The important issue is whether we defeat sickness when it comes or whether sickness defeats us. Because both health and illness exist as potentialities within us, we can make ourselves sick, and we can make ourselves well.

A news story from recent years illustrates this truth. At a high school football game a few people fell ill with symptoms of food poisoning. Initial questioning seemed to indicate that contaminated soft drinks were the culprit. The snack bar was closed down, and an announcement was made asking people not to drink the sodas. Soon after the announcement, spectators all over the stadium began vomiting and passing out. Many rushed from the stands to their doctors or emergency rooms. More than a hundred people were hospitalized.

The next day, it was determined that the soft drinks had nothing to do with the sickness of the initial sufferers, they had contracted a strain of the flu. As soon as this information was disseminated, sickened spectators "miraculously" got well. Their symptoms simply disappeared and even those who were hospitalized got up from their beds and left. A pathogen was not the culprit; it was merely an idea expressed in words that had an immediate and dramatic effect in both bringing on illness and in fostering recovery.

In another example, a young man with a strong Buddhist practice and excellent medical treatment recovered from cancer not only once but a second time. When his cancer recurred a third time in the blood, however, he was told it was incurable and was given only a few months to live. Although he had reversed his cancer twice, this prognosis was too much for him, and his health began to rapidly degenerate. Friends, family, even his doctors thought he was clearly dying. Then, shockingly, it was discovered that blood samples had been mixed up. He was told that there was no trace of cancer cells in his body. He quickly recovered and regained his strength.

Such is the power of belief, of what can happen when we are strongly influenced by the diagnosis of illness and what can happen when we rally ourselves, mustering our resources to overcome it.

A similar demonstration of the power of belief is the so-called placebo effect. Medical research proved long ago that inert substances can have a positive effect on patients if they believe they are receiving effective medication. In study after study a sizeable percentage of patients who are given sugar pills in lieu of medication show signs of recovery. And, remarkably, if they have been told how the medication will make them feel, they will exhibit those very effects.

Maintaining good health and overcoming illness begin with our understanding of the true nature of self. Illness can be an opportunity to build an even more solid foundation of happiness by leading us toward significant, though often difficult, life changes. As Nichiren has written, "Illness gives rise to the resolve to attain the way."

This is not to say that we forsake modern medicine for some sort of self-directed cure. Instead, Nichiren Buddhism suggests three guidelines for curing sickness: see a good doctor, get good medicine and be an excellent patient. By being an excellent patient, Nichiren is referring to an inner state of being.

The healing process begins with strengthening the confidence with which you can say to yourself: "I can defeat my sickness. I can change the poison in my body into medicine." If our condition of being is one of defeat, sickness will defeat our will to heal. If it is one of challenge, then we have maximized the possibility of recovery.

There is mounting scientific evidence of a strong and inseparable relationship between the workings of the mind and those of the body. The belief in the dualistic separation of mind and body that strongly influenced early medical science is gradually giving way to a deeper perspective, a view that matches very closely the Buddhist view of the oneness of mind and body.

Actually the Japanese word here translated as "oneness" is best understood as "two but not two", in the sense that while the mind and the body appear at some level to be two distinct phenomena, at a more profound level they are not two but one.

How does the oneness of mind and body work? Scientists have found that environmental stimuli are processed by the brain triggering complex bioelectric and biochemical reactions in the body, which in turn trigger behavior. In the case of illness, the sequence goes something like this: As an environmental stimulus is perceived and processed by the brain (consciously and unconsciously), that process is strongly influenced by one's beliefs, ideas and expectations. This triggers a complex biological reaction (e.g., in the hypothalamus, neuro-endocrine reaction and hormone release) affecting the body's immune response determining the "capacity" to deal with disease. This results in physical symptoms, behavior and the actual experience of illness (runny nose, headache, stiff joints).

Since ideas, expectations and beliefs have a powerful effect on the workings of the body, distorted thinking (delusion) necessarily will have a powerful impact on one's health and capacity to overcome illness.

Psychologists have identified various life views that can undermine one's health, impede the body's capacity to conquer illness and lead to psychological and spiritual maladies including depression, anxiety and fear. Among them are: holding others responsible for your own pain; interpreting others' unknowable thoughts and actions in a way that is negative toward you or believing others think more strongly about you than is actually the case; and deducing fatalistic general conclusions based on specific occurrences or limited information.

Thus, in addition to medical treatment, a change of thinking is crucial in overcoming illness. The challenge is not merely to identify distorted thinking but to change that way of thinking and accomplish a paradigm shift.