Tag: Tendai

What is the Lotus Sutra?

One of the most influential sacred texts in Buddhism is the Lotus Sutra.

The Lotus Sutra has had a tremendous influence on Buddhism as we know it today. Much of Buddhist culture as we know it either came from the Lotus Sutra, or was influenced by its ideas and teachings. Not everything, of course. But the influence is hard to ignore. If you know the Lotus Sutra, a lot of things about Buddhist culture make more sense.

A copy of the Lotus Sutra enshrined at a Vietnamese Buddhist temple. Taken at Ksitigarbha Temple in Lynnwood, WA in 2013.

Because the Lotus Sutra has been translated to many different cultures at different times, it has had many names:

Original languageTitleRomanization
SanskritSaddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtran/a
Chinese妙法蓮華經Miàofǎ Liánhuā Jīng
Vietnamese妙法蓮華經 (Han Nom)
Diệu Pháp Liên Hoa Kinh (modern)		n/a
Korean妙法蓮華經 (Hanja)
묘법연화경 (Hangeul)		Myobeop Yeonhwa gyeong
Japanese妙法蓮華経Myōhō Renge Kyō
Tibetanདམ་ཆོས་པད་མ་དཀར་པོའི་མདོDamchö Pema Karpo’i do

The full title in English is the Sutra on the White Lotus of the True Dharma, but usually we just call it the “Lotus Sutra”. Similarly, in other languages, the full title of the Lotus Sutra is shortened as well. For example, in Japanese, Myōhō Renge Kyō is shortened to Hokekyō.

But I digress.

The Lotus Sutra is not short, and for new Buddhists it is not easy to read. Composed in India in the first century CE, it is divided into 28 chapters, so it reads like a full book. Many of these chapters have a prose section, then repeats itself in one or more verse sections.1

Like all Buddhist texts, or sutras, it presents its teachings in the form of a sermon by the historical founder of Buddhism, Shakyamuni Buddha (“Shakyamuni” for short). Could the Buddha have given such a long, long sermon all in the span of one sitting? Probably not. But that’s how Buddhist sutras are usually presented.

A mural of the Buddha, attended by Bodhisattvas, at the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, China. Photo taken by user scchoong123. Artwork is ancient and anonymous., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Through the Buddha, the Lotus Sutra teaches many parables and similes to get its point across. Many of these parables took on a life of their own and frequently appear in Buddhist art or literature. Others are strange and obscure to modern readers. In fact, if you’re just reading the sutra for the first time, it really helps to have some kind of side-by-side guide to help make sense of it because if you tried to read it literally, you will get a headache. Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Opening the Heart of the Cosmos really helped me a lot.

For example, the chapter with the Sermon in the Sky, where a second Buddha named Prabhutaratna appears, and everyone flies up impossibly high to hear their sermon, and the Buddha projects himself across many worlds, is a difficult read. If you try to read at face-value, it reads like a fever dream.

A mural from the Yulin Grotto in China. See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
An altar revering the two buddhas, Shakyamuni and Prabhūtaratna, from the eleventh chapter of the Lotus Sutra, enshrined at a Vietnamese temple. Taken at Ksitigarbha Temple in Lynnwood, WA in 2013.

But the style of the Lotus Sutra isn’t to appeal to the head, it tries to appeal to the imagination. It is one thing to say that life is impermanent, it is another to describe the world as a great burning house, with people inside too distracted to notice. When the Buddha is shown projecting himself to countless worlds, it is just a colorful way of saying that the Dharma is everywhere, and there are countless buddhas across many worlds each preaching according to the environment. When the Buddha describes archetypal bodhisattvas in the later chapters, each one is meant to convey a different Buddhist virtue.

Deep stuff.

The Lotus Sutra was pretty radical for its time, and a core part of the larger Mayahana-Buddhist reform movement. The parable of the Dragon Princess, attaining enlightenment faster than any was obviously meant to blow the minds of the establishment, and challenge certain cultural prejudices about women, and so on.

A 12th century Japanese mural from the Heike Nokyo, depicting the Dragon Princess offering a jewel to the Buddha before transforming. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Similarly, the chapter where countless streams of “bodhisattvas of the earth” emerge from the ground was meant to show how we didn’t need to rely on elite gurus, but that everyone had the capacity for being a bodhisattva too, if they just had the confidence.

I’ve talked about the main themes of the Lotus Sutra in an older post, but I wanted to cover two really important ones.

First, the most important teaching of the Lotus Sutra is probably the “One Vehicle” (Ekayāna) teaching. Previously, the reform Mahayana, or “great vehicle” Buddhists, bickered with the traditional Buddhist establishment (called Hinayana, or “small vehicle”), and traded barbs witih one another. You can see this is in some of the really early sutras composed by Mahayana Buddhists.

But then the Lotus Sutra took a step back and looked at the big picture, and taught that it was all just Buddhism (e.g. “one vehicle”) anyway. There were many places to start, and ways to move forward, but in time they would all converge, and the quality of one buddha was no different than another. What worked for one person didn’t necessarily work for another. There was no use bickering, any effort great or small was worth it.

Second, the other major teaching of the Lotus Sutra is that the Buddha was far, far older than history would tell us. The sutra implies that the Buddha would appear in some time and place, restart the Buddhist community, grow old and die, but that was just trick to keep people getting attached to the Buddha. This seems pretty disingenuous.

But what the sutra is trying to tell us is that the Buddha just personifies the Dharma (the teachings), and that the Dharma is the Buddha. Since the Dharma, the principle of existence, has always been around, in the same way one can see the Buddha also being around in one form or another, even in the darkest of times. Where does one begin, and the other end? I think the Mahayana Buddhists who composed it wanted people to stop getting hung up on the physical/historical Buddha, avoid a “cult of the Buddha”, and focus on the Dharma.

As a side note, the Lotus Sutra frequently promotes itself. It says that anyone who sincerely hears the Lotus Sutra, and praises it gets all kinds of benefits. But is not the Lotus Sutra as the written text from 1st century India. Like the “eternal Buddha”, this is the Lotus Sutra as the ultimate teaching (e.g. the Dharma) in its unvarnished form.

Thus, the Lotus Sutra is in some ways a very strange text because it is so dense with metaphor, simile and parables to get things across. But when you look at all the artwork and culture influenced by it, you can see that it gets something right. Rather than appealing to intellect, it conveys its messages through more impactful means. It is one of those texts that you keep referring back to over the years because it stands out so much.

