Japanese Temple Services

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JCC1990
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Japanese Temple Services

Post by JCC1990 »

I know that things work differently in different countires. For instance most people in my country (the us) go to their particular temple or meditation groups on Sunday. My questions are when do the Japanese attend these services? I've had the hardest time trying to find a regular service in Japan, but I am curious to see what it is like. If anyone can link me a video of one that would be incredibly helpful as well. Thank you all :smile:
plwk
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by plwk »

Just samples across Pure Land, Shingon, Zen, Tendai and Nichiren...in that order for the videos
I trust someone else will answer your remaining questions...

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]
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Seishin
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Seishin »

It really depends on the temple, the sect and location. Morning and evening services are usually open to the public but will not be like your sunday services in the west. Morning service (again depending on the temple) is usually around sunrise (5:30am-ish), and evening services around sunset (8pm-ish). Some temples will hold services specifically to give teachings to lay people (more like what we are used to in the west), which could be every day, once a week, once a month, in the evenings, mornings or day time. You will need to enquire at the various temples to find out what kind of services they provide.

Here is a very nice morning service at a Tendai temple. This is a shomyo performance of the morning service https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_HcdSFaqP0

Here is a monthly goma (fire ceremony) and lecture for lay people at a Tendai temple https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90bv4vEqrOg

The Tendai service in plwk's post is a Segaki service (feeding the hungry ghosts)

In gassho,
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Queequeg
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Queequeg »

I think using the word "Services" might not quite be appropriate in Buddhist contexts.

I don't know what else to call it, but the morning and evening rituals are puja - devotional rituals in which attendees are generally participants in the expression of devotion. They're not really services performed for the benefit of the attendees. Obviously I can't say that a tree falling in the woods makes a sound if I'm not around, but quite often at those 4 am morning pujas (the sun rises ridiculously early in the summertime in Japan) I found it was me and the priests. I surmise those rituals happen whether lay persons show or not.

I don't know if that's putting too fine a distinction on it.

Dharma talks are are maybe the closest thing to Church services where the point is partly devotional, partly for the edification of the congregation. Some temples do them, some don't. Temples seem to be very independent and it will be up to the abbot to decide what happens at a particular temple.

Meditation groups impress me as more a Western thing, catering to the wishes of Westerners who want to learn meditation techniques and don't have much interest in the devotional and even philosophic aspects of Buddhism. Japanese on the other hand, to the extent that they are actively Buddhist, generally don't bother with meditation, but are more active in devotional activities.

That said, my impression is that Japanese temples are starting to make Christian Church-like services more regular because that's what people are expecting out of their spiritual centers. Just like Shinto shrines becoming wedding venues. There's a need, and the commerce of religion is no different than any other sector of the economy.
There is no suffering to be severed. Ignorance and klesas are indivisible from bodhi. There is no cause of suffering to be abandoned. Since extremes and the false are the Middle and genuine, there is no path to be practiced. Samsara is nirvana. No severance achieved. No suffering nor its cause. No path, no end. There is no transcendent realm; there is only the one true aspect. There is nothing separate from the true aspect.
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Admin_PC »

Just to back up the excellent posts so far...
While plwk gave a great sampling of various services; there are also a good number of full services on youtube.
These full services include chanting, Dharma talks, and sutra reading - many cap out at well over an hour (Japanese only, usually no subs).
It may help if you were a little more specific about what you're interested in.
If you were looking for the service schedule for a particular temple in Japan, many of them have websites, and we might be able to help.
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Meido »

Queequeg wrote:I don't know what else to call it, but the morning and evening rituals are puja - devotional rituals in which attendees are generally participants in the expression of devotion.
Just to point out for folks that don't know: a word generally used for Buddhist ceremony in Japan is in fact kuyo, a transliteration of puja. So we could call just call it that. :smile:

I agree that "services" is awkward. "Devotional" describes one aspect of Japanese Buddhist ceremonial, in which veneration of and connection with something (enlightened beings, lineage teachers) occurs. But I think it important to remember perhaps the major aspect of these kinds of daily rituals in many Japanese traditions, which is the generation and dedication (eko) of merit...to past worthies, to patrons of that temple, to the country, to the families of the ritual participants (though not for their own benefit as Queequeg points out), ultimately to all beings, etc.

