Happy Holidays everyone,
If anyone reading this is in the Bay Area, I would like to invite you to attend the Bodhi Day celebration this Sunday December 6th at the San Jose Temple at 10 am. Bodhi Day is the celebration of the Buddha's enlightenment day. Actually it is reckoned in Japan as December 8th, but we will be doing it this Sunday.
If you are not anywhere near a temple and therefore cannot experience a temple service with shomyo (liturgical hymns) and candlelight and other such things, then for you I'd like to share a version of the Buddha's Enlightenment Day (December 8th in the Japanese reckoning) ceremony that you can use at home.
The following refers to the pages of the Dharma book put out by the NBIC. The special Invocation and Final Prayer are taken from a rough translation of the ones that are basic in Nichiren Shu. Now this is not the complete ceremony. The complete ceremony incorporates a lot of Shomyo (special East Asian liturgical hymns), and in a temple (like at San Jose) we will incorporate things like the lighting of candles and such). But again this is only for if you are not near a temple:
Bodhi Day Service
Bowing to the Three Treasures p. 2
Three Treasures p. 3
Invocation p. 5 and/or the following:
Special Praise
We most humbly consider Siddhartha, the Prince of King Shuddhodana of Kapilavastu in Central India, who observed aging, sickness, death, and that all conditioned things are impermanent, and then sought for the wondrous goal of emancipation. At the age of 29 he left his home. From that time on he made great efforts in seeking the Way by visiting spiritual sages and taking up ascetic practices for six years. However, these could not resolve the problem of impermanence and suffering. Turning from them, he sat on the Vajra Dharma Throne under the Bodhi Tree at Uruvela near Bodhgaya by the bank of the Nairanjana River to meditate and enter samadhi. This happened when he was 35. Although the Devil King Mara used various forms of temptation and intimidation he was able to overcome them all. He considered the four noble truths, the eightfold path, and dependent origination both backwards and forwards. On the dawn of December 8th at the first light of the morning star he attained complete perfect awakening. How can we praise him enough? How can we praise him enough? Hail to Eternally Awakened Original Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha.
Verses for Opening the Sutra p. 9
Chapter 2 p. 15 (or 11)
Chapter 16 p. 40 (or 35)
Recitation of Odaimoku
Difficulty of Retaining the Sutra p. 66
Special Prayer:
Today we celebrate the attainment of awakening by Shakyamuni Buddha, our most venerable teacher, by respectfully decorating the altar, offering incense, flowers, candle light, tea, sweets, and food. In the right way we show our deep respect. We respectfully follow this wonderful practice. In all these ways we do all we can to celebrate this momentous occasion in the life of the Buddha.
We most humbly consider the accumulation of the merit of the true practice of the Bodhisattva that fills the Dharma realms of the ten directions. The accumulated virtue of the Buddha stage’s fruition of awakening spreads over all like the heaven of the highest truth. The compassionate vow of “I am always thinking” never stops. The loving thought of “How shall I cause all living beings” is without bias. Observing the time and discerning the capacity, his transformations are limitless. Stored within him is the secret doctrine of the revelation of the origin in the Life Span [chapter]. Covering up his light and hiding his virtue in order to care for the capacity of sentient beings he sat upright for six years. He showed the principle of returning the favor of a holy monk to ordinary monks. He considered the five periods and eight teachings that would lead people to maturity and the harvest buddhahood. In addition to that, he laid the foundation for the sowing of the seed of buddhahood in the Latter Age. We cannot imagine the greatness of his favor and the enormity of his virtue. We have determined to protect and uphold the True Dharma without sparing our lives. We offer that determination as a millionth of our repayment of that favor. May we encounter the sacred phrase, “That old vow of mind has now been fulfilled” and receive the wondrous benefit of “I once vowed that I would cause all living beings to become exactly as I am.” (p. 37 of the Lotus Sutra) “Your face is most wonderful. Your light illumined the worlds of the ten quarters. I once made offerings to you. Now I have come to see you again.” (p. 302) We appreciate your great compassion and great loving-kindness.
[Other prayers here]
May the merits we have accumulated by this offering be distributed among all living beings, and may we and all other living beings attain the enlightenment of the Buddha.
May all the Dharma-realms equally benefit.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo
Four Great Vows p. 78
If you don't have the Dharma book but instead have the Sacred Services of Nichiren Shu then just use the equivalents of the things above. Basically just do what you usually do for a service but use the Special Praise and the Special Prayer above.
Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei
How did the celebration go?
