Chanting and Meditative Prayer
The recitation of mantras and prayers is an indispensable part of Shinnyo‑en’s daily spiritual practice that guides practitioners to strengthen their faith, establish and maintain a positive motivation in their lives, and to cultivate compassion for all living beings.
Humans instinctively understand the power of music. We’ve used music for millennia to mark important social rituals, and to connect with and express spirituality. Music has the ability to connect to our deepest memories or to evoke aspects of ourselves that are not tied to language. This makes it a potent force that we can use in our own practice.
In his teachings, Shinjo Ito, the founder of Shinnyo‑en, often spoke about the power of chanting as a form of meditation and prayer. All schools of Buddhism recognize the power that sound has to unite people and calm the mind. Prayers and mantras are recited throughout the Buddhist world as ways to touch upon our buddha nature. Chanting also acts as a form of meditation that can cut through ego-tainted perceptions and elevate our state of mind. With a consistent, daily practice of reflective chanting, many find that a gentle, genuine change begins to unfold in their lives.
The daily practice of chanting can be broken down into three parts:
Seeking Refuge
Turning to the Buddha, his teachings, and the spiritual community for spiritual refuge and setting a good motivation for the practice.
Chanting Prayers
The actual recitation of mantras, lines of teaching, and prayers to deepen our spiritual practice and strengthen our altruistic resolve.
Dedicating Merits
Selflessly offering the merit derived from the session to others with the wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all living beings.
Almost every Buddhist ceremony, meditation, or prayer, regardless of tradition, begins with calling the Buddha to mind and reciting the formula for seeking refuge in the three jewels: the Buddha, his teaching, and the community that preserves and passes these teachings down through practice. In Shinnyo‑en, practitioners reaffirm their commitment to the core precepts of ethical discipline and strengthen their resolve to awaken for the benefit of others. This ensures that their practice is founded on a pure motivation.
The mantras, lines of teaching, and prayers that practitioners actually chant as the main portion of a session differ according to the circumstances or purpose for the particular session. There are special prayers and mantras to offer food, drink, and merit to the spirits of those who have passed away; to purify spiritual and physical obstacles that hinder advancement in practice; or to invite the blessing of buddhas, bodhisattvas, and dharma protectors at the beginning of weighty undertakings. Shinnyo‑en practitioners typically recite a fixed set of mantras and prayers each day in the morning and again in the evening to fuel their practice and to inwardly cultivate goodness.
There are two chants that are recited during every session of chanting at Shinnyo‑en: the Goreiju and the Jojusan. The origins of the Goreiju came from a mantra of Achala, a wrathful representation of the immovable mind and determination of a buddha, which then Shinnyo‑en adopted with its own unique melody as a Shinnyo mantra. The Jojusan is a mantra in praise of ever-present buddhahood. In Shinnyo‑en, these two can be chanted by themselves whenever we feel the need for support, or intoned as part of a larger group of recitations in a specific order.
Shinnyo Mantra of Benevolence and Liberation (Shinnyo Jiku no Goreiju)
Nomaku sanmanda, basarada sendan makarosha-daya, sowataya un tara ta, kan man
Calling on shinnyo that nurtures all to awakening.
Praise of the Ever-Present (Jojusan)
Namu shinnyo
Taking refuge in representations of awakening, ever-present in our lives, that guide us to shinnyo.
For Buddhists, every session of chanting, meditation, or prayer typically ends with a prayer that the benefit, or merit, of our chanting will be shared with others. This humble and altruistic attitude toward spiritual practice is the foundation of Mahayana Buddhism, which includes Shinnyo Buddhism. What we call “merit transfer” involves empathizing with the plight of others and offering help through the gifts that we possess. The prayer is a compassionate affirmation of our buddha nature.
The three parts of a session of chanting—setting a pure motivation, praying to strengthen our inner qualities, and dedicating the merit of those efforts to the benefit of all—work on a deep, unconscious level of the mind. This reorients the psyche towards the boundless loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity that characterize our buddha nature. The special chants used at Shinnyo‑en can relieve a pained heart and mind and grant renewed energy. Healing our hurts, relieving personal pains, developing resolve, arriving at a point where we feel ready to take a step forward—these are the prerequisites for progress in spiritual practice. The simple practice of chanting has profound power that we should never underestimate.
