Journey of the Path to Righteousness, p 60-61[In the Shodaigyo ceremoney we offer] Kigangyo (Prayer)
With reverence, we offer up the merits we have accumulated through the chanting of the Odaimoku so that, in doing so, we may receive the greatest of compassion through the transcendental powers of the Original Buddha.
For all people we uphold this universal Dharma-teaching of equality that benefits all. We deeply vow to diligently strive for the improvement of both our societies and ourselves, as well as to diligently strive for the achievement of world peace. We pray that all people throughout the four corners of the world may return their lives to the Eternal Buddha’s Pure Land through the Wonderful Dharma of Myōhō Renge Kyō.
Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō
We pray that each and every family member, as well as our benefactors and our friends, all live in accordance with the True Dharma. We pray they all enjoy good health in both body and mind. May they increase their understanding of the Buddha’s wisdom, expiate their past transgressions, do good deeds, and lead a virtuous life. May they learn to respect each other. We pray that they embrace the correct practice of Buddhism, perform virtuous work, assiduously improve themselves, and achieve family happiness. May they all obtain the eternal peace and happiness. We pray that all beings, as well as myself, will awaken to the true nature of reality, which is the Buddha nature, and that we all will attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.
Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō
We pray for all of the deceased: for the spirits of our ancestors, for all those who have formed a relationship with the Buddha, and for all those who have not. May you all follow the benevolent life of the Tathagata. May you cross the ocean of suffering, reach the further shore and attain Buddhahood.
May the merits we have accumulated through this deep offering of prayer be distributed equally among all living beings. May we all attain the enlightenment of the Buddha. May all the Dharma Realms equally benefit all.
Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō
Category Archives: Shodaigyo
Kigan Eko
Journey of the Path to Righteousness, p 62-63Our Kigan (Aspiration) Eko (Prayer) [in the Shodaigyo ceremony] is comprised of three components:
First is So (All) Gan (Wish): Prayer for All People. What is Sogan? It is the prayer of common interest: a general prayer for anybody, anywhere, anytime. In a phrase: “Pray for World Peace.” Kenji Miyazawa, acclaimed Japanese poet and author (and adherent of the Lotus Sutra), once said, “Until we achieve world peace, individual happiness will never be present.” This is our spirit of Sogan.
Betsu (Specific) Gan (Wish) is individual prayer. It is so because we each aspire to live in a world of peace. We must all strongly assume our individual roles in manifesting this aspiration. For example, if you aspire to create a connection with Sogan, then pray for a healthy body for helping others if you are not healthy enough to help others, or pray to be accepted into a better school for obtaining more knowledge or skills to help others. Doing so allows you to achieve your own personal aspirations through the prayers of others.
As example, in practicing Shodaigyo with many people, there will be both healthy and unhealthy individuals participating. Pray for all those in attendance. This is indicative of how our prayers should be.
Zenkon Kudoku
Journey of the Path to Righteousness, p 63-64Tsuizen (Memorial Service) Eko (Prayer) “We pray for the spirits of our ancestors, for those who have formed a relationship with Buddha, and for all those who have not: May they all follow the benevolent life of the Tathagata.” The meaning of this is Zenkon (Good Roots) Kudoku (Virtues). Practicing Shodaigyo, we have accumulated much merit that we now send to the spirits of our ancestors and to all of the deceased. We say, “May you all follow the benevolent life of the Tathagata.” In daily life you may say, “I have some extra money at the moment. You are in need. Let me please help you.” In the same context, we send our bountiful merits garnered from our practice to the deceased. This is what is meant by Zenkon Kudoku.
Interpreting the Four Great Vows
Journey of the Path to Righteousness, p 66-67After the Eko (Prayer) [in the Shodaigyo ceremony], the Four Great Vows are recited. Regarding the Four Great Vows, most members of Buddhist communities recite these Four Great Vows as a Buddhist maxim (code of truth and conduct). A simple explanation of The Four Great Vows is the following:
“There are innumerable people in this world, yet, if but only one person is suffering, let me save them from that suffering.” And as I save them from that suffering, so must we relinquish the defilements that are the foundation of that suffering.
