Tag: Liturgy

The Four Bodhisattva Vows

Recently, I posted an example of Buddhist liturgy as found in the Japanese Tendai tradition, but I wanted to call out one aspect of that liturgy called the Four Bodhisattva Vows or shiguseigan (四弘誓願) among other names. According to my book on Genshin, the Four Bodhisattva Vows were formulated by the original founder of Tiantai (Tendai) Buddhism in China: Zhiyi. Zhiyi formulated these vows based on an earlier gatha verse from the fifth chapter of the Lotus Sutra:

Those who have not yet crossed over I will cause to cross over,

those not yet freed I will free,

those not yet at rest I will put to rest,

those not yet in nirvana I will cause to attain nirvana.

Translation by Burton Watson

The vows have since promulgated to other Buddhist cultures and sects. The liturgy text will vary slightly from Buddhist tradition to tradition, but like the dedication of merit, is remarkably consistent overall.

In the aforementioned Tendai tradition, one version of the vows is as follows:

Sino-Japanese1PronunciationTranslation by me
(other, better translations exist 😉)
衆生無辺誓願度Shu jo mu hen sei gan doSentient beings are innumerable, and yet I vow to save them all.
煩悩無尽誓願断Bon no mu hen sei gan danMy mental defilements (lit. bonnō) are innumerable, I vow to extinguish them all.
法門無量誓願学2Ho mon mu ryo sei gan gakuThe gates of the dharma are without measure, I vow to master them all.
仏道無上誓願成Mu jo bo dai sei gan shoThe path to Buddhahood is peerless, I vow to fulfill it.
1 Chinese liturgy with Japanese phonetic pronunciation
2 I’ve also seen the last character as 知 (chi), but more or less means the same thing

These vows cover something that we saw in previous articles about the Mahayana-Buddhist notion of the Bodhisattva: that we’re all in this together, and so the Buddhist path is not truly fulfilled until one completes their vows to aid all beings no matter how long it takes. The Mahayana path of the Bodhisattva is lofty, heroic even, but as the last verse says, nothing less is enough.

On the other hand, the path of the bodhisattva begins with a single good act, or a good thought towards others. It’s about piling up grains of sand or pebbles time and time again. With enough time and dedication, one can move mountains. Don’t be afraid to think big, even if you come up short in this life. Even if you acted like a dickhead today, that doesn’t mean tomorrow you will be one. Every day is a rehearsal. The very notion of “buddha nature” means that each one of you has the capability for great things, even if you don’t think you can. That’s why in the 20th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the Bodhisattva Never Disparaging bows to each person, even when they’re a total jerk: given the right conditions, any sentient being can become a bodhisattva or a fully-awakened buddha. Given enough time all of them will.

My best wishes to you all, dear readers. May all you be well, free from harm, and find what you are looking for.

P.S. Featured image from the story of Chujo-hime in the Taima Mandala Engi (当麻曼荼羅縁起)

Tendai Buddhist Home Liturgy Example

Greetings readers! I have had a bit of extra time this week due to much-needed time off from work, and have been going through old projects, half-finished blog posts and such. One project I found today, which I decided to finish, was post a romaji (Romanized Japanese) version of the Tendai Buddhist home liturgy for anyone who needs it.

The Tendai sect in Japan has a nice homepage (Google Translated page), but almost nothing in English for doing the home service. Tendai information in English is pretty scattered (though there are some great websites),1 so I decided to go back to the source, and just translate it directly using romaji (romanized Japanese) for easy pronunciation.

Some quick notes:

  1. I chose the shortest, simplest elements of the service, based on Tendai’s recommendation in the link above, and also through the book うちのお寺は天台宗 (双葉文庫) which I picked up some years ago. There’s a more extended version of the home service, but both the book and website explain that the essentials are the following elements that I am posting below.
  2. Where possible, I chose to use the Sino-Japanese pronunciation. The website above lists both, and either option is fine (obviously English is fine too). The Sino-Japanese version, in my opinion, is the easiest to pronounce and chant, and ties back to the larger Buddhist tradition, so that’s my personal preference. The YouTube videos on the Tendai site sometimes provide an alternate native, liturgical Japanese version, and it’s perfectly fine to use this too.
  3. Finally, traditions and liturgical styles vary, so don’t be surprised if another Tendai community does it differently. If in doubt, just do it like your local community does.