Posted by: Nancy at December 8, 2009 11:00 AMI will be copying this recitation tonight as my own celebration; thank you. Today was a work day and a busy one and I was sluggish this morning and did not chant and felt out of balance all day. Reading this helped, and happy holidays to you and your loved ones, too :)
Posted by: Letty at December 8, 2009 10:44 PMDEAR SENSEI RYUEI,
TODAY HAS BEEN AN EYE OPENER FOR ME I'VE PUT THE FIRST STEPS FORWARD TO ACTUALLY START LIVING THE REST OF MY LIFE.
THAT MAY SOUND STRANGE BUT I HAVE BECOME SO UN HEALTHY IN SO MANY WAYS I HAVE FINALLY HIT MY SPIRITUAL BOTTOM I GUESS.
THIS WEEK I PRACTICED SAYING ODAIMOKU WITH SOUL AND WOW WOW WOWO. I JUST READ YOUR ARTICLE ON ODAIMOKU AS HUA-T'OU. SOOOOOOOOO TRUE I'M STILL GLAD I WAS A LEAST HANGING ON TO THE ROPE FOR SO MANY UNCERTAIN YEARS.
I REALIZE YOU DON'T KNOW WHO IN THE WORLD OF SMALL THROATED GHOST'S I AM BUT I NEED TO ALLOW THE ROPE TO PULL ME UP FROM THERE. LOL NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT AND ALL THAT.
I STILL HAVE TO DIG MYSELF OUT TO SET UP MY ALTER AND HAVE A SACRED PLACE AGAIN TO PRAY AND FOCUS MY ENERGY.
SUCESS IS NOT WHAT IT USED TO BE IN MY MIND NOW THANK GOODNESS FOR THAT.
I WILL BE MAKING MY FIRST TRIP TO A NICHERIN-SHU SHANGA IN THE SPRING
IN MASS. I AM SO LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS.
I THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR EFFORTS IN TRANSLATING THE CANNON FROM PALI TO A MORE VISABLE INTAKE TO THE WESTERN MIND.
I FEEL LIKE THIS IS YOUR MISSION.
I LOVE BUDDHIST HISTORY AND BUDDHIST ART AND I LIKE TO LOOK AT ALL SIDE OF THE BUDDHIST EXPERIENCE.
I FEEL LIKE MY OWN RELATIONSHIP WITH NICHIREN BEGAN LONG AGO IN THE ARMS OF MY GRANFATHER WHO NAMED ALL HIS CHILDREN IN THE STYLE OF JAPANESE NICHIREN BUDDHIST TEACHING.
I WAS RAISED CATHOLIC BUT NICHIREN KEPT BEING WOVEN I AND OUT OF MY VIEW. JEHOVAH PEOPLE WOULD COME TO THE DOOR OF OUR HOUSE AND MY GRANDFATHER WOULD SPEAK OF NICHIREN AND SMILE AS THEY LEFT FUSTRATED BY HIS ARGUEMENTS IN BROKEN ENGLISH.
LATER IN MY TWENTIES MY MOTHER RAN INTO A GROUP OF SHOSHU FOLKS WHO TURNED HER ON TO CHANTING. WELL SHE HAD HEARD OF NICHIREN BEFORE SO THIS WAS NOT A TOTALLY NEW NAME IN THE SCHEME OF THINGS. SO WHEN SHE KEPT AT ME TO TRY THIS GREAT NEW THING I WAS RELUCTANT, BUT NOT SURPRISED REALLY THAT IT MADE PERFECT SENSE TO SOME REAL PART OF ME DEEP INSIDE.
SO AFTER REBELLING AGAINST THE POLITICS OF SGI I KNEW THERE HAD TO BE THAT KERNEL OF TRUTH OUTSIDE OF SG THAT I STILL BELIEVED IN AND THEN LAST YEAR I DISCOVERED NICHIREN-SHU EXISTED.
PERHAPS MY GF WHO NEVER HEARD OF SGI BUT KNEW VERY WELL ABOUT NICHERIN WAS HITTING ME IN THE HEAD AT THAT MOMENT.
WELL TOMORROW IS THE START OF A NEW LIFE SO I MUST RETIRE TO SLEEP TO FACE THE NEW DAY.
THANKS FOR ALL YOUR WORK. I CAN SOOTHE MY UNHEALTHY SPIRIT AND HOPEFULLY SAVE MY UNHEALTHY PHYSICAL SELF FROM MORE DETERIORATION BY DOING THE RIGHT THING EACH DAY STARTING WITH AND ENDING WITH A FOCUSED DIAMOKU AND MEDITATION.
PS: I KNOW KNOW WHO THE RYUEI IS ON THE NICHIREN YAHOO GROUP SITE. PLEASED TO MEET YOU
WITH GASSHO
NAMU-MYOHO-RENGE-KYO
LIN ISHIKAWA.