"To recite the Medicine Buddha Mantra brings inconceivable merit... If you recite the mantra every day, the buddhas and bodhisattvas will always pay attention to you, and they will guide you. All your negative karmas will be pacified and you will never be born in the three lower realms.... and all your wishes are fulfilled." The audience was instructed to "recite mantras of Medicine Buddha at least three times a day. "Imagine all elements... and perfect balance restored... [to] assure longevity," he added with a reminder to "practice... day and night." He warned his audience not "to visualize the rituals of tantra for purpose of gaining wealth."
as Wilkinson writes,
"You don't reach the next level of blessing and stay there. You begin again -- Lord, bless me indeed! Lord, please enlarge...! And so on. As the cycle repeats itself, you'll find that you are steadily moving into wider spheres of blessing and influence, spiraling ever outward and upward into a larger life for God.... You will know beyond doubt that God has opened heaven's storehouses because you prayed."
"The world of American religion is going through enormous change. It will be increasingly difficult to distinguish Christians and Buddhists." -- University of Chicago sociologist Stephen R. Warner. Buddhism on the Move
Maybe I need to go Walk the Labryinth
Or better yet just let my fingers do the walking Ouija-style!
I agree that the merchandising of the Jabez thing is rather tasteless, but I cannot think that praying to God to enlarge one's area of influence to bring people to the faith is a bad thing.
Bodhisattva, I'm gonna sell my house in town
Bodhisattva, I'm gonna sell my house in town
And I'll be there, I'll shine in your Japan
I'll sparkle in your China, yes I'll be there
Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva
{Repeat both}
Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva, Bodhisattva
Look out
-- Steely Dan, Bodhisattva, from "Countdown to Ecstasy" (1973)