Speaking from experience, it helps not to read it from cover to cover. Instead, focus on one chapter, try to suss out the meaning. Some chapters are, in my experience, a little bland, others are really moving. Sometimes a chapter won’t make any sense, then years later you will have an “ah ha” moment and you see it in a new light.

Speaking from experience. 😏

P.S. I probably own 3-4 translations of the Lotus Sutra, the Gene Reeves translation is probably the easiest for beginners in my opinion, but I like them all in their own way.

1 Researchers believe that the verses actually came first, and then the authors composed narrative around them.

Updates on my Buddhist Home Practice

Hello Dear Readers,

In June, I posted about the “day” and “night” concept used in Tendai Buddhist practice, using the example of the Jimon sect. I felt inspired to experiment a bit and try this out myself. My adjustments to home practice took a few twists and turns, but within a week or so I settled onto a consistent routine that I’ve been happy with.

Here’s what I’ve been doing for the past month, more or less.

For mornings, I focus on Kannon Bodhisattva:

For evenings, I focus on Amida Buddha:

I have found that splitting the practice like this has had some benefits. For me, this style of practice lets me cover both the here and now, through veneration of Kannon and reciting the Heart Sutra, while also looking to the future through venerating Amida Buddha through the evening practice. I feel pretty content covering both aspects.

I made both morning and evening routines intentionally short and lightweight so they are more sustainable, rather than doing something elaborate.

Still, to be honest, sometimes I am still too busy to even do this much. Or I just forget. 😅

I am not proud of that, but I felt I should be honest with readers and let them know that mistakes in Buddhist practice are perfectly OK. Life is unpredictable, and for us are “householders” (e.g. lay-Buddhists), life gets in the way. That’s why the monastic community was (presumably) created: to give people the option of practicing Buddhism full-time, not part-time.

That said, Buddhist practice is like exercise: the more you can do, the better. Even a little bit is a positive thing.

Anyhow, when I am simply busy, sometimes I will just recite either the Kannon mantra in the morning, or the nembutsu in the evening. Sometimes, I can only just bow at the altar for a moment.1 The Soto Zen resources I read previously often said much the same thing: adjust as needed, depending on how busy you are. Sometimes your home practice will be longer, sometimes shorter.

Just don’t give up.

Keep experimenting, keep trying, make it personal, and always be flexible.

Good luck and happy … er, “Buddhist-ing”.

P.S. I took a nice, relaxing weekend off to catch up on some things, avoid social media, and just unplug for a bit. I didn’t really have a plan, I just took a break. I may have also played some Fire Emblem games as well. The fun continues. 😀

1 To make this “split service” work, I have two altars now at home: the main one for Amida Buddha and tiny little “side altar” for Kannon on my bookshelf. It’s basic, but it’s something I can keep building on over time.

Remembering the Dead

“Mercedes” is one of the nicest, sweetest characters in the game Fire Emblem: Three Houses (and Three Hopes)

It’s been about 18 months since my mother-in-law passed away, and my wife still pays her respects regularly. We have her picture setup with some flowers and incense, and per custom my wife will burn incense in the morning. The kids, who miss their “baba”, offer incense sometimes too.

We also started enshrining an old photo of my maternal grandmother, who passed away 33 years ago, and burning incense for her too. Obviously, this is not an American custom, but I felt that it was a good one to adopt. I briefly touched on honoring one’s ancestors in a past post about day to day Tendai Buddhist practice, and remembering this I decided to take up the practice.

My grandmother was pretty ahead of her time. She was a computer nerd in the 80’s, and would dabble a lot with old Tandy Color Computers, dial up on local BBS’es, and hung around Star Trek forums online. And, she would share all this with me as a kid. I have a lot of fond memories of staying overnight at her house on weekends.

Thanks to her, I developed a love of computers, and that love of computers helped me build a career from which I can raise a family now. Just as we owe my mother-in-law for her many ways of supporting us in our early marriage, my grandmother also helped us by inspiring me to learn some good technical skills.

The reason why I posted this though was to not just reflect on the past.

Through Buddhist custom, we’ve been honoring past ancestors, and expressing gratitude, but also it’s important not to get stuck in the past either. Conduct here and now matter too. The quote above from Fire Emblem: Three Hopes (the sequel to Three Houses), really expresses this point nicely:

Living in the present is the best we can do. We owe it to those who can’t come back.

Fire Emblem: Three Hopes

My wife strives to be a good mom the way her mother was, and I try to be a good dad, including working an honest career. We both look forward to being the “nice grandma and grandpa” for our grandkids someday. 😊

Of course, this isn’t just limited to raising a family. A person can also just “pay it forward” in helping others. Just as our parents (warts and all) sacrificed much to raise us, we can selflessly help others around us, or help future generations by making the world a little bit of a better place. But, even more simply, taking time to enjoy one’s life, the breath one takes, their continued good health and so on, these too can honor our loved ones who aren’t around anymore.

Namu Amida Butsu

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):

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.

The Journeys of Xuanzang, prologue: Great Tang

I had an idea recently while flipping through my book on the journeys of the Buddhist monk Xuan-zang (pronounced like “Shwan-tsong”). Xuan-zang was the famous Buddhist monk who walked to India in order to bring back more information and texts in order to help develop Buddhism in his native China. In my old post, I covered some of the trials and tribulations of this amazing journey, and even made a fun song. However, looking back the post felt incomplete. I realized that many of these places that Xuan-zang traversed are obscure and forgotten now despite their central importance to Buddhist history, and the journey was so long that it’s too much to really explore in a single post.

So, this is the start of a series of posts meant to help retrace Xuan-zang’s journey, explore places of significance and how they tied into larger history. I don’t have a schedule yet (these posts take a while to write), but I am working on the next few drafts already.

Today’s post is the prologue episode, covering China at this time, and why Xuan-zang left.

Quick note: because this episode in particular uses a lot of Chinese names, for the sake of accuracy and modern readers, I am using the pinyin-style accent marks where relevant, and also using Simplified Chinese characters. I also put in lots of hyphens to help with pronunciation.

The Tang Dynasty

Great Tang at its largest extent in 661, map courtesy of Kanguole, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Chinese history, until the Republican era (1912 onward) had seen a series of kingships followed by imperial dynasties. Although, we usually call the country “China”, the name used by Chinese people in antiquity, and by their neighbors, was often taken from the current ruling dynasty.

Dynasties came and went. Some were fairly short-lived such as the Sui, others were incredibly powerful and long-lasting such as the Ming. Some were constantly fighting for their existence, such as the Song, others were fractured into a series of “mini-dynasties” that only exerted control over a region and were unable to unify China.

