Night and Day: Tendai Home Practice Redux

Home services in Japanese Buddhism, known as otsutomé (お勤め) or more formally gongyō (勤行), have many different approaches. It often depends on sect, particular communities, and personal preference. Trouble is, English sources are often confusing or insufficient. So, I try to look up information in Japanese, which is sometimes harder than you might think.

Anyhow, something I’ve learned recently about Tendai Buddhism, is that at least in some Tendai traditions, home practice might be divided between a morning service and a night service. This is in keeping with the two concepts in Tendai (more on that here):

• Hokké Senpō (法華懺法) – reverence for the Lotus Sutra, the foundation for Tendai Buddhism, and for much of Mahayana Buddhism.
• Reiji Sahō (例時作法) – reliance on Amida Buddha to help deliver oneself (and others) from this world of frustration and fear.

Thus, in lay-Buddhist home services for Tendai Buddhism, some communities tend to divide the morning versus evening services to reflect these two concepts.

This page from the Jimon-branch of Tendai Buddhism, based in the famous Mii-dera Temple (as opposed to the Sanmon-branch based in Enryakuji atop Mount Hiei) shows example services for both morning and evening. I can’t translate everything word for word from the site, but let me try to summarize the basic format.

Morning Service

For the morning service, one pays homage to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas “of the ten directions”¹ and takes the Lotus Sutra as their basis. The morning service cited in the Jimon-sect page is based on a treatise by founder Saicho called the Hokke Sanmai Gyōhō (法華三昧行法), and for some reason is much shorter than the evening service.

The morning service is comparatively short, but includes liturgy such as:

1. The Kannon Sutra – chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra
2. The Heart Sutra
3. Dedication of Merit for all sentient beings’ welfare

I left out some of the liturgy from this list because I could not find details, or they were very specific to the Jimon sect (e.g. praises of Saicho’s disciple Enchin, who is the source of the Jimon branch), but hopefully you get the idea. This emphasizes the here and now, and seems rooted in the hokke senpo side of Tendai Buddhism to me.

Evening Service

The evening service by comparison uses the Amitabha Sutra as its basis and includes somewhat different liturgy.

1. Verses of Repentance
2. Verses of the Opening of the Sutra
3. The Jigagé verses (chapter 16) of the Lotus Sutra
4. Hymns to Amida Buddha
5. Mantra of Light
6. Reciting the Nembutsu
7. Dedication of Merit for Rebirth in the Pure Land (this differs slightly from the morning service version).

It’s interesting to note that the evening service still includes verses from the Lotus Sutra, but also mixes the Nembutsu and Mantra of Light as well and definitely emphasizes the reiji saho side of Tendai.

Conclusion

As these are services associated with just one sub-sect of Tendai, and since people often add, subtract or adapt services to meet their needs, it’s perfectly fine to adjust this to whatever works in your situation. You could potentially reduce this all the way down to reciting the Heart Sutra in the morning, and the nembutsu at night. Or something similar. As long as it is sustainable, and captures the spirit of Hokke Senpo and Reiji Saho.

The themes of morning services expressing hokke senpo, and evening services expressing reiji saho, are a great way to apply Tendai teachings in one’s own life, or just Mahayana Buddhism in general.

P.S. features the gardens of Mii-dera temple, photo by E5894, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

¹ The eight cardinal directions, plus up and down.