Amanda,

That's a very touching story. How has chanting specifically affected you? I've been using mantras for about 3 months now and have noticed that it lowers anxiety. I guess that it's also about the type of mantra and chant that you do, and for what purpose.

What have you learned? Love to hear it!

Cheers,

Cazembe

..for a good amount of time (over 30min) I feel like a steel sword. I feel quiet inside, serene with this intense determination that has no bounds.

It might sound out there, I know, but I think others feel it too. I've noticed that right after chanting, people react to me differently. As if they're picking up on the subtle vibrations emanating. It's kinda weird. But I like it.

I've learned that when you focus your mind and and voice for a sustained period of time on something higher and nobler....you slowly become the thing you focus on, if only for a little while.

The point is for that little while to become a long while, to become eternal, heaven on earth, beginning inside you; with what is referred to as the "human revolution" in Nichiren Buddhism.

So that the change you experience rubs off on others and consequently the world, one human revolution at a time.

Thanks Amanda for posting about your discovery of Buddhism. I came to my studies in this life (think I've been here before) through a love for the beauty and simplicity of the Japanese culture and in 2004 had a Japanese Wedding complete with Kimono, prayer flags, Wind Horse blessings and prayer wheel.

At the beginning of 2007 I found myself picking up my prayer wheel and working with it and beginning to study the dharma and earnest and I've found great peace in it and chant and sutra. The Mahayana and Sakya Traditions are what call to me. Feeling that as I work with the sacred energy of a mantra or a sutra I am planting the seeds of loving kindness.

What is that and how does the prayer wheel work? I'd like to talk to other Buddhists, find out what they get out of other traditions and schools of Buddhism.

If my understanding of what I'm learning is correct, then Nichiren Buddhism only deals with the Lotus Sutra, or the last book that was written by Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha.

What's your understanding of it all Nellie and why one tradition over another?

Here's a start for Wind Horse (Tib. Lung-ta). Wind Horse is a 'mythical Tibetan creature from pre-Buddhist times, (and) combines the speed of the wind and the strength of the horse to carry prayers from earth to the heavens. It is associated with success and the space element. You can read more here http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/symbols_tibet_buddhism.htm

We choose Wind Horse as one of the main blessings for our wedding because it really spoke to our starting fresh in our relationship with each other.

We wanted clear blessings for ourselves and our children. My husband and I had been married to each other before, from 1984 through 1998, and then we divorced. After a lot of work and healing via coaching etc. we began dating again in 2002 and married in May of 2004. It really speaks to the power of coaching, and the willingness to do the personal shifting.

Ummm, the prayer wheel, also known as the Wheel of Great Compassion.

I can't even say what brought me to the prayer wheel. I think it began long before I ever learned about one. I've always been fascinated by the power of intent, non-local mind or consciousness, and how thought or intent can move in an instant. Time,distance, space are not barriers.

I bought a set of wind chimes and I took permanent markers and on each section of the wind chime I wrote a prayer or chant. Then I hung it outside so that not only did it play beautiful music when the wind blew, it also would have the prayers circulated. I realize now that was an early version of a prayer wheel for me.

A few years later I bought a mini prayer wheel in the form of a pendulum ( I dowse as a healer). It had the Om Mani Padme Hum prayer on it and the face of the Buddha at the top of the chain.

I never even knew it was a prayer wheel till early this year after I took it off the shelf and said, well I'll be, I've had this all these years.

Prayer wheel practice (turning it) is said to be of great benefit to all suffering beings. The mantras written inside the wheel are considered to be the Compassion Buddha's holy speech.

Wheel of Great Compassion ~ The Practice of the Prayer Wheel in Tibetan Buddhism by Lorne Ladner is a very helpful read and filled with beautiful pictures and instructions on how to make a prayer wheel.

Check out this link for more http://www.dharma-haven.org/tibetan/prayer-wheel.htm

Good questions Amanda.

I'm not sure that it is really picking one over another because in the path that I am following so far, both schools speak of the teachings of the others to some degree. For instance I am attending a weekly teleconference call on the Dharma teachings of the Heart Nectar that is offered free of charge by the Minnesota Sakya Center and is being taught by Venerable Lama Kalsang Gyaltsen.

In our teachings the Mahayana has come up many times. I love that there is such a broad teaching.

In a nutshell here's what I've learned so far (and I have sooooo much to learn.