“There are inexhaustible defilements, let us relinquish them all.” To relinquish the defilements, so must we understand the teachings of Buddha nature and all things of this world.
“There are immeasurable teachings, let us know them all.” In doing so, all people throughout the world will, also then, recite this same declaration before the Three Treasures.
“The way of the Buddha is preciously unexcelled, let us therefore advance on the way of the Buddha and become a Buddha ourselves. And let us build a world of goodness.”
Kie
Journey of the Path to Righteousness, p 67-68[In the Shodaigyo practice], Kie is recited: “With this Body, Until I attain Buddhahood, I will uphold my faith in the Lotus Sutra.”
This brief, but heartfelt, pledge profoundly expresses the following silent vow:
“We vow to attain the supreme life of Buddha just as we are, even though our circumstances are that of a common mortal. Though we may transmigrate throughout eternity, we will nonetheless continue to bear possession of this Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō and nothing more. Though unworthy of such, our wish is to live in the realm of the Buddha with the Buddha, that is to become a Buddha ourselves. As we can only achieve this aspiration through the five and seven characters of Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, we sincerely renew this vow but once again.”
Perfecting Shodaigyo Practice
Yesterday I completed the third week of the Enkyoji Buddhist Network’s online classes. This week dealt with Shodaigyo, the Nichiren Shu alternative to the traditional sutra chanting service. Shodaigyo eschews shindoku and instead combines seated meditation and chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō. The simplicity of this format makes it an excellent vehicle for introducing the Daimoku to people unfamiliar with Buddhism.
The practice was established by Japanese Nichiren Shu Bishop Nichijun Yukawa in 1947. The fundamentals of Shodaigyo practice are detailed in Journey of the Path to Righteousness, an English translation by Rev. Shogen Kumakura, head priest of New York Daiseion-ji, of the most critical section of Rev. Tairyu Gondo’s manual on the liturgy of the Shodai-gyo, Chapter One: The Heart of Shodaigyo – The Manners and Practice.
The reason for the development of this form of practice is detailed in the brief Introduction:
It is not easy for the practitioner to maintain a seriousness of heart for the most assiduous practice of chanting the Odaimoku. This being so, a variety of earlier methodologies for the practitioner have been taken into consideration for quite some time. The current form of Shodaigyo was developed from a foundation of those earlier methodologies. Today, this evolved form of Shodaigyo is practiced in Nichiren temples throughout the country of Japan and now around the world. Archbishop Nichijun Yukawa, my Sensei (mentor) and the founder of Gudo Dougan-Kai (The Association of the Same Wish for Those Seeking the Way), was the developer of this modern form of Shodaigyo. He propagated this current Shodaigyo form throughout Japan until he was until he was 93 years old.
“Shodaigyo is to chant the Odaimoku intently, staring deeply into the heart of the Self, in identification of the purified mind.”
Journey of the Path to Righteousness, p 2-3
I was previously introduced to the practice of Shodaiqyo at the four-day Enkyoji Buddhist Network 2017 Summer Retreat at the Seattle Choeizan Enkyoji Nichiren Buddhist Temple.
The pamphlet developed by the Enkyoji Network is available here.
Shodaigyo is sometimes combined with Reidan Daimoku Hand Gestures. You can read about those here.
For the next 25 days I’m going to postpone my quotes from Vasubandhu’s Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, and instead post quotes from Journey of the Path to Righteousness.
Book Quotes
Reidan Daimoku Hand Gestures
Today I attended Rev. Shoda Kanai’s online Shodaigyo practice at the Nichiren Buddhist Kannon Temple of Nevada. A special treat today was the incorporation of Reidan hand gestures during the Daimoku chanting.