A portrait of Emperor Tai-zong, painted centuries later in the Ming Dynasty. National Palace Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Xuan-zang lived during the last days of the Suí Dynasty, and the early days of the Táng Dynasty (唐). “Great Tang” (大唐) as it called itself, lasted from 618 – 907, and was one of the high points of Chinese civilization. The empire expanded very far to the west, along the Silk Road (more on that in future posts) and actively imported all kinds of art, people, ideas, religions and material culture from Central Asia. Compared to earlier dynasties, Great Tang was much more cosmopolitan and less insular.

Xuan-zang lived primarily during the reign of the second Tang emperor Tài-zōng (太宗), who was an incredibly powerful, dynamic ruler. Chinese history still reveres him as of the greatest rulers. Tai-zong aided his father, the first emperor, in overthrowing the previous dynasty. Further, he was a powerful, expansionist ruler with a strong sense of administration, which helped provide stable foundations for Great Tang.

The Capital of Chang-An

The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda (Buddhist stupa), photo by Alex Kwok, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The capital of Great Tang was the city of Cháng-ān (长安) in the western part of China. The city was a massive, cosmopolitan center of administration, commerce and culture. Chang-an at its height grew to 30 square miles, which was massive compared to Rome which occupied only 5.2 square miles. The population by 742 was recorded as 2,000,000 residents and of these 5,000 foreigners.

Chang-an was easily one of the world’s greatest cities at the time, and it had a great influence on its neighbors as well: the layout for the capital of Japan, Kyoto, was intended to resemble Chang-an, and great Buddhist masters such as Saicho’s rival, Kukai, studied there extensively. It was here that many Buddhist texts that came from the Silk Road were translated here as well.

Other religions, such as Nestorian Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism and even Judaism and Islam all had a presence in Chang-an.

As the easternmost point of the Silk Road, it was here that many journeys began or ended…

Buddhism in Great Tang

The Tang Dynasty is often regarded as one of the high points of Chinese civilization, but also for Buddhism. Buddhism had emerged in China centuries earlier but its spread was slow at first. The native Confucian community particular resented the foreign Buddhist teachings as un-filial, unproductive (since monks did not work fields), and a drain on national resources.

In spite of the criticisms, it spread nonetheless. Wave and wave of teachings, newly translated texts, and schools of thought were imported from the Silk Road, allowing Buddhism to gradually take root, articulate its teachings better over successive generations, and develop natively Chinese schools of thought such as Tiān-tāi, Huá-yán, and Pure Land alongside imported schools of thought from India such as Fǎ-xiàng (Yogacara) and Sān-lùn (Madhyamika). By the time of the Tang Dynasty, massive temple complexes had arisen around Chang-an and other major cities.

This was a rare time when there was still a connection between Buddhist India and China, allowing a free flow of information. Later, when Buddhism fell in India, and the Silk Road was no longer safe to travel due to warfare, China was cut off.

Emperor Tai-zong himself had a distant relationship with Buddhism in his early reign. He kept it at arm’s length and strictly regulated. Further, travel in and out of China was tightly restricted, so that while there was commerce and trade, one could only do so with official permissions. More on this shortly.

Enter Xuan-Zang

Xuan-zang was the second son of his family. His older brother had ordained as a Buddhist monk, and Xuan-zang decided to follow in his footsteps at a young age. During the collapse of the Sui Dynasty, both brothers came to Chang-an where it was safe, and undertook further Buddhist studies. Since Xuan-zang proved to be a promising student, he was soon given access to advanced Buddhist texts and eventually ordained as a full monk in 622.

As to why Xuan-zang decided to journey all the way back to India, he is quoted as stating the following:

The purpose of my journey is not to obtain personal offerings. It is because I regretted, in my country, the Buddhist doctrine was imperfect and the scriptures were incomplete. Having many doubts, I wish to go and find out the truth, and so I decided to travel to the West at the risk of my life in order to seek for the teachings of which I have not yet heard, so that the Dew of the Mahayana sutras would have not only been sprinkled at Kapilavastu, but the sublime truth may also be known in the eastern country.

During his studies, Xuan-zang had noticed copyist errors, corruptions of texts, missing texts and other textual issues that prevented a thorough understanding. Thus, he resolved to journey to India, much like a monk named Fa-xian (法显) had done centuries earlier. He was particularly interested in the writings of Vasubandhu and his half-brother Asanga , who were crucial to the development of Mahayana Buddhism as we know it. Xuan-zang and some like-minded monks petitioned the Emperor Tai-zong to be allowed to journey to India, but never received an answer. He made his preparations, possibly learning some Tokharian language (commonly spoken along the Silk Road at that time) from the foreign quarters at Chang-an, then went west.

Ruins from the Yumen Pass, photo courtesy of 张骐, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

By the time Xuan-zang reached the Yumen Pass (Yùmén Guān 玉门关) at the western end of Great Tang, he had attracted some unwanted scrutiny by authorities, and wasn’t permitted to leave. By this point, his companions had lost their nerve, but Xuan-zang was determined to continue. With some help from a sympathizer, Xuan-zang defied imperial orders and snuck around the Yumen Pass to leave China. He was now a criminal, and he was alone with a vast desert ahead of him.

What happened next? Find out in next episode.

Saicho: Founder of Tendai in Japan

June 4th is the yearly memorial service in Japan’s Tendai sect of Buddhism called Sangé-é (山家会) for its founder, Saichō (最澄, 767 – 822). I am writing this post a bit late this year, but I wanted to explore the life of Saicho a little bit and why he matters.

Saicho as depicted in a Heian-Period painting.

If you look at the history of Japanese Buddhism, Saicho doesn’t elicit much historical attention and discussion, even compared to contemporary rivals at the time like Kūkai, founder of Shingon-sect Buddhism. Yet, the sect he founded in Japan was overwhelmingly the largest and most influential for centuries (probably too much so), until it finally faded into the background in the late medieval period. This is why you rarely see mention of Saicho or Tendai these days: it’s far smaller now than it was in the past.

Also, to confuse matters further, Saicho is only the founder of the Japanese branch of Tendai. It was the Buddhist monk Zhi-yi (智顗, 538 – 597), who originally started the Tian-tai (天台) sect in China in the 7th century and it remains a very influential sect across many areas of mainland-Buddhist Asia (Korea, Vietnam, etc). Tian-tai in Japan (pronounced as Tendai) reveres Zhiyi as well.

