The magician Tim Janakos

"Welcome to the English and Japanese website for the award-winning, inspirational singer/songwriter, visionary author of both fiction and non-fiction, certified energy healer, native american, Buddhist activist, Tim Janakos, who is currently living and performing in Northern Japan, where he also hosts a twice-a-week, live, energy healing radio show called, "From Time Without Beginning," where you can call-in and let him perform some real-time magic on you, on the air. How does it get even better than that?"

Nichiren:

"In China the occult evolved from Confucianism, and in India it is found among the non-Buddhist teachings. Yet it does not even approach the Hinayana teachings of the Āgama sutras, much less the connecting teaching, the specific teaching, or the perfect teaching. Therefore, how could it measure up to the Lotus Sutra?

"The non-Buddhist teachings [of India] date from about eight hundred years before the time of the Buddha. At first they centered around the two deities and the three ascetics, but eventually they split into ninety-five schools. Among the non-Buddhist leaders were many wise men and persons endowed with supernatural powers, but none of them was able to free himself from the sufferings of birth and death. Moreover, the people who gave allegiance to their teachings, whether faithful or not all ended by falling into the three evil paths."

"As the Buddha indicated in his dying instructions, there will be teachers who propagate the provisional sutras only and never make any attempt to propagate the true sutra. This is perhaps because from past times they have had very close connections with the provisional sutras and have never looked into the true sutra, or perhaps because they have been led astray by the devil and have thus become able to displaysupernatural powers. But whether they are correct or incorrect in their views is to be judged solely on the basis of the doctrines they expound. It is not to be decided on the basis of whether or not they have keen capacity or can display supernatural powers."

To begin with, if we are to put faith in persons who can exercise supernatural powers, then are we to put faith in non-Buddhists or the heavenly devil? Among the non-Buddhists there are said to have been those who could drink the ocean dry, or could pour the water of the Ganges River into their ear and keep it there for twelve years. And thedevil king of the sixth heaven could imitate all the thirty-two features of a Buddha and manifest himself in the form of a Buddha in such a convincing manner that even the Venerable Ānanda could not tell whether it was the devil or the Buddha. Even if the supernaturalpowers of Shan-tao and Hōnen may be worthy of respect, they are no match for the heavenly devil or non-Buddhists. Furthermore, the Buddha in his dying instructions warned that one was not to regard suchsupernatural powers as of any fundamental importance."

"Question: Among the Chinese Buddhist teachers there were persons such as the Great Teacher Tz’u-en who was said to have been a reincarnation of the Eleven-faced Perceiver of the World’s Sounds and could emit rays of light from his teeth. Or like the Reverend Shan-tao, who was said to have been a reincarnation of Amida Buddha and could produce Buddha figures from his mouth. And there were many other teachers in the world who could manifest supernatural powers, bestow blessing, or enter meditation and attain enlightenment. Why did these persons fail to distinguish between the provisional sutras and the true sutra and to make the Lotus Sutra the basis of their teaching?

Answer: The ascetic Agastya, a non-Buddhist believer, poured the Ganges River into one ear and kept it there for twelve years. The ascetic Vasu transformed himself into the heavenly being Freedom and displayed three eyes. Among the Taoist adepts of China, Chang Chiehexhaled fog and Luan Pa exhaled clouds. It is said [in the Nirvana Sutra] that, after the demise of the Buddha, the devil of the sixth heaven will take on the form of a monk or a nun, a man or a woman lay believer, anarhat or a pratyekabuddha, and expound the sutras preached by the Buddha in the first forty and more years of his preaching life. But this shows simply that these persons possessed supernatural powers; it does not indicate whether they were wise or foolish."