Buddhist Healing
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.