Categories: Other Meditation Teachings
May the blessings of the Triple Gem be with you all!
Welcome. In a previous discussion, we touched upon awakening the dormant energy known as Kundalini and how making a strong resolution can help release it if it becomes blocked in the spine. Many of you have shared that this practice was successful, feeling a shift and an awakening of this energy. For some, what felt like a persistent ailment was actually this spiritual energy stirring.
However, what if you’ve tried this resolution and it didn’t work? What if your persistent back pain continues, despite seeking help from Western doctors, traditional healers, and Ayurvedic practitioners? If you’ve explored medical reasons and the possibility of blocked Kundalini energy without finding relief, there may be a deeper issue at play. Today, out of compassion, we will explore these other possibilities to help you understand this persistent spiritual back pain.
Understanding Pain Beyond Illness and Energy
So, if it’s not a medical condition and it’s not related to Kundalini, what is this persistent backache? This discomfort can manifest in various places the lower spine, on either the left or right side, or anywhere along the back. You may have spent a great deal of time and resources consulting with medical experts and traditional healers, yet the pain remains, leaving you in a difficult situation.
We have seen in our spiritual work that such phenomena can occur. It can happen to those who are actively developing their spiritual practice, and just as often, it can happen to those who are not. When the usual methods of healing fail, we must look deeper. These experiences aren’t limited to spiritual practitioners; even those who aren’t engaged in meditation or who only participate in devotional practices, like offerings and merit-making ceremonies, can face this. In fact, this can even affect non-Buddhists who are facing a similar, unexplainable ailment.
The Karmic Roots of Spiritual Back Pain
One of the most profound explanations for such persistent suffering lies in the law of Kamma (in Pali) or Karma (in Sanskrit). This is the universal law of cause and effect, where our intentional actions in the past even in previous lives bring about results in the present. Even the Buddha himself was not exempt from the results of his past actions.
It is documented, especially in texts like the Milinda Pañha (The Questions of King Milinda), that the Buddha experienced nine specific karmic results after his enlightenment. One of these was a persistent backache. Why? Because many lifetimes ago, when he was a bodhisattva, he was a champion wrestler. In one match, he lifted his opponent and threw him to the ground with great force. The result of that action ripened in his final life as the Buddha, causing him spiritual back pain. After enlightenment, there is no future rebirth for new kamma to ripen, so it had to manifest in that very life before his final passing into Nibbana, or liberation.
You, too, may have performed similar actions in the vast ocean of past lives. Until you attain Nibbana, the results of these actions can ripen in any future human life. While some karmic seeds may become defunct, others are bound to bear fruit. To understand this intricate law more deeply, you can explore texts on Abhidhamma, the higher teachings of the Buddha, which explain the mechanics of Kamma in great detail.
Unseen Obstacles on Your Spiritual Path
Beyond the law of Kamma, there is another potential cause for this kind of spiritual back pain: the influence of unseen forces. These can include non-human beings (amanussa), negative influences like curses or spells (anavina kodivina), or even the obstruction of Mara a symbolic figure representing the forces that oppose enlightenment. Sometimes, deities with wrong views (micchā-diṭṭhika devas) can also interfere.
When such an unseen force is actively working against you, it can manifest as physical pain, especially in the back. Their goal is often to block the natural flow of your energy and prevent you from making spiritual progress. This can be a very challenging and difficult situation to navigate.
A Practical Method to Discern the Cause
How can you determine if your pain stems from these unseen influences? The key is to observe your experience closely during spiritual activities. Set aside time thirty minutes to an hour to sit in meditation, either a calming practice (samatha) or an insight practice (vipassanā). As you focus your mind and enter a state of concentration, pay close attention to the pain.
Ask yourself these questions:
- Does the pain decrease or temporarily disappear during meditation?
- Does the pain increase or become more intense during meditation?
Now, extend this observation to other meritorious activities. Notice how you feel when you are chanting, making offerings, or visiting sacred places like the sixteen sacred sites (Solosmasthana) in Sri Lanka. Compare how you feel during these moments versus your normal, day-to-day life.
If you notice a distinct change in the pain during these spiritual activities, you have a vital clue:
- If the pain lessens or vanishes: This suggests the influence of an unseen negative force is being temporarily suppressed. The power of your focused mind and the wholesome energy (kusala) from your meritorious deeds are stronger than the negative influence, causing it to recede.