Anyhow, Saicho was a monk at a time when Buddhism had already been established in Japan, primarily around the old capitol of Nara, yet was limited to a very tightly regulated number of schools and monks per school. Besides the Yogacara (Hossō) and Huayan (Kegon) schools, the rest are very obscure today. These schools had all been imported from Tang-Dynasty China, and represent “branch” schools to the mother temples there. The existing schools at that time were obligated to perform rituals on behalf of the Emperor to prevent calamities, cure diseases, bring prosperity to the nation and other political needs. In turn, the government allocated new acolyte monks every year, and allowed them to continue. However, beyond that, Buddhism had very little reach in the rest of Japanese society. This is very different than the bottom-up approach in China.

Mount Hiei today, photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Saicho was ordained as an official monk, but soon left and retreated to Mount Hiei where he underwent ascetic practices, rather than stay in the urban temple complexes. In time, he attracted other like-minded disciples, and a small, informal monastic community developed there on the mountain. Further, he carved an image of the Medicine Buddha, and later lit an oil lamp in reverence to the Buddha, praying that the light would never be extinguished. This lamp, the Fumetsu no Hōtō (不滅の法灯) was the subject of a previous post. By this point, the foundations of the temple of Enryakuji were laid.

Later, by a lucky coincidence, the capitol of Japan was moved away from Nara to Kyoto (back then Heian-kyō) in 795. Since Mount Hiei happened to be to the northeast of Kyoto, and since the northeast was considered an inauspicious direction in classic Chinese geomancy, the presence of a Buddhist temple there (namely Enryakuji) helped protect the new capital from negative influences. The Emperor, for his part, saw this new Buddhist sect has a counterbalance to the old guard sects in Nara. Thus, Saicho’s star quickly rose.

The Eastern Pagoda (Buddhist stupa), of Enryakuji Temple, 663highland, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Now with sponsorship from the new Imperial court, Saicho was dispatched to sail back to China in 804, gather more resources and help bring Buddhism to a wider audience. On the same diplomatic mission, another promising young monk named Kūkai was also dispatched. More on him later. Of the four ships that sailed out to sea, only 2 survived a storm at sea (Saicho and Kukai were each aboard one of the surviving ships).

Saicho’s had mixed success in China. He did not speak Chinese (he could only read it), but was able to get official permission from the Chinese government to travel to Mount Tiantai. There he stayed for 135 days. Saicho later received limited training in esoteric Buddhism, which was all the rage in Tang-Dynasty China (and Japan at this time). It wasn’t until the second generation of Tendai monks who went to China (Ennin for example) that esoteric training really developed in the Tendai sect in Japan. Saicho also copied many sutras and texts in order to provide fresh copies back in Japan (printing did not come until much later, despite flourishing in China).

Guoqing Temple (guó qīng sì, 国清寺) on Mount Tiantai, head of the Tiantai Order. Photo by Joshtinho, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Nonetheless, when Saicho returned to Japan 8 months later, he was feted for his accomplishments. He got to work using his newfound training, and his collection of sutras brought back from China to petition the Emperor to start a new sect derived from the Chinese Tiantai Buddhism he trained under. Saicho’s vision was slightly different than Tiantai Buddhism, particularly because he envisioned a purely “Mahayana” sect, not just a sect with Mahayana Buddhism on top of earlier Buddhist tradition. This meant different ordination platforms, different training, etc. It was a big controversy at the time, and the powerful Yogacara (Hossō in Japanese) school based in Nara really gave him grief over it.2

In Dr Paul Groner’s book on Saicho, he explains Saicho’s vision further:

In his works directed against Tokuitsu and the Hossō [Yogacara] School, Saichō argued that all people had the Buddha-nature [capacity for Enlightenment] and could attain Buddhahood. Receiving the Fan wang [Bodhisattva precepts] ordination and adhering to the precepts were religious practices open to anyone. Anyone could receive a Fan wang ordination and anyone who had been correctly ordained could in turn confer the Fan wang precepts on others….

Saichō envisaged a system in which Tendai monks would be trained for twelve years on Mount Hiei and then go to live in the princes in order to perform good works, to preach, and to confer Fan wang ordinations.

Page 179

Further, Saicho really took the idea of unifying different Buddhist practices and traditions into an “umbrella tradition” to a new level. It wasn’t enough that the Lotus Sutra was the highest teaching (per Tiantai tradition), he wanted to really absorb other practices and traditions toward that end, and diffuse them across the country in a religious community that blurred the traditional lines between monks and laity.

Saicho’s zeal, his rising status in the new Imperial court at Kyoto, and his fresh training gave him a lot of leeway, and the Emperor granted his request. Thus, Tendai Buddhism (the Japanese branch of Tiantai) was born. It has a deep connection with the mother sect in China, but Saicho also added some innovations to it as well.

Saicho’s star was soon eclipsed after the other monk from the same diplomatic mission, Kūkai, who returned some time later and brought an extensive training program in esoteric Buddhism (something Saicho had only a partial training of). Because esoteric Buddhism was all the rage (until the Purge of 845), Kukai’s training and religious material he imported outshone Saicho. Kukai and Saicho tried to maintain a cordial relationship, but Saicho wasn’t willing to train under Kukai, and Kukai kept poaching disciples of Saicho’s so the two groups became somewhat acrimonious over time.

Saicho proved throughout his life that he was dedicated to the Lotus Sutra and the Buddhist path. He was a sincere ascetic in his youth, rather than a “career monk” like many others of his time, and held himself to high standards. The fact that attracted like-minded people around him, shows that he “walked the talk” too. In China, he underwent many trainings, copied many sutras, and didn’t stop learning and improving. It should be noted that Kukai and Saicho were both pioneers for journeying to China to bring back more Buddhist teachings, rather than past schools that relied on foreign monks to make the journey to remote Japan.

If Saicho had any virtue, it was zeal.

If Saicho had any fault, it was that he was perhaps stubborn.

Personally, I like Saicho, flaws and all. Like, I would have loved to sit with him on those early days on Mount Hiei, swap practice tips, get his advice, etc. I really like his enthusiasm and positivity. Much like Honen centuries later, Saicho was bold and motivated by sincere conviction. The Tendai sect morphed into something that I don’t think he anticipated but personally I blame politics more than the founder.

But anyway, this is all just my opinion.

As for me, I did an extra long home service for Saicho this week in his honor.

1 Devout Buddhists in early Japanese history, such as Prince Shotoku, were devotees of the Lotus Sutra as well, but I don’t think there was any effort in those days to elevate it to the highest teachings, let alone make a new sect out of it. It was just there as part of the larger tradition.

2 Acrimony between Tendai and Hosso schools of Buddhism continued for centuries, starting with Saicho’s disagreements with one Tokuitsu of Hossō. Both sects frequently faced off during official Buddhist debates at the Imperial court as well.