According to Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche in his book 'The Joy of Livng' There are currently Four Major Schools, or lineages, of Tibetan Buddhism: Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu,and Gelug. They share the same basic principles,practices, and beliefs. The differences lie in terminology, and approaches to Practice and scholarship.

This is a subject that fills many, many, books. The reason that I am studying both the Mahayana and Sakya traditions is that both of their styles of teaching speak to my heart.

There is more here on Mahayana http://www.fpmt.org

These two links will take you to more on Sakya http://www.sakyatemple.org/ and here http://www.hhthesakyatrizin.org

I hope this was helpful.

I read about the Wind Horse and how it's the most prevalent symbol found on prayer flags. It's seen as carrying the “Wish Fulfilling Jewel of Enlightenment;" representing good fortune...

What an auspicious-sounding wedding blessing!

In regards to Mahayana, I've learned that the Nichiren School stems from the Mahayana tradition. I looked into Mahayana as a teenager and I found it to be a bit too self-sacrificial in our modern society.

What do you think?

I'd also like to hear what your dowsing as a healer entails?

Using Wind Horse as a blessing for our wedding and family was really wonderful. We had prayer flags all around us and our wedding guests were also given mini prayer flags.

As far as the Mahayana tradition and being too sacrificial for our modern society, the teachings as I have worked with them so far, while traditional, have all been taught to me, by, and through, teachers that understand the way people live in the West, and also have done a great job of explaining them in the context of using the teachings in our modern times.

I was christened a Baptist and I grew up in that tradition. It was not without it's challenges.

Over the years I have had many wonderful friends of all faiths and traditions and each has shared a sometimes feeling of frustration with some part of their faith.

It may be that it is the nature of walking the path, whatever your path is, to question what appears. Contrast. Polarities. Yin and Yang. To know what works is to know what does not work.

It's great that you are clear about your path.

I'd love to hear more about the Nichiren School.

Are there other things that speak to you the way that Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo did?

I'm not sure that dowsing as a healer belongs in this category (Comparative Religion)but I'll share a little bit about it here.

There are many ways to dowse for healing. It is possible to do so with dowsing rods, and with a pendulum. As a child I recall relatives using a needle on the end of a thread to dowse what sex someones baby was going to be.

You can dowse with just about anything that is weighted that will hang on the end of a chain or string. I have seen people use necklaces too.

The thing to keep in mind about what you dowse with is that stones (i.e. crystals and gems) contain their own innate energy and can possibly be influenced by energy fields.

Dowsing tools should also be cleansed after each use because they can be effected by energy. They can be cleansed through intention, water, sea salt, brown rice etc. depending on what you are dowsing with.

Another version of dowsing is muscle testing. For anyone who has ever gone to a holistic practitioner who uses supplements or herbs, you have likely encountered the experience of being told to hold the supplement in your hand while the practitioner placed resistance against your arm to see if the supplement had an effect on you. Meaning would it enhance your wellbeing or take away from it. There is much more to it, and muscle testing is just one way among many that are used to determine what will assist healing.

In essence, what you are doing with any of these tools is connecting with your own innate knowledge, and the energy field of what you are dowsing.

For instance, I have taught Reiki classes and used the dowsing rods to measure the field of energy around a student by walking towards them with the rods and noting when they began to open and how far they opened. After measuring his or her field each of the students would intend to share lovingkindnes or compassion with that student. After a few minutes of this, I would again measure the energy field around the student and every time, the dowsing rods were always open much wider and much farther away from the student. Meaning their fields had expanded with the loving kindness received.

Think of it like a balloon. There is a certain amount of air or energy contained in the balloon and then after you add more air (loving kindness) the balloon is that much bigger.

I have also used a pendulum to show me how a clients chakra's are spinning when I am offering non-local healing.

Books by Melody on working with gems for healing have useful information on the care and use of crystals and stones.

Machaelle Small Wright has written many good books and one of her early ones 'Perelandra Garden Workbook : A Complete Guide ...' speaks to dowsing and the how too's of it. It is esoteric and there are other books on the market on dowsing that are less so.

Dowsing has a long and amazing history.

There are many dowsing society's to be found on the web. Here's one http://www.dowsers.org/ There are many more. Just Google dowsing.

Have you had any experince with pendulums or dowsing?

As I said above, this is a topic that might be better suited to another area? What do you think?

Thanks Nellie for such an informative post! I think any further information on the topic would be best suited under "living your faith." No, I've had no experience with pendulums or dowsing. It sounds like you come from a long tradition of sages. Would you call yourself a "modern witch?" I know there are many out there with healing gifts to share.