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

11
The Healing Power of Pirith (Paritta)
There was this interesting incident that happened several years
ago, in the year 1998. Mr. Wickramasinghe and several other patrons
of the Dharma Vijaya Vihara had invited me to a small event that
they had organized to celebrate the Vesak, full moon poya day, in the
sprawling city of Tucson, Arizona, USA. Accepting the invitation, I,
together with Ven. Madawala Seelawimala thera and Ven. Wathogala
Saranasiri thera attended a night time Pirith chanting ceremony held at
a Thai temple in the city. The next morning, we were approached by
Rev. Silva, a Sri Lankan Anglican priest who was heartbroken about
his sixteen year old son who had Leukemia. He was in the ICU and his
father turned to us in desperation. Everything he had tried to heal his
son was unsuccessful. He wanted to know if there was anything we
could do to save his son using the teachings of Buddhism.
Without wasting a second, the three of us went and chanted
Pirith by the patient’s bedside for more than an hour. We blessed him
at the end of the chanting, gave the boy some holy water to drink and
returned to the Thai temple. At about 2.00 p.m. that day, the boy’s
father Rev. Silva came to see us at the temple and claimed that the boy
had already been showing signs of improvement; getting out of bed
on his own and asking for food. Several years later I visited the city of
Tucson again and was delighted to meet a healthy, young man who had
been the sick boy we had chanted for at the hospital. While offering his
thanks for saving his life, this young man admitted that both he and his
family had begun to firmly believe in the power and strength of Pirith.
They had begun listening to the Ratana Sutta daily.
One wonders how exactly something that seems as insubstantial
as “pirith chanting” could possibly have the ability to cure physical
illnesses. According to the teachings of Lord Buddha, our mind is
closely associated with our physical form and hence one’s mind can
easily affect their physical wellbeing. Even psychologists have a hard
time refuting this philosophy of Lord Buddha because it has become
an already proven scientific fact that a gradual change occurring in
the mental state of a person causes a gradual change in that person’s
physical being.
If a sick person remains optimistic about the outcome of his
sickness, then his positive feelings will more than likely accelerate the
process of his healing. The book “YOU CAN CONQUER CANCER”
penned by Dr. Ian Gawler explains this phenomenon in vivid detail.
There are three main expectations of Pirith chanting,
1. To cure sickness and disease
2. To get rid of troubles caused by ghosts and other
malevolent forces
3. To prevent troubles in life caused due to misalignment
of planets and stars as explained in Astrology
The power of Pirith is mainly due to the truth contained within
its stanzas (“Ethenasachchawajjena”) as well as the morality (“Seela”)
of the Pirith chanter and the listener. The chanter should chant Pirith
with loving-kindness (“Metta”) and compassion (“karuna”) while the
listener should listen with faith (“Saddha”). The energy of the acoustic
waves that occur when chanting Pirith has the ability to heal sickness and
disease. Dr. Lal Fernando based in Chicago, Illinois showed scientific
proof of this through experiments he carried out by having his patients
listen to Pirith during their period of recovery. The accelerated rate of
recovery observed in patients exposed to Pirith chanting compared to
those that were not exposed proved his premise.
Long ago in India, the city of Visala was plagued by disease,
non-human beings and famine which brought much suffering to its
inhabitants, our Lord Buddha directed his trusted disciple, Ven. Ananda
thera to go throughout the city sprinkling holy water and reciting the
Ratana sutta to dispel all the woes that burdened its people. The first
two of the seventeen verses of Ratana sutta addresses non-human
beings. The rest of the verses describe the characteristics of three ratana
(Gems) in Buddhism. Four verses are about the Enlightened One
(Buddha), three are about the Teachings (Dhamma) and the remaining
eight are about the noble community of disciples (Sangha). The reason
that most of the verses were dedicated to the Sangha was due to their
responsibility to continue the Buddha Sasana.
In Pirith chanting, special attention is given to holy water.
Water is something that’s essential for the survival of all living beings.
As mentioned in the book “THE POWER OF WATER”, the Japanese
scientist Masaru Emoto clearly states that water has the ability to
capture acoustic energy. The Buddha also taught his disciples, Ven.
Ananda thera and Ven. Angulimala thera about the massive power that
could be contained within water by transferring the acoustic energy of
Pirith chanting. This is the reason why we call the water containing the
energy of Pirith, holy water. Whereas water contained within a bottle
may stagnate after a while, holy water never goes stale. We know this
from experience, here and in Pamankada Sri Maha Vihara, holy water
as old as twenty to thirty years is still potent and used to cure sickness
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