Take Two: What Is the Nembutsu?

For months, I’ve had on my to-do list to go and fix up the Wikipedia article about the nembutsu (or nian-fo in Chinese). I had started contributing to that article way back in 2006 shortly after I first got interested in Pure Land Buddhism, and occasionally update or add details. The article was flagged for some quality control issues recently, and I decided to help clean it up.

Some of my early contributions in Wikipedia way back in the day… can’t believe it’s been 18 years.

As I began to write some updates to the article, though, and trying to distill what the nembutsu is within the Pure Land tradition, I realized that this is a really tough question. There’s centuries of interpretations, layers of culture, and divergent viewpoints. I tried to summarize this in an older article, but after reading over that article, I realized that I didn’t quite hit the mark there either.

So, let’s try this again.

Pure Land Buddhism is a large, broad, organic tradition within Mahayana Buddhism (an even bigger tradition). It is not centrally-organized, but follows many trends and traditions across many places and time periods. However, these traditions all have a couple things in common:

  1. Reverence toward the Buddha of Infinite Light (a.k.a. Amitabha Buddha, Amida, Emituofo, etc.). The nature of who or what Amitabha Buddha is is open to interpretation though.
  2. Aspiration to be reborn (as in one’s next life) in the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha. There have been many ways to interpret what exactly this means, but I am sticking to the most simple, literal interpretation for now.

In any case, these two things are what make the “Cult of Amitabha” what it is. By “cult” I mean the more traditional, academic definition, not the modern, negative definition. Amitabha is to Mahayana Buddhism, what the Virgin Mary is to Catholicism.

Every Pure Land tradition across Buddhist history is mostly focused on #2: how to get to the Pure Land. The early Pure Land Sutras spend much time describing how great Amitabha Buddha is, and how getting to the Pure Land is so beneficial towards one’s practice, but differ somewhat on how get reborn there.

One early sutra, the Pratyutpanna Sutra is one of the first to mention Amitabha and the Pure Land at all, but it very strongly emphasizes a meditative approach, in order to achieve a kind of samadhi. According to Charles B Jones, being reborn in the Pure Land wasn’t even mentioned in this sutra, nor Amitabha’s origin story. It was a purely meditate text. Nonetheless, this sutra was highly favored by the early Chinese Pure Land Buddhists, namely the White Lotus Society started in the 5th century by Lushan Huiyuan.

The main textual source for being reborn in the Pure Land is from the Immeasurable Life Sutra, also called the Larger [Sukhavati Vyuha] Sutra. This is where we see the famous 48 vows of the Buddha, including the most important, the 18th vow (highlights added):

設我得佛。十方衆生至心信樂。欲生我國乃至十念。若不生者不取正覺。唯除五逆誹謗正法

(18) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of the ten quarters who sincerely and joyfully entrust themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and call my Name, even ten times, should not be born there, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment. Excluded, however, are those who commit the five gravest offences and abuse the right Dharma.

translation by Rev. Hisao Inagaki

This is where things get interesting, in my opinion.

The Chinese character 念 (niàn) was used to translate the Buddhist-Sanskrit term Buddhānusmṛti or “recollection of the Buddha”. But, according to Jones, the Chinese character 念 had multiple nuances in Chinese:

  • To mentally focus on something.
  • A moment in time.
  • Reciting the Confucian Classics aloud.

And in fact each one of these interpretations can be applied to the nembutsu (Chinese niànfó) because it means niàn (念) of the Buddha (fó, 佛).

But which is it: concentration, a moment of recollection, or verbal recitation?

Most of the early Chinese Buddhist teachers like Tanluan, Daochuo and Shandao all promoted a mix: usually visualization was the superior method, but verbal recitation was a fallback for people who couldn’t dedicate themselves to visualization-meditation and ritual. The earliest Buddhist teachers mostly emphasized the visualization-meditation approach, but by Shandao’s time (7th century) the verbal recitation was deemed the most effective method.

Later, in Japan, the monk Genshin (not to be confused with the game…) summarizes these various methods in his 10th century work, the Ojoyoshu. It was a high quality work and even praised by Chinese monks when it was sent over as part of Japan’s diplomatic missions. But Genshin came to the same basic conclusion: the nembutsu can be any one of the three.

Finally we get to Buddhist teachers like Honen (12th century), who taught that the verbal recitation was the only viable choice. Honen praised past methods, but his target audience was a mostly illiterate population, as well as monks whose monastic institutions had largely declined into corruption and empty ritual. So, for such people, better to rely on Amitabha Buddha’s compassion and recite the verbal nembutsu wholeheartedly.

Multi-lingual sign at the temple of Chion-in in Kyoto, Japan where Honen’s mausoleum rests.

This approach isn’t that different from the Chinese approach which varied by teacher or patriarch but through Shandao’s influence had a parallel development. Some teachers emphasized the efficacy of simply reciting the nembutsu (much like Honen), others added the importance of concentration while reciting the nembutsu.

However, turning back to the Larger Sutra, let’s go back to the 48 vows. The 19th and 20th vows state:

(19) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of the ten quarters, who awaken aspiration for Enlightenment, do various meritorious deeds and sincerely desire to be born in my land, should not, at their death, see me appear before them surrounded by a multitude of sages, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.

(20) If, when I attain Buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of the ten quarters who, having heard my Name, concentrate their thoughts on my land, plant roots of virtue, and sincerely transfer their merits towards my land with a desire to be born there, should not eventually fulfill their aspiration, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.

So, taken together, the 18-20th vows cover the various interpretations of 念 we discussed above. All of them are included in Amitabha’s vows to bring across anyone who desires to be reborn there. The common theme is sincerity (至心 zhì xīn). If you look at the original Chinese text, all three include “sincerity”.

Further, when asked about how many times one should recite the nembutsu, Honen replied:1

“….believe that you can attain ojo [往生, rebirth in the Pure Land] by one repetition [of the nembutsu], and yet go on practicing it your whole life long.”

So, let’s get down to business: what is the nembutsu / niànfó ?

Based on the evidence above, I believe that the nembutsu is any of these Buddhist practices described above, taken under a sincere aspiration to be reborn in the Pure Land. It’s about bending one’s efforts and aspirations toward the Pure Land.

If you are calculating how to be reborn, or if your heart’s not 100% into it, then it may be a waste of effort.

Instead, if you feel unsure, study the Buddhist doctrines, get to know the Pure Land sutras, read about past teachers and if you feel fired up about, recite the nembutsu, or do whatever moves you. You will just know when. The more you put into it, the more you get out of it too.

