Welcome to Part-Two of the Namu - Nam challenge. For the past year, I have used both Nam and Namu in a personal quest to find out which prefix is right for my life. The distinction of what is best has gotten my full attention. For the record, after 35 years using Nam, I have a strong bias. Frankly, I really love chanting Nam - Namu has been a challenge. To recap Part One, on a recent visit to the VA. I employed both Nam and Namu in a test to determine how they both work, and what advantage each had. The results were interesting, although not conclusive, so I used this test again two days ago on a second visit to the VA. Imagine my surprise...
First, let’s talk about prayer. Modern scientific prayer research identifies two primary types of prayer: targeted, and open-ended. Targeted prayer is obvious; one conceives of a particular desire or outcome, and generates prayers to make it happen. One could say that targeted prayer or prayer intentionality springs from our very nature to cause favorable or intended change in the environment or elsewhere through the power of the Will. Practical and ceremonial magick are predicated on this form of supplication. Ever since living beings have had the perception to conceive of a higher power, they have used targeted prayer to prevail against the forces of nature, defeat their enemies, and attract the essentials and bounty to survive and thrive in this world.
Open-ended prayer means intention for the very best, without fear or attachment to particular outcomes. It’s a much harder prayer form because you must let go of attachments for particular outcomes and allow the right result to happen. That end result can be perplexing, but it always proves to be the most appropriate outcome for all concerned. Author, Dr. Larry Dossey describes open-ended prayer with the familiar Christian prayer, “Thy will be done.” Thy,” here means the absolute arbitrating force of the universe.
What decades of clinical research has shown is that each form of prayer is valid, but open-ended prayer is substantially more consistent and effective than targeted prayer, which often produces collateral damage. Taken out of the laboratory where these two prayer types were used to influence the growth of bacteria, fungus, beans, and other plants, targeted and open-ended prayers can be seen affecting daily life, relationships, business, not to mention the myriad perils of life and death. This growing season, I will be conducting tightly controlled prayer experiments on growing tomatoes utilizing Nam and Namu with Spindrift methods of prayer testing.
Open-ended prayers require a leap of faith, while targeted prayer is an offensive strategy, a sort of spiritual assertion on the fabric of the collective karma net. From this perspective, I would regard Nam as targeted prayer and Namu as open-ended. Without doubt, both have their reciprocal virtues and values, being two but not two. Nam is like the Navy Seals taking over an enemy target while Namu is the force that controls all mind and eventualities.
Can both Nam and Namu be valid? I wondered what the right path for me was. I began to formulate impressions of the stark differences between the two. My mind began to draw analogies based on my deepest impressions of someone new to Namu. Yes, of course, as a Nichiren Shoshu devotee, we all chanted hiki daimoku, but never did we explore it or explain it; we just prefaced our silent prayers with it and chanted Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with glorious intention for the sake of kosen-rufu. The comparisons came forth from the depths of my unconscious.
Nam is a tempest – Namu the seasons
Nam is the waves – Namu the ocean
Nam is the sunshine – Namu old Sol
Nam is overt – Namu subtle
Nam is targeted – Namu nonlocal
Nam is reaching – Namu connected
Nam is excitation – Namu well being
Nam is external – Namu pervasive
Nam is splendor – Namu essence
Nam is lust - Namu Love
And so forth, and so on. So no one is offended, when I say that Nam is lust and Namu love, lust is the God instinct and Namu the reedemer. Lust is essential for procreation and the propagation of our species while Love is the stabilizing force of consciousness. The beauty and differences between Nam and Namu filled my senses with a profound sense of appreciation that I could ponder The Buddha’s great mystery. I learned that both Nam and Namu are powerful and worthy of incorporation for different aspects of our personal practice, just as the depths of silent, mindful meditation augments our being and spiritual development. In other words, when I want to move mountains, I will use Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. When I need to be the mountains, I will chant Namu-myoho-renge-kyo. I have also learned that slow Namu-myoho-renge-kyo, savoring each sound is the finest psychological and physical calibrating mantra in the world, enabling any person to stimulate their immune system and garner peace of mind.
The following summarizes my test:
Namu was used specifically to achieve a satisfactory result and a safe trip to and from the VA, which is a 300 mile round trip through Chicago rush hour traffic.
Nam was used to have smooth encounters with my doctors and acquire the necessary medicines I need to continue working my physically demanding job.
The results were as follows:
Namu: I had a safe trip with no accidents, no mishaps, and no tickets. Ultimately, I was given a clean bill of health and prescribed the necessary medicine.
Nam: The 150-mile trip was one of the most difficult rides in memory with driving rain, lightening, and gale force winds that made it nearly impossible to keep my car on the road. My doctors were uncharacteristically cold and cruel – something I have rarely seen. They prescribed my medicine in the proper amount but I would be unable to receive it for a week. For anyone who watches TV, my situation is most like Dr. House. All the meditation in the world will not change the fact that I am a person living with chronic pain. It was my trade off for having cancer and surviving. The medical establishment has only been able to placate my pain relief, not offer a medical cure. Biofeedback, cortisone injections, acupuncture, visualization, and the quackish host of conventional and unconventional therapies have all proved marginal at best. Pain is a reality that I have lived with for 23 years. Although it is essential for our survival, please excuse my French,...fuck pain.
On the second visit a few days ago, I conducted the experiment once again, this time reversing some of the elements. I used Namu to ensure a safe, event free round trip to receive my medicine. I used Nam to ensure effective interactions with the people and huge, often uncaring VA health care system.
