For several days I’ve wanted to write about my new supplemental service booklet I created but I keep getting distracted. Sanshō-shima.
My first attempt was sidetracked into an illustrated tour of my altar’s evolution.
When I started today I got distracted updating the booklet text to include macrons that had been dropped from several words.
So here I am again.
In the past 2000 days, my daily service has not evolved as much as my altar, but it has changed. For example, back in September 2015, I was chanting Daimoku an average 10 minutes each service. Today, it’s more like 20 minutes. Then I used a timer; now I have a ritual that includes counting 40 to 50 Daimoku while focusing on the Mandala Gohonzon, then 40 to 50 Daimoku on Śākyamuni, and then 40 to 50 Daimoku on Many Treasures and then 40 to 50 Daimoku on the Buddhas in Manifestation Throughout the Universe. Then I focus 40 to 50 Daimoku on Nichiren and then move on to my traveling altar, first the mandala amulet and then the Kishimojin amulet. (I count using my fingers, with four or five Daimoku for each finger depending on how many I can chant with one breath.) Then I greet each of the Seven Happy Gods, identifying each of them – e.g. Bishamon, Vaiśravaṇa, Heavenly King of the North, who represents Dignity – followed by three Daimoku. After I’ve identified all seven I repeat their features – Dignity, Honesty, Joy, Wisdom, Longevity, Happiness and Fortune – and three more Daimoku. I then focus three Dailmoku each on my deceased parents and stepmother and my wife’s parents. I finished by chanting while reading silently a portion of the Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Pages 56-57.
Since last summer, when I added the Seven Happy Gods to my altar, I have given each god it’s own day. In November last year, I settled on my present order – Monday, Bishamon; Tuesday, Ebisu; Wednesday, Benten; Thursday, Jurojin; Friday, Fukurokuju; Saturday, Hotei; and Sunday, Daikoku – and in March, I assigned each a character from Na Mu Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo.
These are not the only gods I’m including in my daily service. In January of last year I began offering a daily prayer for the 30 Guardian of he Lotus Sutra, Sanjubanshin. At the time there was a booklet you could buy with a page for each of the 30 deities, but that is no longer available.
Prayers for the daily Happy God and the daily guardian deity are said before my morning service.
What prompted the creation of my new supplemental service booklet was the desire to add a daily quote from Nichiren’s writing. I found the quotes in Raihai Seiten, a Nichiren Shu Service Book Companion compiled by the Los Angeles Nichiren Buddhist Temple’s Nichiren Shu Beikoku Sangha Association. This was compiled in 2001-2002 when Rev. Shokai Kanai was the head priest. I was able to purchase a copy of the booklet from Rev. Shokai Kanai’s son, Rev. Shoda Kanai, who is the head priest at the Nichiren Buddhist Kannon Temple of Nevada. The quotes are not the same as the A Phrase A Day booklet created in 1986.
I’ve created two PDF versions of the booklet. One is suitable for reading and the other is formatted to be printed on both sides of 8.5×11 paper.
PDF files updated April 2, 2021
For anyone who donates $20 or more to the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church, I will print out the booklet on my laser printer, fold and staple the pages, and mail the booklet to you. Forward a copy of your donation receipt to me at [email protected] along with your mailing address.