The webpage also lists some tips (roughly translated below):

  • First, before you begin, double-check the offerings at your home altar make sure everything is in order: flowers, water, a candle,2 and any other offerings you wanted to make.
  • Before the service, take a moment to freshen up, rinse your mouth and hands with water, etc. That way, you can sit before the altar in a more purified state.
  • Drape any rosary you have over your left hand, and if you are holding a sutra book, lift it up gently and bow ever so slightly.3
  • When you do gassho, put your hands together in front of your chest at a natural angle (45 degrees is common based on personal experience).
  • When chanting, use a mild, even chanting voice, enunciating each word equally. (If you feel like you don’t chant as well as the video links, don’t feel bad: these are professional monks chanting.)
  • If you have a bell, there are certain times to ring it: twice at the beginning, once after reading each part, and three times at the end. (I’ve added prompts to the liturgy below.)
  • When done, close the Buddhist altar (if possible), and place the sutra book back on its stand.
  • Lastly, the book in particular mentions that any Buddhist sutra is OK to recite. The most common one is obviously the Heart Sutra, but any other Buddhist sutra, or an excerpt of a sutra, is fine too. Find what you like, and feel free to recite that.

Minimal Tendai Buddhist Home Liturgy

The service provided below is given as an example home service, but my book on Tendai Buddhism also states that among these different bits of liturgy, you can add or reduce as many as you see fit. Even if you only recite one bit of liturgy per day, that’s enough. The important thing is to make it sustainable. You can always adjust later if it’s too simple or too difficult.

Sanrai: Gratitude Toward the Three Treasures

(ring twice)

Ish-shin cho rai jip-po ho kai jo ju san bo

(repeat 3 times, ring once)

“I reverently praise the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, which permeate the cosmos”

Youtube: https://youtu.be/JDZXXPFaQzg

Sangémon: Renunciation of One’s Past Transgressions

Ga shaku sho zo sho aku go-
Kai yu mu shi ton jin chi
Ju shin go i shi sho sho
Issai ga kon kai san ge

(ring once)

(See this post for more details)

Youtube (alternate version): https://youtu.be/WfNzd44EIZI

Shiguseigan: The Four Bodhisattva Vows

Shu jo mu hen sei gan do
Bon no mu hen sei gan dan
Ho mon mu ryo sei gan chi
Mu jo bo dai sei gan sho

(ring once)

(See this post for more details)

Youtube (alternate version): https://youtu.be/HbMQQs7GiW0

Sutra Chanting

Note: both my book and the website state that any sutra in the Buddhist canon (or excerpt of a sutra) is OK to recite. Popular choices include:

For Japanese Buddhism, simply reciting the sutra without any other liturgy is a perfectly acceptable home practice, by the way.

Daishi Hogo: Homage to the Founder of Tendai, Saicho

Namu shuso konpon dengyo daishi fukuju kongo

(repeat 3 times, ring once)

“Homage to the founder, Master Saicho”

Youtube (alternate version): https://youtu.be/0OoTMvXQpL8

Ekomon: Dedication of Merit to All Sentient Beings

Gan ni shi ku do ku
Fu gyu o is-sai
Ga to yo shu jo
Kai gu jo butsu do

(ring three times)

(See this post for more details)

Youtube: https://youtu.be/Z_j1cTE6JCQ

End of Service

Thanks everyone and I hope you find it useful. I will likely post updates and corrections as time goes on.

Namu amida butsu
Namu kanzeon bosatsu

1 There are, from what I can see from a cursory search, a number of Tendai communities in both the US and the UK. If you’d like to know more, I encourage you to contact such communities. I have no affiliation with any of these groups, however. I am just DIY.

2 Japan also sells LED Buddhist altar candles. Halloween goods also offer LED candles. Great for avoiding fire hazards.

3 This custom is also found in other Japanese-Buddhist sects as a gesture of humility.

The Shushogi: the forgotten Zen text

A photo of my sutra book from Sōjijj temple, featuring the first fasicle of the Shushogi

Lately, I have been inspired to study certain aspects of the Soto school of Zen. In particular, I was reading in Japanese a nice explanation of the Shushōgi (修証義, “Meaning of Practice and Verification”).

