Jodo Shinshu Home Liturgy

For the sake of completeness,¹ I wanted to cover home liturgy for the Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism as it is promoted in Japan. I spent years at a local Shinshu temple here in the US during the 2000’s and 2010’s, part of the Buddhist Churches of America (the American branch of Jodo Shinshu), whose liturgy is slightly different, but I’ll try to clarify the differences. There aren’t many, but it did surprise me when I first experienced Jodo Shinshu in Japan, and realized that it wasn’t what I was expecting.

Further, Jodo Shinshu’s liturgy is somewhat different than other ones we’ve covered so far. When we look at Rinzai, Soto, Tendai and Jodo Shu sect home liturgies, they tend to follow a certain flow:

• Taking refuge
• Verses of repentance
• Reciting a sutra (or part of a sutra)
• Dedication of merit

They may have more or less content, and the particular verses may differ, but generally that’s the format.

Jodo Shinshu home liturgy differs from this pattern somewhat. I believe this is primarily because of the Jodo Shinshu sect emphasis on the Other Power of Amida Buddha, rather than one’s own good works. So, there’s nothing to cultivate in the traditional Buddhist sense, only to express gratitude for.

This lead to some changes, particularly through Rennyo the 8th monshu (head of the sect) who through his efforts to consolidate the various communities, promoted a liturgy format that centers around Shinran’s hymn, the Shoshinge. Thus, in Jodo Shinshu sect Buddhism, daily recitation of the Shoshinge is encouraged, including six wasan hymns at the end, followed by dedication of merit verse similar to other sects. This is the basic Jodo Shinshu home liturgy. If you recited the Shoshinge, and dedicated merit, that would be sufficient.

You can see an example of this here:

Alternatively, if you don’t want to recite the whole Shoshinge, as this site shows (another site) there are other things one can recite instead:

• The Juseige
• The Sanbutsu-ge, which like the Juseige, is an excerpt of the Sutra of the Buddha of Immeasureable Life.
• The Junirai

But many sources suggest the Shoshinge plus Wasan hymns when possible. Also, the same sources emphasize that Jodo Shinshu tradition does not recite the Heart Sutra (unlike other traditions).

Anyhow, going back to this site, the home liturgy is as follows:

1. Light a candle and incense at your buddhist altar (if you have it).
2. Put your hands together and recite the nembutsu
   • In Jodo Shinshu style, the nembutsu sounds more like na man da-, na man da-, na man da-
3. Ring bell twice
4. Recite the sutra (see above)
5. Recite the dedication of merit hymn
6. Optionally, recite a letter from Rennyo’s Gobunsho letters. My service handbook lists the following letters as recommendations to recite (English translation can be found here):
   • Fascicle V, letter 10 – “On Faith as Fundamental”
   • Fascicle V, letter 5 – “On Realizing Faith”
   • Fascicle V, letter 1 – “On Laymen and Laywomen Lacking Wisdom in the Last [Dharma] Age“
   • Fascicle V, letter 2 – “On the Eighty Thousand Teachings“
   • Fascicle V, letter 6 – “On the Great Benefit Bestowed with [the Awakening of] the One Thought-moment [of Faith]“

From my experience with the Buddhist Churches of America, this format is similar to what we recited in Sunday services, though with a couple small differences. First, the Shoshinge was only recited at more formal ceremonies since it is so long. For normal weekly Sunday services, the Juseige was most often recited. Also, at least at the temple I went to, we also explicitly recited Taking Refuge in the Three Treasures (namu kie butsu, namu kie ho, namu kie so), which is something I don’t see in Jodo Shinshu services in Japan.

But in Japanese temples the Shoshinge is emphasized, and other aspects somewhat de-emphasized, hence it’s a bit unconventional.

Good luck and happy chanting!

Namu Amida Butsu

P.S. Photo was taken may years ago in 2008 when I lived in Ireland for a time. Back then, I had a lot fewer Buddhist resources (and there weren’t many in Ireland anyway), so I made this into a very impromptu altar.

¹ I have not covered the Shingon and Nichiren sects, but I have too little information on them to speak with any certainty. Readers will have to do their own research for now.