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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Nyedrag Yeshe »

JCC1990 wrote:I know that things work differently in different countires. For instance most people in my country (the us) go to their particular temple or meditation groups on Sunday. My questions are when do the Japanese attend these services? I've had the hardest time trying to find a regular service in Japan, but I am curious to see what it is like. If anyone can link me a video of one that would be incredibly helpful as well. Thank you all :smile:
Well the idea of attending weekly a religious service is more a monotheistic idea of religious practice. Much like sunday for christians, shabat for jews and friday prayers for muslims. Asian and Indian religions on general lack this concept. Asian religions tende to see practice as more individualistic and more lax, specially for the laity. People go to temples when they want or are in need, do their devotions and come back home, i've seen this in India and some buddhist countries. Ceremonies and services to the laity do exist, but in general are not mandatory. And some are only perfomed when people actually ask for them, like funerals etc.

So temples holding regular services of chanting, praying and sermons seems to be more of a western influence, and a good way to make the lay community more envolved with religious practice.
“Whatever has to happen, let it happen!”
“Whatever the situation is, it’s fine!”
“I really don’t need anything!
~Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje (1161-1211)
ओं पद्मोष्णीष विमले हूँ फट । ओं हनुफशभरहृदय स्वाहा॥
འ༔ ཨ༔ ཧ༔ ཤ༔ ས༔ མ༔ ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོ།
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Admin_PC »

Pure Land groups in Japan have a tradition of monthly trips to the temple in lieu of daily morning chanting sessions at the temple for householders dating back to the 1200s.

Beyond just the Pure Land groups, Uposatha days have been observed throughout the month (according to phase of the moon) by Buddhists of Theravada and Mahayana countries, long before they ever made contact with the west, and these days often involved trips to the temple.
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Nyedrag Yeshe »

Admin_PC wrote:Pure Land groups in Japan have a tradition of monthly trips to the temple in lieu of daily morning chanting sessions at the temple for householders dating back to the 1200s.

Beyond just the Pure Land groups, Uposatha days have been observed throughout the month (according to phase of the moon) by Buddhists of Theravada and Mahayana countries, long before they ever made contact with the west, and these days often involved trips to the temple.
Yes, but in the case of uposatha, and many of these observances ,are not mandatory. In the case of sri lanka, full moon are holidays, but not all people observe the precepts. They may only go to temples, make special offerings, sometimes partake in communal pujas. But contemporary Sri Lankan Buddhism is heavily influenced by western and protestant ideas and practices since the 19th century.Like General Henry Olcott. So is Thailand after King Phra Mongkut.

Of course, in these cultures festivals and monthly and yearly festivals and observances are a good exemple of communal worship, but still very different of the mandatory sunday mass/ liturgy to a catholic, or the mandatory shabat prayers etc. In those religions these acts are seen as the core of religious practice and as I said many time, obligatory. Lay practice in Asia is by far less formalized than what we have here in the west. Like for exemple, lay practitioners, with some few exceptions doing meditation practice or any other more formal form of practice (of course we have nowadays a different scenario).

A hindu friend of mine said how he learned most of his religions from his family and community, and not the context of going to a temple or going to sunday schools. Besides some well know scripture, no set of regid religious scripture are given. People learn religion in a very informal way, most naturally and mostly in daily life. And also lifetime cycles, such as samskara ceremonies and festivals. Then through religious songs, religious discourses, even paintings and mythological stories.
“Whatever has to happen, let it happen!”
“Whatever the situation is, it’s fine!”
“I really don’t need anything!
~Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje (1161-1211)
ओं पद्मोष्णीष विमले हूँ फट । ओं हनुफशभरहृदय स्वाहा॥
འ༔ ཨ༔ ཧ༔ ཤ༔ ས༔ མ༔ ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོ།
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Caoimhghín
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Caoimhghín »

The wild thing is that puja technically means "anointing". The "Morning Anointing" has a nice ring to it.
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
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Nyedrag Yeshe
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Nyedrag Yeshe »

