Most Venerable Bhante Walpola Piyananda's 80th Birthday Celebrating - Collected Essays

done in the past, that individual is likely to believe that freedom
is not possible and that he or she must be resigned to their destiny.
Consequently, man cannot develop morally and spiritually
without suffering all the consequences of his previous thoughts
and actions, both good and bad. So, man is at the mercy of his
own fatalist belief and runs the risk of becoming pessimistic.
The second point of view is that the good or evil, pleasant
or unpleasant things that people experience in this life have been
caused by the direct action of God or a Supreme deity. This is
called “Issaranimmanavada.”
The third point of view is that there is no cause for such
feelings; everything only happens spontaneously. In Pali this is
called “Ahetu appaccayavada.”
In Buddhism, none of these three points of view are
accurate. Buddhist teachings hold to the view of Dependent
Origination, which is basically cause and effect. This is called
“Paticcasamuppada.” This point of view is summed up this way:
The Buddha taught that everything that exists is dependent on
something else – conditioned by something else. This applies to
objects as well as thoughts; it also applies to the individual as well
as the entire universe. Nothing exists independently. Everything
is conditioned.
“This concept is illustrated in the Buddhist teachings of
the chain of Dependent Origination, which explains the factors
that perpetuate the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. The twelve
links in this chain are sequential, each link causing the following
one:
Because of this, that arises.
When this ceases, that also ceases.
10
Power of Chanting
Since the beginning of recorded history every religious and
spiritual tradition of the world has recognized the power of words.
Priests, shamans, rabbis, teachers, and ministers of all faiths have
invoked words in a positive way to bring about good effects – such
as helping people, healing people, bringing about peace and harmony,
influencing nature, or even making rain to fall on parched fields. Many
misguided, superstitious traditions, however, have also used powerful
words in a negative way – to curse another in order to cause bad things
to happen to another tribe or family, to create war and disharmony
between countries, and to generally bring about bad effects for others.
An example of the recognition of the power of words is found
in the first verse of the Gospel According to John of the Christian
New Testament that begins with the phrase, “In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was god.” The Jews
recognized the power of the word, as did the Egyptians, Babylonians,
Native Americans, Hindus and we Buddhists, among many others.
Ever since the Buddha’s time, our Buddhist tradition has
employed the power of the word in our chanting practice – one of
the most powerful tools we have to invoke blessings for others, and
unleash the power of peace and healing. From the time the Buddha
embarked on his path to become enlightened he never spoke one angry
or harmful word. The words of the Buddhist suttas contain nothing but
pure love, compassion, and joy – and have the greatest beneficial effect
on all who hear them.
Modern science even supports the idea that words have power.
Scientific experiments have proven that when kind, compassionate and
loving words are spoken to plants and animals there will be a positive
response. The Japanese scientist, Dr. Masaru Emoto, writes about
an experiment he conducted in his book called “Hidden Messages in
Water.” He poured two glasses of water, one to be chanted over by a
group of Buddhist monks, the other glass was isolated where the sound
of the chanting could not be heard. After the monks chanted, the water
was frozen and when viewed under a microscope, it was discovered
that the molecules had formed lovely, organized crystals. The water
from the other glass had no change – the molecules were disorganized
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