The Shushōgi is a primer on Zen compiled for lay followers in 1890 by Ouchi Seiran (大内 青巒, 1845-1918) as part of a committee to bring Soto Zen teachings to a wider audience as a response to Christian proselytizing at the time. The Shushōgi is a popular text for Soto Zen followers in Japan, and appears prominently in Japanese sutra chanting books, yet it has never really caught on in the Western Zen community.1 Interestingly, the Shushogi has undergone a bit of a revival in Japanese-Zen circles in recent generations.

The Shushōgi is a relatively short text that attempts to distill the teachings of Soto Zen’s founder Dōgen (1200 – 1253), using excerpts from his voluminous Shobogenzo, into a smaller format that is accessible for lay followers.

This is significant if you have ever tried to read Dogen’s writings, which are profound, but also in true Zen fashion, really cryptic.

Full translations of the Shushogi can be found here, here and here. A Japanese-romaji version for chanting can be found here.

The text has five sections, with links to subsequent commentary I wrote:

  1. General introduction to Buddhism (i.e. why practice?) – chapter one
  2. The importance of reflection and repentance (Japanese: sangé 懺悔) – chapter two
  3. Taking the precepts, and maintaining wholesome conduct – chapter three
  4. The Aspiration for Enlightenment and Helping Others – chapter four
  5. Practice and Gratitude – chapter five

Western Zen audience may be shocked to see that very little of the Shushōgi mentions meditation at all. One Zen priest even humorously points out in a great article that the Shushōgi was the result of some pretty creative editing, to say nothing about its content. How can this be treated as an authentic Zen text?

Having looked at it from a couple angles, not to mention my non-Zen background in Buddhism, I think the Shushōgi is actually an underrated text.

First, one of the things often overlooked in Western Buddhism is the Mahayana-Buddhist foundation that most schools are built upon. Here, I am not just talking about Zen, but most of the Buddhism people encounter here: Pure Land, Zen, Tibetan, Nichiren, etc. Each of these has a common foundation in Mahayana Buddhism, and Mahayana Buddhism does bring with it certain teachings that quietly permeate various schools: reflect and repentance, aspiration for Enlightenment, the desire to rescue all beings, etc. In cultures where Buddhism has existed for a long, long time, these are kind of a given, so the Shushōgi would fit in perfectly fine among Buddhist followers there. Western Buddhism, being relatively new and still developing, still suffers from a relatively incomplete picture of the whole Mahayana tradition and often thus does not see the forest for the trees.2 Schools like Zen, Pure Land and Nichiren all have their respective traditions, founders and practices, but do so within the background of the larger, common tradition.

Second, I think the writers of the Shushōgi were trying to cast as wide a net as possible, so they downplayed aspects of Zen that are intimidating to some (myself included), while promoting basic Buddhist practices that are accessible to all. If people do awaken the aspiration for Enlightenment, even briefly, or try to uphold the Ten Good Deeds (which is a very fundamental teaching in early Buddhism, btw), this puts them on a much more solid footing along the Buddhist path than they were before, and will probably lead them onward to more and more advanced teachings and practices, including zazen meditation (implied in the 5th section), anyway. It demands little, but inspires people to start somewhere in their Buddhist path. Basically it says “get off the dang couch!”

For people who are already “into Zen”, all this may seem unnecessary because the motivation and intention are already there, but for the rest of us, it is kind of a breath of fresh air compared to oppressive atmosphere Zen centers can sometimes have.3

Speaking as someone who is a working parent and lousy meditation-practitioner, the Shushogi is a gentle and welcoming approach to Zen that is at one familiar, and at the same time inspiring. If you’ve been turned off by Zen or meditation in the past, take a step back and read the Shushogi. It’s an odd-duck in the tradition of Zen, yet at the same time, I can see why Zen followers in Japan have so often embraced it.

1 Indeed, in the official English-language Japanese Soto Zen home page for liturgy, it appears near the bottom under “Other Texts”. Yet, in the Japanese-language official liturgy books, it’s given a more prominent place.

2 This also tends to lead to what one researcher described as “Protestant Buddhism”.

3 To say nothing of the one-upmanship that sometimes goes on. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had some positive experiences at Zen centers in the West, but I often see the same over-eager characters over and over trying to somehow prove themselves. It tends to make Zen communities uptight, and intimidating, compared to other Buddhist communities I’ve been a part of, especially Asian-American Buddhist communities where the atmosphere is usually pretty laid back.