Beginning Prayers
The Three Bows (Sanrai)
Namu shinnyo ichinyo to totoki mihotoke o nenji tatematsuruZangi zange rokkon zaisho metsujo bonno metsujo gosshoOm, saraba tatagyata, hanna mannano kyaromi
Expressing our intent to be in oneness with shinnyo and prepare our minds for spiritual practice.
Praise (Sō Rai Mon)
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma-sambuddhassa
Expressing praise to all awakened ones.
The Threefold Refuge (San Kie Mon)
Buddham saranam gacchamiDhammam saranam gacchamiSangham saranam gacchamiDutiyampi Buddham … Dhammam … Sangham …Tatiyampi Buddham … Dhammam … Sangham
Expressing our intent to seek refuge in the Three Jewels of Buddha, Dharma, Sangha.
The Five Precepts (Go Kai Mon)
Panatipata veramani sikkhapadam samadiyamiAdinnadana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyamiKamesu miccha-chara veramani sikkhapadam samadiyamiMusavada veramani sikkhapadam samadiyamiSura-meraya-majja-pamadatthana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
Expressing our intentions to engage in conduct that is morally in line with the Buddha’s teachings and avoid killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, and intoxication.
Middle Prayers
The Sandai
Namu Shinnyo Ichinyo Dai Hatsu-Nehan KyoNamu Shinnyo Ichinyo Dai Hatsu-Nehan KyoNamu Shinnyo Ichinyo Dai Hatsu-Nehan Kyo
Meditating on the unity of the Three Jewels to be one with shinnyo.
The Chapter on Chunda, excerpted from the Nirvana Sutra (Dai Hatsu-Nehan Gyo, Junda Bon)
Michi no honsho wa, shinnyo no tai de, ban-u wa mina ku de aru
The true nature of a being’s existence is tathata (suchness); everything in the world is devoid of substance.
Kowaru beki ho mo, ruten shite urei o shoze shime, sho aru mono wa ro byo shi to aino shite metsue suru
Anything that is impermanent shall eventually deteriorate, and cause some sort of distress, and whatever lives must age, grow ill, and die, perishing in sorrow and suffering.
Bonno ni torawareru koto wa, kaiko no mayu no gotoku jibaku nari
Attachment to illusion resembles a silkworm enveloping itself in a cocoon.
Mi wa kurushimi no atsumaru tokoro, ikade kore o tanoshimi to sen
This carnal body collects suffering. How can people even attempt to find joy through it?
Riyoku no tadashiki shiyui wa, shinjitsudo o satori, shuchaku no sonzai o hitei suru mono wa, tadachi ni nehan o shosu beshi
Correct meditation detaches you from human desires and helps you to perceive the true way. Those who free themselves from attachments immediately attain nirvana.
Kono yue ni, ware jitsuzon no higan ni arite kuno o hanare shime, kono mi, konomama jomyo no, tanoshimi o uku
That is why I have reached the other shore of true existence and have been freed from suffering. As I am in the physical body before you, I am in the most wondrous bliss.
End Prayers
Merit Transfer (Ekō Mon)
Negawaku wa, kono kudoku o motte amaneku issai ni oyoboshi warera to shujo to, mina tomo ni butsudo o jozen
May the merit I have accrued be transferred to others and may we, all together, follow the Buddha’s path to enlightenment.
The Threefold Refuge (San Kie Mon)
Buddham saranam gacchami
I seek refuge in the Buddha.
Dhammam saranam gacchami
I seek refuge in the Dharma.
Sangham saranam gacchami
I seek refuge in the Sangha.
The Three Bows (Sanrai)
Namu shinnyo ichinyo to totoki mihotoke o nenji tatematsuru
I meditate on the Buddha to be in oneness with shinnyo.
Zangi zange rokkon zaisho metsujo bonno metsujo gossho
I humbly reflect and repent for what I have done driven by the six senses and vow to eliminate delusion and karmic impediments; I shall also help others not to make the same mistakes.
Om, saraba tatagyata, hanna mannano kyaromi
I prostrate myself before the feet of all the tathagatas.
As we move through these stages of meditative prayer and chanting, our commitment to working toward awakening in our lives deepens and grows strong. Our buddha nature having been roused by the melodic sounds and meaning of the chants, we are prepared to meet the world resolutely with our best inner qualities.
The entire Higan Service from which the above recordings have been excerpted, which includes a brief talk and guided meditation led by Her Holiness Shinso Ito, can be viewed here.