Coëmgenu wrote:The wild thing is that puja technically means "anointing". The "Morning Anointing" has a nice ring to it.
No, puja plainly means offering or homage, abhisheka means 'anointing'.
“Whatever has to happen, let it happen!”
“Whatever the situation is, it’s fine!”
“I really don’t need anything!
~Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje (1161-1211)
ओं पद्मोष्णीष विमले हूँ फट । ओं हनुफशभरहृदय स्वाहा॥
འ༔ ཨ༔ ཧ༔ ཤ༔ ས༔ མ༔ ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོ།
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Admin_PC »

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the context: in which traditions in the west are weekly Dharma services mandatory for lay people? They're not in any of the traditions I'm familiar with.

For Mahayana, I can pretty much only speak to Japanese Pure Land as well as general Chinese & Vietnamese Mahayana, as that's all I have in-depth experience with. In American Jodo Shinshu for example, it's more about community activities and weekly barbecue than any mandate on required attendance at weekly Dharma services. In Japan, the Pure Land clergy tend to get fairly involved/engaged with their communities of lay practitioners (Jodo Shinshu especially). Those traditions have always been very lay-focused, ever since the founders of those schools (Honen & Shinran) came off Mount Hiei and started teaching in person around 1200 CE. The liturgies for Dharma Services in those schools have been published for hundreds of years and have been practiced by lay people on a daily basis individually, and frequently throughout the year communally (Honen recommended lay people practice communally at least once a month and to do special Nembutsu retreat whenever possible). Before them, Genshin had rather elaborate Dharma ceremonies he'd perform regularly with lay people as well. China has a pretty long history of communal practice (including lay people) with liturgies and instruments. Pure Land patriarch ShanTao actually has a liturgy in the Taisho Tripitaka (the Ojoraisan).
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Nyedrag Yeshe »

Admin_PC wrote:Maybe I'm misunderstanding the context: in which traditions in the west are weekly Dharma services mandatory for lay people? They're not in any of the traditions I'm familiar with.

For Mahayana, I can pretty much only speak to Japanese Pure Land as well as general Chinese & Vietnamese Mahayana, as that's all I have in-depth experience with. In American Jodo Shinshu for example, it's more about community activities and weekly barbecue than any mandate on required attendance at weekly Dharma services. In Japan, the Pure Land clergy tend to get fairly involved/engaged with their communities of lay practitioners (Jodo Shinshu especially). Those traditions have always been very lay-focused, ever since the founders of those schools (Honen & Shinran) came off Mount Hiei and started teaching in person around 1200 CE. The liturgies for Dharma Services in those schools have been published for hundreds of years and have been practiced by lay people on a daily basis individually, and frequently throughout the year communally (Honen recommended lay people practice communally at least once a month and to do special Nembutsu retreat whenever possible). Before them, Genshin had rather elaborate Dharma ceremonies he'd perform regularly with lay people as well. China has a pretty long history of communal practice (including lay people) with liturgies and instruments. Pure Land patriarch ShanTao actually has a liturgy in the Taisho Tripitaka (the Ojoraisan).
No, i'm mainly trying to compare Japanese/Asian and buddhist lay practice with western, monotheistic traditions and conceptions, not japanese buddhist with western buddhist practice. I'm quite aware of lay participating in ceremonies and liturgies in both chinese and japanese traditions. But this thread began with this comparision between US religious sunday gatherings and the same in happening in Japan, and how JCC1990
had a hard time finding anything similar in japan.

I'm aware of lay-led pure land lodges in china and taiwan, and also how much kamakura buddhism is lay oriented. And many liturgies that laity do participate and may even have a leading role! Like repentence ceremonies, sutra chanting, pure land liturgies etc. But in japan, for exemple, many sects use classical chinese in liturgies, this is quite difficult to a simple lay follower to understand and properly participate. Going to a Shingon/Tendai goma, the laity will mostly just watch passively the ceremony being performed. At some temples people may chant Fudo's mantra. But i've seen few of this. But again, lay services and communal practices in asian religions in general tend to be less frequent like a weekly/daily gathering, also less central to religious practice than it seems in a judeo-christian cultural setting.

