Attended Sunday online services performed by Ryusho Jeffus Shonin at Myosho-ji in Charlotte, NC.

In the year that I have been attending Nichiren Shu services in Sacramento, San Jose and online with Myosho-ji and Houston’s Myoken-ji, I’ve come to appreciate the rituals. In fact, it was the lack rituals that pushed me away from my former practice and toward Nichiren Shu.

Today’s Dharma talk following the service was on the topic of rituals. The text of the talk is online in Ryusho Shonin’s blog here. In it, he explains:

Today when needing to go some place we are unfamiliar with we reach for the GPS device and program in the destination and following the directions we arrive. We think nothing of doing this, it is ordinary, it is reasonable. We do the same thing in our religious practice. We decide upon a destination, whether it is heaven or enlightenment. Then we find an appropriate GPS device and follow the directions provided. In religious practice, we replace our electronic GPS device with the instructions of previous travelers, such as teachers who have laid out a map for us to use as travel instructions.

He goes on to explain that rituals serve to open a window of opportunity. I personally see this when I pledge myself to the Three Treasures – the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. The rituals are the acts that manifest this in my life.

As Ryusho Shonin writes, whether daily practice or Sunday ritual:

As we chant the sutra and the Odaimoku we, even if briefly, suspend our intellect to make space for the spirit to emerge and connect with the heart of the Lotus Sutra. Our practice connects us to the Eternal Buddha and helps us create a life where that Eternal Buddha manifests in daily life.”