Amitabha’s light shines upon all beings, like moonlight, and if you feel inspired by it, just know that you’re already halfway to the Pure Land.

Namu Amida Butsu

1 The site is long gone, sadly, but the Wayback Machine has an archive of the site. The updated Japanese-only site is here.

Chanting the “Jigage”: Chapter Sixteen of the Lotus Sutra

The Lotus Sutra, one of the most important sutras of Mahayana Buddhism, is the size of an epic novel, and thus much too large to recite cover to cover. Even reciting a single chapter can be daunting because each chapter contains a large narrative section, and one or more verse sections that recap the narrative.

For this reason, certain verse sections have become popular for chanting because they get to the heart of the Lotus Sutra and convey its essential teachings, in a manageable size.

Popular examples (among others) include the Kannon Sutra, the verse section of chapter 16, and the opening section of chapter 2. Both are actively recited in Nichiren and Tendai sect home services. Today we will focus on the big verse section at the end of chapter 16, called the jigagé (自我偈) in Japanese.

Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra is the big reveal of the sutra: Shakyamuni Buddha is not just a historical figure that lived in 5th century India, and member of the warrior-caste Shakya clan, but is also, on another level, a timeless Buddha that has pretty much existed since a remote, incalculable past:

Since I attained Buddhahood the number of kalpas [aeons] that have passed is an immeasurable hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions, trillions, asamkhyas [in other words, a mind-boggling amount of time]. Constantly I have preached the Law [a.k.a. the Dharma], teaching, converting countless millions of living beings, causing them to enter the Buddha way, all this for immeasurable kalpas.

Translation by Burton Watson

I believe this part of an important theme not just in the Lotus Sutra but Mahayana Buddhism in general: the Dharma is a timeless, eternal law of reality and the various Buddhas simply embody it. The Dharma is what matters, not one particular Buddha or another. You can see hints of this in older Buddhist sutras such as the Vakkali Sutta (SN 22.87) in the Pali Canon, but I believe that Mahayana Buddhism took it to its logical conclusion.

Later in the same verse section is the famous lines:

My pure land is not destroyed, yet the multitude see it as consumed in fire, with anxiety, fear and other sufferings filling it everywhere….But those who practice meritorious ways, who are gentle, peaceful, honest and upright, all of them will see me here in person, preaching the Law [a.k.a. The Dharma]

Translation by Burton Watson

To me, this reinforces that even in the worst, most desolate times, the Dharma is always there, and anyone who seeks it sincerely will find it even when others cannot see it. I’ve talked about this passage often in the Nirvana Day posts I’ve made in the past, among other places.

Anyhow, let’s move on now to the liturgy itself.

Liturgical Language

Because this is a chant used in Japanese Nichiren and Tendai traditions, among others, I am posting it as-is in Japanese, more specifically Sino-Japanese: the original Classical Chinese that it was recorded in, but with historical Japanese pronunciation. You are welcome to recite in English, or any other language, there is no restriction.

For this liturgical text, I relied on a few sources, plus I double-checked the spellings using physical sutra books I have at home. I am fairly certain it’s accurate.

Also, I formatted the text similar to how it is formatted in real service books.

Translation

I decided not to post the translation side-by-side with the text, the way I do with the Heart Sutra and such. This is due to formatting reasons on the blog, plus also length of the text makes this more difficult. I may revise this later.

For now, I highly recommend checking out a modern translation here by the excellent Dr Burton Watson. The Buddhist Text Translation Society also has an excellent translation here. The chant below is the first narrative section that goes all the way to the first verse section.

Disclaimer and Legal Info

I hereby release this into the public domain. Please use it as you see fit, but if you attribute it to this site, greatly appreciated. Also, please bear in mind this is an amateur work, and should not be taken too seriously.

Dedication

I dedicate this effort to all sentient beings everywhere. May all beings be well, and may they all attain perfect peace.

Namu Shakamuni Buddha

The Lotus Sutra sixteenth chapter, verse section

Preamble

Classical ChineseJapanese Romanization
妙法蓮華経
如来寿量品
第十六		Myo ho ren ge kyo
nyo rai ju ryo hon
dai ju roku

Verse Section

Classical ChineseJapanese Romanization
自我得仏来
所経諸劫数
無量百千万
億載阿僧祇		Ji ga toku butsu rai
sho kyo sho kos-shu
mu ryo hyaku sen man
oku sai a so gi
常説法教化
無数億衆生
令入於仏道
爾来無量劫		jo sep-po kyo ke
mu shu oku shu jo
ryo nyu o butsu do
ni rai mu ryo ko
為度衆生故
方便現涅槃
而実不滅度
常住此説法		i do shu jo ko
ho ben gen ne han
ni jitsu fu metsu do
jo ju shi sep-po
我常住於此
以諸神通力
令顛倒衆生
雖近而不見		ga jo ju o shi
i sho jin zu riki
ryo ten do shu jo
sui gon ni fu ken
衆見我滅度
広供養舎利
咸皆懐恋慕
而生渇仰心		shu ken ga metsu do
ko ku yo sha ri
gen kai e ren bo
ni sho katsu go shin
衆生既信伏
質直意柔軟
一心欲見仏
不自惜身命		shu jo ki shin buku
shichi jiki i nyu nan
is-shin yoku ken butsu
fu ji shaku shin myo
時我及衆僧
倶出霊鷲山
我時語衆生
常在此不滅		ji ga gyu shu so
ku shutsu ryo ju sen
ga ji go shu jo
jo zai shi fu metsu
以方便力故
現有滅不滅
余国有衆生
恭敬信楽者		i ho ben riki ko
gen u metsu fu metsu
yo koku u shu jo
ku gyo shin gyo sha
我復於彼中
為説無上法
汝等不聞此
但謂我滅度		ga bu o hi chu
i setsu mu jo ho
nyo to fu mon shi
tan ni ga metsu do
我見諸衆生
没在於苦海
故不為現身
令其生渇仰		ga ken sho shu jo
motsu zai o ku kai
ko fu i gen shin
ryo go sho katsu go
因其心恋慕
乃出為説法
神通力如是
於阿僧祇劫		in go shin ren bo
nai shitsu i sep-po
jin zu riki nyo ze
o a so gi ko
常在霊鷲山
及余諸住処
衆生見劫尽
大火所焼時		jo zai ryo ju sen
gyu yo sho ju sho
shu jo ken ko jin
dai ka sho sho ji
我此土安穏
天人常充満
園林諸堂閣
種種宝荘厳		ga shi do an non
ten nin jo ju man
on rin sho do kaku
shu ju ho sho gon
宝樹多花果
衆生所遊楽
諸天撃天鼓
常作衆伎楽		ho ju ta ke ka
shu jo sho yu raku
sho ten kyaku ten ku
jo sa shu gi gaku
雨曼陀羅華
散仏及大衆
我浄土不毀
而衆見焼尽		u man da ra ke
san butsu gyu dai shu
ga jo do fu ki
ni shu ken sho jin
憂怖諸苦悩
如是悉充満
是諸罪衆生
以悪業因縁		u fu sho ku no
nyo ze shitsu ju man
ze sho zai shu jo
i aku go in nen
過阿僧祇劫
不聞三宝名
諸有修功徳
柔和質直者		ka a so gi ko
fu mon san bo myo
sho u shu ku doku
nyu wa shichi jiki sha
則皆見我身
在此而説法
或時為此衆
説仏寿無量		sok-kai ken ga shin
zai shi ni sep-po
waku ji i shi shu
setsu butsu ju mu ryo
久乃見仏者
為説仏難値
我智力如是
慧光照無量		ku nai ken bus-sha
i setsu butsu nan chi
ga chi riki nyo ze
e ko sho mu ryo
寿命無数劫
久修業所得
汝等有智者
勿於此生疑		ju myo mu shu ko
ku shu go sho toku
nyo to u chi sha
mot-to shi sho gi
当断令永尽
仏語実不虚
如医善方便
為治狂子故		to dan ryo yo jin
butsu go jip-pu ko
nyo i zen ho ben
i ji o shi ko
実在而言死
無能説虚妄
我亦為世父
救諸苦患者		jitsu zai ni gon shi
mu no sek-ko mo
ga yaku i se bu
ku sho ku gen sha
為凡夫顛倒
実在而言滅
以常見我故
而生憍恣心		i bon bu ten do
jitsu zai ni gon metsu
i jo ken ga ko
ni sho kyo shi shin
放逸著五欲
墮於悪道中
我常知衆生
行道不行道		ho itsu jaku go yoku
da o aku do chu
ga jo chi shu jo
gyo do fu gyo do
随応所可度
為説種種法
毎自作是念
以何令衆生		zui o sho ka do
i ses-shu ju ho
mai ji sa ze nen
i ga ryo shu jo
得入無上道
速成就仏身		toku nyu mu jo do
soku jo ju bus-shin