I enjoyed the service and the sermon. I failed miserably at the hand gestures. I’m just terrible at that sort of thing. However, I’m going to see if I can incorporate the three cycles of six movements (see above illustration) as part of my regular daimoku. The six movements with their bad karma out, good fortune in meaning reminds of the earth trembling in six ways. As Nichiren writes:
Interpreting the earth trembling in six ways, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai states in his Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 3:
“The east is blue in color, and it controls the liver, which in turn controls the eyes. The west is white in color, and it controls the lungs, which in turn control the nose. Therefore, saying that the east was raised and the west was lowered means the rise of the merit of the eyes and the decrease in the worldly passions of the nose. In contrast, saying that the west was raised and the east was lowered means that the merit of the nose appears while the evil passions of the eyes decrease. Likewise, the rise and fall of the south and north and those of the center and the four directions mean either the appearance of merit or the decrease of evil passions in the ears and the tongue and in the mind and body respectively.”
Grand Master Miao-lê explains the above in his Annotations on the Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, “As the eyes and nose represent the east and west, the ears and tongue logically represent the south and north. The center is the mind and the four directions represent the body. The body is equipped with the four sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, and tongue) and the mind reacts to them all. Therefore, it is said that the body and mind rise and fall alternately.”
Zuisō Gosho, Writing on Omens, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Followers I, Volume 6, Page 121
I can’t decide whether Reidan hand movements remind me more of Patty Cake or Macarana.
Shodaigyo Practice
This last week I attended the four-day Enkyoji Buddhist Network 2017 Summer Retreat at the Seattle Choeizan Enkyoji Nichiren Buddhist Temple.
I’m not officially a member of this network. I chose to attend the retreat because I was interested in their efforts to promote propagation of Nichiren Shu Buddhism in America, something that no one else seems to be doing. Certainly no one is as focused on propagation as the Enkyoji Buddhist Network.
Before I continue I should note that the Enkyoji Buddhist Network is not a rogue group, but a recognized Nichiren Shu organization. Lots of information is available on their website EnkyojiBuddhistNetwork.org.
My new-found passion for propagation of Nichiren Shu Buddhism is one of the odd but telling things about my migration from Soka Gakkai to Nichiren Shu. In more than 25 years of Soka Gakkai membership I never felt comfortable saying more than “I’m a Buddhist.” I certainly didn’t want to do the sort of compulsory propagation encouraged in the late 1980s before Soka Gakkai’s split with Nichiren Shoshu. The lay-leader-led group meetings were never the sort of gatherings that I could invite, say, my boss to attend.
Now, however, I’m eager to tell people I’m a Nichiren Shu practitioner and invite people I meet in Sacramento to attend services at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church. But I’m also aware that dropping someone who knows little or nothing about Buddhism into the church’s regular Sunday service – not to mention the monthly Kaji Kito service – would do little more than overawe that person.
This is why I was so excited to learn at the retreat that the Enkyoji Buddhist Network, working with the Nichiren Shu propagation office in Japan, has developed a simple practice suitable for any level of practitioner.
This is an abbreviated Shodaigyo service. The original Shodaigyo service, which incorporates periods of silent sitting mediation with Odaimoku chanting, was designed by Bishop Nichijun Yukawa of the Nichiren Shu in the 1950s. (Here’s the traditional version of the service.)
From the brochure:
- Practice this program for a minimum of two weeks, with at least one session a day. You can further deepen your practice by setting a specific time daily in the morning and/or evening.
- Do not practice this program for a specific purpose such as quitting addictions or to acquire something. As this practice has been arranged in a very short format, attachments and distractions tend to arise easily if a specific goal is set.
- Think of this practice as an exercise for general well-being in order to taste the preciousness of life. If your well-being increases, the total well being of this world also increases. This is a very important concept in Nichiren Shu Buddhism.
- This program draws on more than 750-years of history in Nichiren Shu Buddhism as well as the 2500-year tradition of Buddhism as a whole. In the Enkyoji lineage of Nichiren Shu Buddhism, we believe that this traditional program will enrich your life on the way to attaining the Buddha’s enlightenment.
The tri-fold brochure is designed so that it can be used as the focus of the service with Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo on the center panel and the instructions for the 8 steps of the service arranged on either side.
Between Ryusho Jeffus Shonin’s 35-Day Practice Guide and Enkyoji Buddhist Network‘s Shodaigyo practice I’m ready to spread Nichiren Shu Buddhism everywhere I go.