Next is the instruction to straighten one’s body. This can be problematic for many who are sick, especially with some internal injuries and with skeletal challenges. Here is my thinking on this, and I insert my thinking here because Chih-I doesn’t talk about this in his writing, the challenges of not being able to straighten one’s body.
Currently I am going to the Veterans Administration Hospital here in Syracuse three days a week for various exercise classes. My motivation for doing this is to regain some lost flexibility and to increase my range of motion in some joints as well as try to get some relief for my pain from the fractured vertebrae. In all the classes there are people with even worse skeletal and muscular challenges than I have. The teaching techniques are modified for the limitations we each face. In all cases the instructors stress that there is benefit to be gained simply by doing even a little bit of the exercise.
In particular the Yoga and Qigong instructors stress holding the image in your mind of the shape of your body as being completely able to do the exercise. In other words the image in your mind of your body doing the full exercise has the physiological affect of doing the exercise correctly. It isn’t quite the same as doing the exercise but it is close with regard to mind-body.
When our mind visualizes the goal our body actually responds positively and enables the body to move closer to the objective. Whereas when our mind holds onto an image of the body limited the body complies with a limited affect. The mind has tremendous power over the body. This we have learned and discussed in other parts of this book.
So for those who are unable to attain a straight body, holding the image of your body as being erect and straight is a beneficial effort and serves the same purpose. It takes mental energy even in a body in good condition to hold the body erect. The same is true even for a body unable to remain or attain straightness.
So hold in your mind the image of your body erect even while it may be curled in bed. Your mind is the important thing in this case. If your condition should change continue to hold that image in your mind, even to the day when and if you can accomplish it with your body.
Some days you may not be able to do this at all and other days you might be able to go a long time. Do what you can and do it with joy. Also remember that one Odaimoku chanted with your mind silently with concentration and joy is powerful and can move mountains and sky. Think about the quality of your Odaimoku and let go of notions of quantity. It is better to chant one concentrated Odaimoku than hours of unfocused Odaimoku chanted out of a sense of obligation. I think of it sort of how I think about my life. I am not looking for longevity that reduces my quality. Of course I am old enough to have enjoyed a quantity of life denied to many. So perhaps it is easier for me to say this than some. Don’t go by my standards or my expectations for my life, hold clearly in your mind what your objective is and chant with joy in all cases.
So
Next, and I’ve covered this above, Chih-I instructs to focus your thoughts practicing only cessation, or only contemplation. These methods have been outlined in this writing so you may need to review them by the time you get to this point.
We need to remember that Chih-I wrote this long before the age of Degeneration which we live in. He wrote this before Nichiren revealed the single practice for this age of chanting the sacred title to the Lotus Sutra, the Odaimoku, Namu myoho renge kyo. His instructions to use good and skillful methods of instruction are incorporated in the single act of chanting Odaimoku. For those in Chih-I’s time the practice was less concrete, more intellectual and complex. How fortunate for us that Nichiren gave us the practice of the Odaimoku. We should chant it with great joy, with concentration, with compassion, with an image of an erect and straight body. With this practice we are to regulate our mind, your practice to focus on these things as well as your goal of living in, through, and with your illness. Again remember that in Chih-I’s time people usually either were cured or died and the idea of living long term with an illness, with disease was rare. For us we have been given both a blessing and sometimes perhaps a curse. It will be up to each of us to determine which is the case. The instructions given previously I believe offer some tools and aids in our contemplations on this matter.
Chih-I says that once you are seated in this way, and once you practice in this way you can experience “pure and cool awakening.” This state he says, and this I fully believe and have experienced, this is the “Great Medicine” so you do not need to confuse things with other healing methods (here do not take this to mean not seeking professional medical treatment, the two are not in opposition to each other remember).
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