P.S. I’ve been posting a lot of Japanese-Buddhist liturgy from various sources, and this is the last one I will post for a while. The ones I have posted so far on the blog cover the most common sutra chants, so anyone curious to get started in a tradition (or rediscover a tradition) should hopefully find what they need. Good luck!

Chanting the “Hobenpon”: Chapter Two of the Lotus Sutra

The Lotus Sutra, one of the most important sutras of Mahayana Buddhism, is the size of an epic novel, and thus much too large to recite cover to cover. Even reciting a single chapter can be daunting because each chapter contains a large narrative section, and one or more verse sections that recap the narrative.

For this reason, certain verse sections have become popular for chanting because they get to the heart of the Lotus Sutra and convey its essential teachings, in a manageable size.

Popular examples (among others) include the Kannon Sutra, the verse section of chapter 16, and the opening secction of chapter 2. Both are actively recited in Nichiren and Tendai sect home services. Today we will focus on the opening section of chapter 2, called the hōbenpon (方便品) in Japanese.

Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra introduces the concept of Expedient Means (Sanskrit upāya), the idea (alluded to in earlier Buddhists texts) that the Buddha’s teachings and practices are flexible and meant to accommodate the capacity of the follower, guiding them along until they reach the ultimate truth (e.g. Enlightenment). Later, the chapter leans on this concept to further teach that any effort along the Buddhist path is not wasted, and every bit counts. But the chant above is for the just the opening section, which teaches that full Enlightenment is a deeply profound concept, but something only the Buddhas can truly understand between one another, so it’s a pretty lofty goal (e.g. that’s why the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas do what they can to help).

“Shariputra, ever since I attained Buddhahood, I have widely expounded my teachings through many stories of past relationships and many parables, and by countless means have led the people to renounce all their attachments.”

Translation by Burton Watson

Let’s move on now to the liturgy itself.

Liturgical Language

Because this is a chant used in Japanese Nichiren and Tendai traditions, among others, I am posting it as-is in Japanese, more specifically Sino-Japanese: the original Classical Chinese that it was recorded in, but with historical Japanese pronunciation. You are welcome to recite in English, or any other language, there is no restriction.

For this liturgical text, I relied on a few sources, plus I double-checked the spellings using physical sutra books I have at home. I am fairly certain it’s accurate.

Also, I formatted the text similar to how it is formatted in real service books.

Translation

I decided not to post the translation side-by-side with the text, the way I do with the Heart Sutra and such. This is due to formatting reasons on the blog, plus also length of the text makes this more difficult. I may revise this later.

For now, I highly recommend checking out a modern translation here by the excellent Dr Burton Watson. The Buddhist Text Translation Society also has an excellent translation here. The chant below is the first narrative section that goes all the way to the first verse section.

Disclaimer and Legal Info

I hereby release this into the public domain. Please use it as you see fit, but if you attribute it to this site, greatly appreciated. Also, please bear in mind this is an amateur work, and should not be taken too seriously.

Dedication

I dedicate this effort to all sentient beings everywhere. May all beings be well, and may they all attain perfect peace.

Namu Shakamuni Buddha

The Lotus Sutra second chapter, opening section

Preamble

Original ChineseJapanese Romanization
妙法蓮華経
方便品第二		Myo ho ren ge kyo
ho ben pon dai ni

