I chanted for the fruit flies that they might be reborn as humans and encounter the Lotus Sutra in their next life, just as Priest Chingen explains in The Dainihonkoku Hokekyō.
The fruit flies were my only companions Thursday, Sept. 28, when I chanted the 28 chapters of the Lotus Sutra in shindoku at the Shoeizan Enkyoji Buddhist Temple of Rochester.
Each day my practice is to recite a portion of the Lotus Sutra in shindoku in the morning and then read aloud the same portion of the sutra in English. The first time that I chanted the entire Lotus Sutra in shindoku was on July 20, 2019, during my 21-day staycation retreat.
In May 2022 I uploaded recordings of Nichiren Shu priests chanting the Lotus Sutra. Since then, I’ve recited along with the recording when possible. When a chapter spans more than one day – chapters 1 and 2 for example – I follow along with the recording on the first half and then just recite from the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of Greater New England’s Myoho Renge Kyo Romanized on the next day.
Until this week I had never played the recordings for entire Lotus Sutra at one time.
I’ve been to Rochester, NY, on several occasions over the years and when visiting I routinely attend services. I had a free day this trip and decided to see if I could access the temple on a weekday. I was given the code to the lock box that holds the key to the temple and told I could visit any day.
I arrived Thursday at the Shoeizan Enkyoji Buddhist Temple on the fourth floor of the Hungerford Building on East Main in downtown Rochester at 8:15am. I set up a table and chair. I brought along a JBL Flip 6 portable speaker to play the shindoku recordings.
It was 8:30am when I started reciting Chapter 1, following along with the recording. I had decided to break up the chanting into eight parts, which is how the sutra was originally organized on scrolls, or fascicles. It was 9:39am when I finished chapters 1 and 2.
The first hour on the metal folding chair convinced me to find some floor pillows. I wasn’t going to make it through another seven fascicles without padding.
The second fascicle – chapters 3 and 4 – was uneventful but by the third fascicle – chapters 5, 6 and 7 – I found myself getting lost as I read along from the Myoho Renge Kyo Romanized. Mental focus has never been one of my strong points and as I tired I found myself often losing my place in Myoho Renge Kyo Romanized. When this happened I would search ahead for a place where I could jump back in. This time I became completely lost and decided to just restart the chapter. As I continued I constantly struggled to keep up and found myself often briefly lost. I had to repeat chapters in both the seventh and the last fascicle.
It was 6:28pm when I finished Chapter 28, The Encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva.
During the nearly 10 hours that I had been chanting, I became very attached to the fruit flies. They would stop for awhile and then fly off and then return again. I think I accidentally injured one when I brushed it off my arm in an instinctive reaction. But throughout the day I as I chanted I pondered what benefit the fruit flies would receive from having heard the Lotus Sutra recited. Would I meet them again in another life chanting the Lotus Sutra in another Miraculous Tale of the Lotus Sutra?