. It would be wrong to say that only faith and practice in the Lotus Sutra is sufficient to overcome any illness. The Lotus Sutra teaches us in Chapter XVI that the skillful physician compound herbs and other ingredients into a pleasing and restorative medicine to cure his sons of their illness from taking poison. We too need to combine the resources available to us in modern medicine with our faith and practice of the Lotus Sutra. One does not exclude the other.
Constantly keeping the Lotus Sutra foremost in our minds while following the skillful advice of medical providers is a partnership that takes place in our lives. In fact all medical practice is a partnership between the provider and the patient. We can enhance the efficacy of the medical provider by keeping our faith foremost in our hearts and minds.
For those tempted to seek solace in various practices for example combing Buddhism with other belief practices only serves to confuse the mind. The mind is important in the healing process. To grasp at various trinkets of faith is to fundamentally believe in nothing. This may sound harsh, yet the truth of the matter is because of a lack of belief one clamors for many things hoping that one thing will work but not knowing which thing to truly believe in. The power of the mind and the belief are scattered and ineffective.
With the convenience of the internet and the accessibility of information there is both good and danger possible. It is good that we can educate ourselves about our condition, it is dangerous in that it can be difficult to verify the accuracy of information received. Not all personal accounts of cures or treatments are accurate and there is little resource for verification of claims on the internet. Knowing your body, having trust in your beliefs, skillful consultation with your provider all can help ensure you are getting the best possible advice.
I think it is important to always remember that aging, bodily deterioration, health problems, and so forth are fundamentally natural to life. For many things treatments are available and for many things treatment may not always be the best solution for your life. This is why practicing the Lotus Sutra and knowing yourself and what is important to you and being consistent in your beliefs, your goals, your expectations are absolutely key.
It is no good to expect your doctor to provide a treatment plan for which you will not commit to following. If you’re not going to follow the doctors advice then you are behaving inconsistently. It would be better to either not go or to say up front that that treatment is not an option and why it isn’t.
I have been advised that my health, my breathing would be greatly improved if I were to get rid of my dog. The problem is pet dander and its affect on breathing. I know this is the science, and I also know that it isn’t something I can do. When my pulmonary doctor told me that his recommendation is for me to get rid of my dog I informed him that while I recognized the science I also know that my quality of life would be negatively impacted. As I stated to him, for me quality is my objective in my health and not quality.
I am being consistent in knowing what my values are for my health care. I don’t expect the doctors to be responsible for quantity of life while I only am focused on quality. That would be inconsistent of me. I also believe that animals are Buddhas too and for me to simply get rid of my dog would equate to my abandonment of my responsibly to protect my pet family member. I would no more get rid of my dog than I would a child even if the child had a communicable disease or compromised my immune system.
The key thing here is to be fully aware of self, and our Buddhist practice helps us examine our lives in such a way as to be frank and honest about what our true values and beliefs are. Our Buddhist practice and our practice of the Lotus Sutra teaches us that honmatsu ku kyo to, constancy from beginning to end is a truth which we learn in Chapter II when we recite the Ten Suchnesses.
Next is to know the distinction among diseases. Part of this the doctor helps you with in that he may recommend you to visit a specialist for say lungs, or heart, or orthopedic problems. Your doctor recognizes that your issue is beyond his skill and knows who best to treat your condition.
An example of this happened to me recently with some pain in my back and shoulder. My unskilled diagnosis was that I had some muscles in my back pinching a nerve when in fact it turns out that the cause is from arthritis in my cervical column. The doctor suspected as much and sent me to have x-rays taken and they showed significant arthritis. Next I’ll go to MRI to see the impact on my nerves that affect my arm, shoulder, and back. Meanwhile I’ll be going to do physical therapy to strengthen various muscles to help counteract the stiffness and nerve pinching taking place in my neck. Also I am to wear a soft cervical collar as much as possible to keep me from aggravating the arthritic area from bending my neck to the extreme when I do things such as reading, especially reading.
For over a month I had been applying a heating pad to my back and using my TENS unit on my back and had not gotten any relief. In fact the pain was now down my entire right arm and I was losing strength in that arm. I also was loosing sensation in my fingers. As it turns out I should have been applying heat to my neck and the TENS to my neck, yet my neck itself didn’t hurt. I would not have known this without the knowledge of my doctor.
This is one example of distinction among disease.
Chih-I says: “If you do not know about diseases and yet practice the methods of healing without restraint, since the actions do not match the purpose there will be no benefit in this.”
Here I was, in my ignorance, trying to cure something yet not doing the most beneficial thing to affect such a cure. In fact it is to the point that I need more skill than I possess, such as physical therapy and perhaps cortisone shots, though I’m not keen on shots and will need to weigh the risk and the benefits and compare the effects from physical therapy and other less invasive options.
Besides the various body diseases there are diseases of the mind and in this too it is important to see out qualified professionals who have proper training. In the past I have been approached to provide prayers for mental health issues and my firmly held advice and practice is that prayers alone will not cure mental illnesses. There have been some who have refused this advice and still expect me to offer prayers or rituals to overcome the illness. Whether we call our mental illness demons, or devils, or traumas, or any name we may wish they still need to be treated by people who have specialized training in such areas. I do not have that training and I will not mislead anyone or allow anyone to corner me into practicing or providing cure or relief for which I know I am incapable of actuating.
I know there are special rituals that some Nichiren Shu priests can provide, and they can be helpful and I don’t discourage anyone from taking advantage of the option when available. There efficacy though is gained when they are used to address the spiritual aspect and combined with the medical aspect. Call me what you will, I know too well the dangers of false beliefs, of harmful religious ideations.
Our Buddhist practice is a tool, one tool in a tool box that also must have tools of professionals. Perhaps at some point Nichiren Shu will have priests who are trained therapists or psychologists and that will be a good time. We are not at that point and so we must combine resources using both faith and practice as well as medical science.
Chanting alone is no sure cure for any illness, except for curing ignorance of the truth of life. If it were then again I say it would be possible to chant our way out of dying. That is not consistent with Buddhism and not consistent with the many examples in the Lotus Sutra of various Bodhisattvas and personages who go through multiple births and deaths.
We have at our disposal a great truth and the proper way to use it is to apply it to the things it is meant to be applied to. Chih-I himself was not a doctor, though he compiled and collected all of the current medical wisdom and practice of his time. In his section on contemplation of disease he puts the two side by side utilizing the specialties of medical wisdom of his time in relation to the Lotus Sutra. If we abandon this approach then we are not following the wisdom of one of the great minds and practitioners of our lineage.
Faith is the cure to ignorance and the delusion of permanence and independent causation. Faith reveals to us the truth that life progresses to death, that nothing remains unchanged, and that nothing arises without cause.
Our best option is to apply Buddhism to the areas of life it is intended to be applied to and coupling that with the best practices of current medical understanding and treatments. This is an important distinction among disease.
Subscribe to my blog post newsletter
[amazon_link asins=’1979530815,B00HTOFM44,1975689763,147834198X,0692257470,1979814023,1511592907,1726325520,1508534780,1492886041′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’ryusho0a-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’5b00ab74-b021-11e8-94bb-8388b7973e5c’]