Like hawaii, here in brazil most jodo shinshu parishes do the same. People use temples as a cultural and communal gathering centers. Hold festivals like obon and higan, barbecues, yakisoba parties. Some temples have ikebana and japanese language lessons, baika singing groups etc.


But going to a regular parish in japan, funeral services, selling gokitou and omamori are the main activities most temples focus. Totally different from what you see in your local parish.

Many japanese that host a regular chanting service at a home butsudan, do it more for worshipping ancestors than as a buddhist devotion!
“Whatever has to happen, let it happen!”
“Whatever the situation is, it’s fine!”
“I really don’t need anything!
~Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje (1161-1211)
ओं पद्मोष्णीष विमले हूँ फट । ओं हनुफशभरहृदय स्वाहा॥
འ༔ ཨ༔ ཧ༔ ཤ༔ ས༔ མ༔ ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོ།
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Matylda »

I have seen in the West some places and people indeed regularly take Sunday or any day once a week to visit the center or temple. I have no idea why, but I guess that it is simply heritage of their Christian background. In Japan there is no any 'regularity' of lay Buddhist followers in public temples. Of course if priest is eager he should do offering prayers in the morning or in the evening. Some temples keep extra meetings for their members. But if temple has many housholds as its members, they will hardly find any time for extra activity.
Mostly bigger temple will be busy with demands from the families who will keep on memorial services for their deceased family members. Priest will have no time to organize any extra meetings probably.
If temple will have not that many households then it has more chance to organize other activities. One has to know that real Buddhist devotion in Japan is at home. It is where the altar is, where ihai-memorial tablets are, where one mekes prayers and offerings on daily basis.

In the countryside there is a little bit different than in the bigger towns. There often neighbors drop sometimes to pray during the day.. lifestyle is very differnt from the bigger towns. much slower, much more relaxed... temples are cute, not crowded and give feeling of intimacy...
In the sense of 'regularity' Western centers or temples sometimes look like Christian churches or communities.. which I see as very fine thing... just there is change from one tradition to another holding on previous customs... if it is habit, that is fine.. but it does not work like that in Japan...

of course there are more active temples in Japan, but not that many and that depends enirely on the priest... so one may find differnt activities but what I described is rather general and most often found pattern...
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

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Nyedrag Yeshe wrote:But going to a regular parish in japan, funeral services, selling gokitou and omamori are the main activities most temples focus. Totally different from what you see in your local parish.

Many japanese that host a regular chanting service at a home butsudan, do it more for worshipping ancestors than as a buddhist devotion!
I guess the Pure Land schools are different then. For starters, Jodo Shinshu doesn't sell omamori or gokitou. Jodo Shu does, but they're not the main business. As a matter of fact, I have links to youtube channels from Japan, complete with chanting and Dharma talks. The lay folks are engaged, Dharma talks are in conversational Japanese, chanting usually kanbun but lay people still chant. Pure Land schools tend to give translations on whatever kanbun they chant in the actual Dharma service books and regularly offer classes on what's being chanted (if it's not covered outright in the Dharma Talk itself).

Here's some examples:
https://www.youtube.com/user/7676amida/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/Canchiinvideo/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/gokurakujyodo48
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UslD36anVoQ
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs3EAe ... Ip2X6YnGiQ
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCQj5- ... JhCCnWZQ-A
https://www.youtube.com/user/jodotokyok ... =0&sort=dd
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_IKW_ ... XRw/videos
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHIZzr ... DzrHWZLL4g
https://www.youtube.com/user/kotokoto0504
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI3I_s ... AdFiXTbmsg
https://www.youtube.com/user/Shoushin0905/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/junshinji48/videos
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHuvuj ... =dd&view=0
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdQXs8 ... _0g/videos
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaYPRH ... Gc61M1mUPQ

I'm not saying you don't have a valid point, I just don't think the typical image of Japanese "funeral buddhism" (not that you used the term) is an apt description of what's going on at these Pure Land temples. If you check out some of those videos, some of those daily morning services are better-attended (and participated in) than most weekly services in the States. My favorite Jodo Shu preacher is actually Rev Arimoto from the head Jodo Shu temple in Japan - his Dharma talks are very straight forward, easy to understand (even for a non-native Japanese speaker like myself), and usually pretty funny. Apparently, he attracts quite an audience.
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Caoimhghín »

