Something subtle and mysterious

Early on in my practice of Zen, there was a woman who was a well liked sangha member. She had advanced cancer. the abbot and his teacher encouraged us chant on her behalf.

During this time we chanted one or the other of two chants for her the "Kannon Ten Clause Sutra" and "Namu Dai Bosa."

The Kannon Ten Clause Sutra is also known as "The Ten Phrase Life Prolonging Sutra."
("Clause" is alternately translated as "phrase" and "line," some of the better translations as the PDF document here on one of the the Cho Bo Ji web sites actually typeset the sutra in 10 lines.)

Namu Dai Bosa loosely means both 'Veneration to the Great Bodhisattva(s)!", and "Let us become great bodhisattvas (ourselves)!"

Hakuin Zenji, the man who, we are told, revitalized Zen practice in Japan and who lived 1686 - 1768, spoke highly of the "miraculous powers" of intense and prolonged chanting of the sutra. So when the teacher, Soen Roshi a teacher in Hakuin's lineage, had us chant for the woman,  he was doing exactly as Hakuin would have recommended.

Unfortunately, perhaps, there was no miracle for the woman. But many of us in the sangha felt drawn to both the Kannon Chant and the Namu Dai Bosa chant. 40+ years in and both are still among my favorite chants.

But I as I am sure as did others, no doubt wondered about the effectiveness of such "intense" and "intentioned" chanting. That's where the subtle and mysterious enter as well as the sketicism about such things.

Back in the early days of my practice I eventually asked the abbot about such chanting and he simply said, chant the chant and direct your attention to the person who needs the healing or support. That's it. Too simple, I thought. Simple is best, I also thought. Just do it.

I am still waiting for the English translation of Hakuin's commentary on the Kannon Sutra. I suspect it'll feel dated and a bit obscure even superstitious if his other writings are any indication.

Since then litle by little I have tried to find out more about chanting and healing. This ranges from reading books on healing from a Tibetan Buddhist perspective, taking a Tibetan Medicine Buddha Enpowerment and studying the work of a Vedic priest, the late Thomas Ashley-Farrand. There are scattered stories on some Zen web sites like Zen Mountain Monastey site.

Interesting enough the methodolgy of each of the three Eastern traditions is remarkably close: intense regular concentration or chanting with the determined intent to heal a particular person. The trick being NOT to expect a specific result. In other words do it and then forget about it. Implementing the notion of "nonattachment" is how I see it. Pretty tricky. Just do it.

The Tibetan tradition and the Vedic tradition both have much more to say about technique than the Zen tradition as far as I can determine (but I no longer even try to read every new Zen book released.) Aheley-Farrand essentially recommends one hour chanting sessions (more or less) over an unbroken 40 day period. I think he was really onto what was missing from my original short instruction. (One additional clue as to where to look would be in Trantic writings. However that will be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Hope I have offered up a bit of the subtly and mystery of spiritual practice. You have to try it, if your completely skeptical, well you can see the problem.

Think about the stoies of people giving up or not giving up in one situation or another. I think the core of "intense intent" or the lack of it is of major importance in those stories.