Chanting

As I continue to read Tina Turner’s “Happiness Becomes You: A Guide to Changing Your Life for Good,” I continue to learn.  Of course, I’ve heard of “karma” and even used the term on occasion (probably incorrectly), but Turner explains it more meaningfully and in simple terms from the perspective of the Buddhist philosophy.  She likens karma to the invisible but very real force of gravity.  Karma, she explains is “the sum of all [our] actions—thoughts, words, and deeds—from the eternal past to the present moment and on into the future, as you continue to create new actions.”  

Turner describes karma in terms of The Ten Worlds, as well, as the factor that drives our principal life condition (or World).  As with gravity, in order to escape the invisible forces of (negative) karma, one must “increase the power of [one’s] life force until it becomes greater than the karmic pull.”  One way to do this and reach a state of enlightenment (self-actualization in Western psychology) is through chanting, specifically chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which translates “Devotion to the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sutra.”  “Sutras” are collections of teachings or “threads” of wisdom woven together “to create literary tapestries of enlightenment.”  The Sutras are based on the teachings of Shakyamuni, or the historical Buddha (“enlightened one”), and the Lotus Sutra is a path to enlightenment.  Chanting nam-myoho-renge-kyo, Turner explains, is a sort of “spiritual workout,” and, as with physical fitness, different people require different levels of exercise to achieve and sustain spiritual fitness.

Wow!  This is all very interesting and cool and I think I’m getting it.  It’s helping me to read a bit of Turner’s book and then reflect on what I’ve read here in my own words.  I’ve already started chanting, informally, and it’s a pleasant but strange experience, and to be honest it’s been a very slow start.  Although I was raised as a Catholic and have committed to memory (even still) pages and pages of different prayers (some of them even in Latin), at times I have trouble remember the exact phrase of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo… it doesn’t yet roll off my mental tongue for some reason, but I’m going to keep at it and set aside some quiet time each day to practice chanting.