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At this time in my life, however, I really wanted to get to the root of my depression. Had my last episode gone on longer than it did (a few weeks), maybe I would have seen a healthcare professional about it. But, what I really wanted was to understand how to completely eradicate my karmic tendency to be afflicted with this condition. That goes deeper than a clinical cure. I wanted to cure my life. What I was seeking, and obtained, was a cure at the core of my being. No therapist or anyone else could give me this kind of cure. It had to come from within me. Ultimately, even with medication that's where a cure comes from anyway. If that weren't so then everyone would be cured by taking the same medication for the same ailments. But even when people have the exact same medical condition and similar physical make-ups some are cured by certain treatments while others are not--this is a function of karma.*** Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo enables me to bring out of my own life the power to effect the kind of deep change I sought. If the right medication was what I needed, I believe my chanting would have led me to that. But just as I describe in my article, my depression literally vanished in an instant when I perceived the root cause of my problem from the viewpoint of my Buddha wisdom. I can think of no better words to describe what happened to me than these. My
experience was what Buddhists call a function of enlightenment. And
enlightenment has to be experienced to be fully understood. A 12th
century Japanese monk named Nichiren
first widely propagated the practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.
Nichiren taught
that chanting this phrase is the direct stimulus to activate within anyone
enlightenment, or the most profound awakening, to the limitless potential of one's
individual life and that of all others. This potential is called the Buddha
nature,
Nam-myoho-renge-kyo,
or simply life itself. Awakening to the Buddha
nature within one's own life and all life, in addition to being known as
enlightenment, is also called attaining
Buddhahood or absolute happiness. “If you wish to free yourself from the sufferings of birth and death you have endured since time without beginning and to attain without fail unsurpassed enlightenment in this lifetime, you must perceive the mystic truth that is originally inherent in all living beings. This truth is Myoho-renge-kyo. Chanting Myoho-renge-kyo will therefore enable you to grasp the mystic truth innate in all life.” “On Attaining Buddhahood in this Lifetime,” The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol 1, p. 3
With
Deep Respect. LaVora ** To order the November-December, 2006 issue of Living Buddhism magazine, which features the topic of depression, click here to subscribe to the magazine online or by phone, and call the listed subscription telephone number to request that the issue you want be applied to your subscription. ***For more on the Buddhist view of karma and illness, read Nichiren's letter titled "On Curing Karmic Disease."
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