MODERN BUDDHIST HEALING: A Spiritual Strategy for Transforming Pain, Disease, and Death

In 1987, at age 36, Atkins was diagnosed with advanced Hodgkin's disease, a life-threatening, virulent cancer. This book is his manual for how prayer, particularly meditation and chant, can ameliorate physical conditions such as fibromyalgia, cancer, diabetic ulcers and even coma. It is also a compelling chronicle of Atkins's own saga and near-death vision. Atkins, though, is no health renegade. He straightaway, repeatedly and responsibly advises "get the best medical treatment available. Proper diagnosis from a qualified physician is the first and foremost step." Atkins also quickly details, however, that individuals can use healing dimensions to complement traditional Western-style medicine. For him the Buddhist Lotus Sutra's mantra "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo," advanced by 13th-century Japanese master Nichiren Daishonin, is an extraordinarily powerful tool, especially when supplemented by healing visualizations. Simply, this mantra enables immediate access to our already enlightened nature and is directly applicable to specific regions of the body. To build a proper foundation for this approach, Atkins furnishes a clear explanation of karma with a reach broader than popular, simple notions. Making powerful links to other traditions by equating the Holy Spirit, prana, chi, kundalini and life force, Atkins also notes that such chanting does not conflict with other religious practices. By no means a book just for Buddhists, at best this work can empower anyone who is ill and suffering, for it champions chanting and meditation as forms of prayer. As Atkins observes, "All may enter with a prayer; no one is denied access." (June)