The results were as follows:
Namu: The trip was perfect. There was mild weather, no accidents, no mishaps, no mechanical malfunctions, and no tickets. The traffic seemed to move out of my way. I was able to secure my medicine, although it was problematic.
Nam: The system fought me from the moment I arrived. The pharmacists were negative and unhelpful at first. I was told that my medicine was in the system to be sent and I could not get it for yet another week. It was at that moment I invoked “Namu-myoho-renge-kyo.”
Immediately, and I do mean immediately, the emotionless, robotic VA pharmacist called the pharmacy supervisor. That supervisor said that nothing could be done, so I chanted to myself with Namu while he reviewed my e-records. “No, there’s nothing we can do,” he said.
I said, “I pray to God that you never experience the pain of cancer. If you did and received the treatment I am getting, you might go home and just kill yourself.” I must have got his attention because within a few minutes, he found a way to circumvent the system and get me my medicine. I had it within the hour.
I must admit that I was startled by how things transpired and concluded that Nam and Namu can be complimentary. Although my experience would seem arbitrary and of little scientific value, it was full of interesting twists and turns, with unexpected endings.
I assert that both have value. Mr. Toda was correct in identifying and initiating Nam as the mantra prefix. The problem is that Namu remains the superior means in both interface and self-awareness. Nam is the sword, Namu the warrior. I learned that it takes wisdom to know which one is right according to circumstance. Going into battle, I would use Nam, to win the battle I would use Namu. Today, I stand before you fearless and at ease. I stand with Nam on my forehead and Namu in my heart. Is this not the way of the warrior needed to establish Jakkodo?
I close with deep thanks for all those friends here and elsewhere who encouraged me through their writings to understand Namu-myoho-renge-kyo.
Health care. As most of you know from my books on healing and these wretched Phantom City blogs, I have been immersed in the VA health care system for decades. The VA is the largest health care system in the country. The other day, I had to make my semi-annual 300-mile round trip trek to receive my institutional check-up. On the way up, I conceived a sort of Namu versus Nam challenge of intentionality to affect the processes and results of the day. Let me explain.
I must confess, I like to chant Nam more than Namu. Perhaps that gut feeling is colored by millions of daimoku, and only coming into chanting Namu within the last year. I have intellectualized and compared one against the other from a historic, doctrinal and even an ontological standpoint. I’ve observed how concentration, consciousness, and well being have responded to both. Reflecting on the past, a consideration had to made for the decades of rampant, bizarre misfortune that occurred while using Nam. Then, I needed to temper that with the possibilities of following the incorrect SGI doctrine and path. Tempered with that possibility was tenju-kyoju, or changing heavy karma into lighter karma. Of course, one with an indomitable spirit, but wearing their “no matter what” gakkai-goggles, could spend 50 years wading neck deep through a putrid karmic dung heap in some Pollyanna belief that they were, in fact, “transforming” their karma, when, in essence, they were just creating bad karma all along.
I knew that Namu was what Nichiren chanted, but what of the natural evolution of language? Was president Toda on to something when he shortened Namu to Nam? I thought it was time for a mini acid test, without much expectation for definitive results. I was wrong about the sharp differences between the two.
My test involved using Namu and Nam to chant with intention about affecting my experience for that day. It might not be a sound, scientific experiment, but having 35 years experience with the dharma, discerning subtle differences in result, both cognitively and experientially was well within my skill set.
I have a 150 mile drive each way, and I love to chant daimoku – chanting daimoku while driving, and impelling your mind to be in the moment should be a well known practice to most chanters. Chanting and driving were made for each other. I began the morning at 3:00 a.m. with gongyo and Namu as my invocation. My prayer is to express my intention, then move away from outcomes into the present moment, fusing with the mandala. After recitation of the sutra, I offer three sets of daimoku:
First silent prayer: I hail the dharma of the Lotus Sutra and offer thanks with three prolonged Namu-myoho-renge-kyo. Profound silence follows until my love for the Lotus Sutra is expressed, which can be a few seconds to a minute. It’s a beautiful feeling.
Second silent prayer: “Hail Shakyamuni, Nichiren and the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the universe.” A personal visualization emerges of The Buddha, Nichiren, and countless, luminous Great Ones that exist elsewhere yet are not outside my own life. This non-local awareness reinforces the truth of Indra’s Net and Buddhahood as an all-pervasive stream of ultimate consciousness, “within you and without you. “ I am all Buddhas, all Buddhas are me.” The oneness of life and the universe arise. In silence, this beauty is savored.>
Third silent prayer: “I apologize for the slanders and negative karma that I have created from the infinite past. I pray for the happiness, good health, and prosperity of all my loved ones. Absolutely no cancer or deadly disease in my body or life. I pray to fulfill my mission of propagating the dharma of the Lotus Sutra throughout the world for the sake of living beings, especially the sick, the suffering and the forgotten. I pray for the happiness and fortunate rebirth of all my loved ones. Silence. The bell is rung, mindful of all those being remembered, both individual, and the world at large. I embrace the deceased with the mystic energy of daimoku. I really believe that the essence of the deceased are graced and blessed by this connection.
The test would use Namu to chant for one set of circumstances and Nam would be used to gauge a second set of circumstances related to my road trip, the interactions with hospital staff, and the prescription of medications. A clear winner emerged with some compelling revelations on why both have merit, and how to employ both for a more complete and informed Buddhist practice.
Part two, coming soon.