- If the pain intensifies: This indicates that the unseen force is actively fighting back. It is trying to stop you from practicing because your spiritual progress threatens it. It creates more pain to make you think, ‘Meditation is making it worse,’ or ‘These offerings are causing me pain.’ This is a deceptive trick designed by forces like Mara to make you abandon the path. Many have fallen for this and stopped their practice, which is precisely what the negative force wants. Don’t be discouraged; understanding this dynamic is the first step to overcoming it.
Pathways to Healing: For Those with Special Abilities
If you have developed spiritual faculties like the ‘Third Eye’ or the divine eye (dibba-cakkhu), which allows you to perceive unseen realms, you have direct methods available. As we have discussed in our practical meditation series on the Third Eye, you can identify and remove these non-human influences. You can, for instance, compassionately send them to a place like Giri island where they can find peace without harming others.
If you perceive a curse or binding (bandhanayak), you can use your Third Eye to locate it. Once seen, you must make a daily resolution (adhiṭṭhāna) to break it, focusing your mental energy on that point for at least half an hour to an hour each day. These methods are for those who have already cultivated these higher mental powers.
Healing for Everyone: The Power of Mind, Virtue, and Patience
But what if you haven’t developed such abilities? You are not helpless. The path for you is one of steady cultivation. Here is what you can do:
1. Strengthen Your Resolve: Sit in deep concentration and make a firm, repeated resolution: ‘May any non-human influence, any effect from the unseen world, be completely dispelled and destroyed.’ Devote fifteen, twenty, or thirty minutes daily to this powerful intention. Over time, this consistent mental force will begin to break down and dismantle the negative influence.
2. Follow a Consistent Practice: Engage in the practices we have outlined in our teachings on resolving non-human issues. There are four key practices that, when done with patience, will gradually sever these connections. Patience is essential; you must give it time.
3. Avoid Costly and False Remedies: Please, do not waste your money visiting countless shrines (devalas) or seeking quick fixes that often fail. The power to heal this spiritual back pain lies within you. A powerful entity obstructing a spiritual practitioner may not be easily removed by others anyway. This path of self-cultivation is based on direct experience and proven results. Your belief in your own ability to do this is paramount, whether you are already on a spiritual path or just beginning.
4. Strengthen Your Virtue (Sila): Regularly observe your precepts the Five, Eight, or Ten Precepts. Then, make a resolution, calling upon the protective power of that virtue: ‘By the power of this pure Sila that I am keeping, may all these negative influences be destroyed and depart!’
The reason your resolutions don’t work instantly like those of an enlightened being is that your mind is still clouded by defilements (kilesa). An Arahant or a Buddha can achieve a result with a single thought. For us, it requires persistent, dedicated effort.
Crossing the Threshold of Fear
Remember, these unseen forces are afraid of your growing spiritual power. That is why they attack. There is a limit, a spiritual threshold, that they fear. They can only influence you as long as you remain below that threshold. Your goal is to persevere through every difficulty every ache, every doubt and cross that line.
Once you break through that limit with your continuous effort, meditation, and virtue, your spiritual strength will surpass theirs. At that point, they can no longer touch you or harm you. Your light becomes too bright for their darkness. Keep practicing. Strengthen your mind. Cultivate wholesome energy. The spiritual back pain will cease when you become unshakable.
A Final Word of Encouragement
This was a brief teaching to address the concerns many of you have shared. Please do not be discouraged by partial efforts. Some people try these methods halfway, see no instant results, and declare them a failure. True healing requires your full commitment and the understanding that this is a gradual process.
If you know someone a friend or family member suffering in this way, you can share this understanding with them, provided they have a certain level of trust and belief that such things can happen in this world. Do not try to force these ideas on someone who is not receptive; it will be of no benefit to them or to you. Understand these points well and act with wisdom.
With this, I conclude this short teaching. May the power of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha the Triple Gem bless you with the clarity to understand these matters and the strength to put them into practice.
We invite you to walk this path with us. Read our teachings, and most importantly, apply them practically in your own life. as you practice, questions will naturally arise. Please feel free to share your experiences and questions in the comments below, via email or contact form. I will do my best to offer guidance in future talks based on your progress. For now, begin this practice with an open heart and a mind free from expectation. Cultivate it correctly, and may you find the clarity and peace you seek.
Thank you for joining us. We hope this blog will be of great benefit to your spiritual journey.
May you all be well and happy.
May the blessings of the Triple Gem be with you all!.
