Hi Byrd,

Thanks for this write-up. It's fun to reminesce about how everything went.

BTW, Hokkekyo means literally "Dharma Flower Sutra." In English the short form of Wonderful Dharma Lotus Flower Sutra is just "Lotus Sutra" but in Japan they way Hokkekyo or "Dharma Flower Sutra." So that is why those syllables get emphasized.

Also, there is a bird called the Japanese Bush Warbler that actually sings Hokkekyo. It's pretty cool:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Bush_Warbler

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,
Ryuei

Thanks for the correction, Michael - I changed it in the text of the piece.

Yer pal in LA, Byrd

I have never been able to chant Namu-myoho-renge-kyo. Just doesn't sound right to me. When I try I end up dragging out kyo to fill up the space to get to what seems to me the right rhythm. I have chanted with drums though (with priests at Taisekiji). It was very cool.

Hey, you guys might really like this site..
http://www.hkartclub.com/old_book/oldbook01.html

Vanya, its not how it feels, or how it sounds, but Nichiren wrote always wrote and chanted and said Nam Mu..if you want to follow what he did, then don't make an issue of a non-issue, that is what I have always said. Everyone else goes nuts to say NAM is ok, but that is altering Nam Mu to NAM, go ahead, but you are changing what Nichiren wrote. Its like altering a prescription saying, I couldn't say it, so I asked the Drug store for something else.

Everyone always wants to dump on the messenger, makes life much easier, hope you enjoy the web site, and you can download all the pages of the sutra, pretty darn cool.
Bruce

Vanya - just give Namu one beat, as you would "butsu" in gongyo. As you chant faster and faster, the "mu" drops off.

It might seem strange at first. It did to me after chanting Nam for 23 years. But, eventually I got the rhythm of it. Chanting with others helps a lot, just as it does with learning to recite the sutra.

I like the way we chanted at the retreat, first with a slow beat, then increasing the tempo, then dropping back to a slow beat again. Quite invigorating!

Something else that was cool was chanting the sutra in English.

Bruce, you have no way of knowing how Nichiren chanted.

Michael chants Namu, I know, that was not my point, he always has. My point was that everyone wanted to make an issue of Nam and Namu and there never was one.

Nichiren wrote every mandala with Nam Mu.. he could have wrote Nam.. but he didn't, he wrote Nam Mu..

Nichiren could have chanted Nam.. but he didn't he chanted Nam Mu...

Later in the Muromachi period they dropped or swallowed the (mu) from the Japanese language, something like not saying K in Knife, but that is not the same with Chinese characters, as you found out when you wrote Kanji. Those characters meant something, especially for Nichiren.

So, he was not thinking of the Zen "mu", each character represented a Buddha in the mind of Nichiren, Nam Mu was more than just "I devote" it was part of the Lotus Sutra. I am not Nichiren, I cannot understand why he wrote Nam Mu, and would not dare to alter what he wrote.

Why would someone like Jose Toda think he should alter Nam Mu into Nam for the SGI crazy. So, when Bruce says, you should chant Nam Mu.. everyone goes berserk, ballistic and nuclear because they want to continue Nam, and will make every excuse and use damage control looking for away to make Toda and Ikeda correct.

My point is that you should not drop one of the sacred Kanji, one of the Buddha, and in the Zoho period Tendai was a nut case for being precise and pronouncing each word, and wouldn't have tolerated anyone dropping the MU or the 500 mile per hour gongyo some of the sects do, or even reciting in a different language so you don't know the meaning.

Just trying to logical without yelling,
truthful with a smile. No one has done the amount of shakubuku for the Lotus Sutra that I have, and I will continue to do so, it is my pleasure. Its a joy. When people are headed for a bridge that is out, my way is to warn them.. HEY THE BRIDGE IS OUT.. some let the people go and fall into the river.. it harder to pull them out, everyone gets wet, some drown, you gotta call the life guards, the coast guard, ohh what a mess, the news comes out, homeland security, then Bush comes out for a camera opp.. see, I am just doing my job ma'am.

Michele my Belle,
Bruce

The retreat was great and it was nice to chant in english. Next time I'd like to chant more daimoku and do more silent sitting. Seemed like we spent alot of time opening and closing the sutras with various invocations and responsive readings. I would put at least one concentrated hour of daimoku chanting and at least one half hour of concentrated silent sitting would on the agenda each day, when we do this again.

I think we learned alot about how to organize something like this so that next time it'll go more smoothly.

All in all though a great experience. Thanks to all for helping us to open the eyes of the new house, so to speak.

Bill

I'm not sure why we didn't chant more daimoku. I'd like to chant more daimoku, too.

When we were at the San Jose Nichiren Shu Temple in April, we chanted a full hour, all the while beating on the drums, which I found very meditative. I didn't find grocery list thoughts other extraneous thoughts occurring while doing that. It seemed to me that I was totally concentrating on the daimoku itself.

I also like Shodaigyo meditation followed by daimoku and more meditation. Twenty minutes of meditation is fine with me, but definitely more daimoku.