Verse Section

Original ChineseJapanese Romanization
爾時世尊
従三昧
安詳而起
告舎利弗		Ni ji se son
ju san mai
an jo ni ki
go sha ri hotsu
諸仏智慧
甚深無量
其智慧門
難解難入		sho buc-chi e
jin jin mu ryo
go chi e mon
nan ge nan nyu
一切声聞
辟支仏
所不能知
所以者何		is-sai sho mon
hyaku shi butsu
sho fu no chi
sho i sha ga
仏曾親近
百千万億
無数諸仏
尽行諸仏。		butsu zo shin gon
hyaku sen man noku
mu shu sho butsu
jin gyo sho butsu
無量道法
勇猛精進
名称普聞
成就甚深		mu ryo do ho
yu myo sho jin
myo sho fu mon
jo ju jin jin
未曾有法
随宜所説
意趣難解
舎利弗		mi zo u ho
zui gi sho setsu
i shu nan ge
sha ri hotsu
吾従成仏已来
種種因縁
種種譬諭
広演言教		go ju jo buc-chi rai
shu ju in nen
shu ju hi yu
ko en gon kyo
無数方便
引導衆生
令離諸著
所以者何		mu shu ho ben
in do shu jo
ryo ri sho jaku
sho i sha ga
如来方便
知見波羅蜜
皆已具足
舎利弗		nyo rai ho ben
chi ken ha ra mitsu
kai i gu soku
sha ri hotsu
如来知見
広大深遠
無量無礙
力無所畏		nyo rai chi ken
ko dai jin non
mu ryo mu ge
riki mu sho i
禅定解脱三昧
深入無際
成就一切
未曾有法		zen jo ge das-san mai
jin nyu mu sai
jo ju is sai
mi zo u ho
舎利弗
如来能種種分別
巧説諸法
言辞柔軟		sha ri hotsu
nyo rai no shu ju fun betsu
gyo ses-sho ho
gon ji nyu nan
悦可衆心
舎利弗
取要言之
無量無辺		ek ka shu shin
sha ri hotsu
shu yo gon shi
mu ryo mu hen
未曾有法
仏悉成就
止舎利弗
不須復説		mi zo u ho
bus-shitsu jo ju
shi sha ri hotsu
fu shu bu setsu
所以者何
仏所成就
第一希有
難解之法		sho i sha ga
bus-sho jo ju
dai ichi ke u
nan ge shi ho
唯仏与仏
乃能究尽
諸法実相		yui butsu yo butsu
nai no ku jin
sho ho jis-so

Conclusion

(note: at least in some Nichiren traditions, this part is repeated 3 times. I am unclear if this is also done in the Tendai tradition.)

Original ChineseJapanese Romanization
所謂諸法
如是相
如是性
如是体
如是力
如是作
如是因
如是縁
如是果
如是報
如是本
末究竟等		sho i sho ho
nyo ze so
nyo ze sho
nyo ze tai
nyo ze riki
nyo ze sa
nyo ze in
nyo ze en
nyo ze ka
nyo ze ho
nyo ze hon
ma ku kyo to

Dharani for the Prevention of Disaster

The dharani below is the Dharani for the Prevention of Calamity, or shōsaishu (消災呪), called more formally the shōsaimyōkichijō darani (消災妙吉祥陀羅尼). It is used in both Rinzai and Soto Zen traditions as a general-protection “spell”.1 I assume the intention is to protect the Zen disciple so that they can reduce obstructions on their path, similar to prayers to the Medicine Buddha in other traditions.

Before we share the dharani, let’s talk about mantras vs. dharani in Buddhism. Both belong to the esoteric traditions of “Vajrayana Buddhism”, (e.g. Tibetan Buddhism, and Shingon/Tendai Buddhism in Japan). My experience is limited, but I believe that mantras usually have layers of deeper and deeper meaning that a disciple explores in the esoteric path, while dharani do not. Instead, dharani are more like tools, simple “spells”1 or chants to provide a specific benefit. Mantras might provide also a benefit, but that’s not their sole purpose in the esoteric tradition.

Also, non-esoteric traditions in Buddhism will sometimes cherry-pick ones that they feel are useful, some more than others.2 Sometimes mantras and dharani are used for very specific liturgical purposes, others are chanted as part of normal service.

In any case, the Dharani for the Prevention of Calamity is regularly chanted three times in Rinzai Zen liturgies. I am less clear how it’s used in Soto Zen.

An example of the recitation is below from the Soto Zen tradition:

The dharani has a couple versions, one used in the Soto Zen sect, and another used by Rinzai. I’ve included both versions below.

LanguageDharani Text
Sanskritnamaḥ samanta-buddhānām apratihata-śāsanānāṃ tadyathā oṃ kha kha khā hi khā hi hūṃ hūṃ jvala jvala prajvala prajvala tiṣṭhā tiṣṭhā ṣṭri ṣṭri sphaṭ sphaṭ śāntika śrīye svāhā
Classical Chinese曩謨 三滿哆 母駄喃 阿盋囉底 賀哆舍 娑曩喃 怛姪他 唵 佉 佉 佉呬 佉呬 吽 吽 入嚩囉 入嚩囉 盋羅入嚩羅 盋羅入嚩羅 底瑟姹 底瑟姹 瑟致哩 瑟致哩 娑發吒 娑發吒 扇底迦 室哩曳 娑嚩訶
Soto Zen versionのーもーさんまんだー　もとなん　おはらーちー　ことしゃー　そのなん　とーじーとー　えん　ぎゃーぎゃーぎゃーきー　ぎゃーきー　うんぬん　しふらー　しふらー　はらしふらー　はらしふらー　ちしゅさー　ちしゅさー　ちしゅりー　ちしゅりー　そはじゃー　そはじゃー　せんちーぎゃー　しりえー　そーもーこー
Japanese Romanization of Soto Zen versionNO MO SAN MAN DA MO TO NAN O HA RA CHI KO TO SHA SO NO NAN TO JI TO EN GYA GYA GYA KI GYA KI UN NUN SHI FU RA SHI FU RA HARA SHI FU RA HARA SHI FU RA CHI SHU SA CHI SHU SA CHI SHU RI CHI SHU RI SO WA JA SO WA JA SEN CHI GYA SHI RI EI SO MO KO
Rinzai Zen versionなむさんまんだー　もとなん　おはらーちー　ことしゃー　そのなん　とーじーとー　えん　ぎゃーぎゃーぎゃーきー　ぎゃーきー　うんぬん　しふらー　しふらー　はらしふらー　はらしふらー　ちしゅさー　ちしゅさー　しゅしりー　しゅしりー　そはじゃー　そはじゃー　せちーぎゃー　しりえー　そーもーこー
Japanese
Romanization of Rinzai version		NA MU SAN MAN DA MO TO NAN O HA RA CHI KO TO SHA SO NO NAN TO JI TO EN GYA GYA GYA KI GYA KI UN NUN SHI FU RA SHI FU RA HA RA SHI FU RA HA RA SHI FU RA CHI SHU SA CHI SHU SA SHU SHI RI SHU SHI RI SO WA JA SO WA JA SE CHI GYA SHI RI EI SO MO KO

1 I am not sure what else to call it. Dharani use Sanskrit words that are chanted to provide a concrete benefit. If there was a meaning originally, it’s obscure now. I wish I could use a more suitable word for this, but there’s nothing in English I can use that doesn’t sound like a Harry Potter episode.

2 the Pure Land tradition usually doesn’t use mantras or dharani. One could argue the nembutsu is something similar, but that’s a story for another post.