Nyedrag Yeshe wrote:
Coëmgenu wrote:The wild thing is that puja technically means "anointing". The "Morning Anointing" has a nice ring to it.
No, puja plainly means offering or homage, abhisheka means 'anointing'.
Actually
The origin of the word Puja may lie in the Dravidian languages. Two possible Tamil roots have been suggested: Poosai "to smear with something" and Poochei(பூசெய்) "to do with flowers".[12]
from our friends at wikipedia, doing some etymology homework. Anoit=in-ungere=to smear upon with oil.
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
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Kim O'Hara
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Kim O'Hara »

Admin_PC wrote:Pure Land groups in Japan have a tradition of monthly trips to the temple in lieu of daily morning chanting sessions at the temple for householders dating back to the 1200s.

Beyond just the Pure Land groups, Uposatha days have been observed throughout the month (according to phase of the moon) by Buddhists of Theravada and Mahayana countries, long before they ever made contact with the west, and these days often involved trips to the temple.
Here are a couple of photos of the Full-moon Day service at a temple in a small Lao town:

ImageFull-moon day 1 by Kim O'Hara, on Flickr

ImageFull-moon day 2 by Kim O'Hara, on Flickr

I was in town as a member of a small-group guided tour and went along with the people who ran the guest-house we were staying in. It felt very much like 'going to church on Sunday' the way I did as a child (decades ago!) in a similar-sized country town in Australia. There was a sense of occasion, and people took care to dress up a bit for it. On the other hand, there wasn't any real lay participation as far as I could see - the monks id it all. On the other other hand, that's pretty much what you got in Catholic churches before the reform which allowed churches to offer Mass in the local language instead of Latin http://www.togetheratonealtar.catholic. ... ontent.cfm. That was only a little more than 50 years ago, so many westerners still remember church services in a language they didn't understand.

:namaste:
Kim

{Edit: image links didn't work. Fixed now, I hope.]
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Nyedrag Yeshe »

Coëmgenu wrote:
Nyedrag Yeshe wrote:
Coëmgenu wrote:The wild thing is that puja technically means "anointing". The "Morning Anointing" has a nice ring to it.
No, puja plainly means offering or homage, abhisheka means 'anointing'.
Actually
The origin of the word Puja may lie in the Dravidian languages. Two possible Tamil roots have been suggested: Poosai "to smear with something" and Poochei(பூசெய்) "to do with flowers".[12]
from our friends at wikipedia, doing some etymology homework. Anoit=in-ungere=to smear upon with oil.
Yes, but as it entered sanskrit/pali context it became just offering or homage/worship. Anointing or bathing is 'abhisheka'.
http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?begi ... =Translate
http://spokensanskrit.de/index.php?begi ... =Translate
“Whatever has to happen, let it happen!”
“Whatever the situation is, it’s fine!”
“I really don’t need anything!
~Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje (1161-1211)
ओं पद्मोष्णीष विमले हूँ फट । ओं हनुफशभरहृदय स्वाहा॥
འ༔ ཨ༔ ཧ༔ ཤ༔ ས༔ མ༔ ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོ།
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Nyedrag Yeshe »

Kim O'Hara wrote:
Admin_PC wrote:Pure Land groups in Japan have a tradition of monthly trips to the temple in lieu of daily morning chanting sessions at the temple for householders dating back to the 1200s.

Beyond just the Pure Land groups, Uposatha days have been observed throughout the month (according to phase of the moon) by Buddhists of Theravada and Mahayana countries, long before they ever made contact with the west, and these days often involved trips to the temple.
Here are a couple of photos of the Full-moon Day service at a temple in a small Lao town:

ImageFull-moon day 1 by Kim O'Hara, on Flickr

ImageFull-moon day 2 by Kim O'Hara, on Flickr

I was in town as a member of a small-group guided tour and went along with the people who ran the guest-house we were staying in. It felt very much like 'going to church on Sunday' the way I did as a child (decades ago!) in a similar-sized country town in Australia. There was a sense of occasion, and people took care to dress up a bit for it. On the other hand, there wasn't any real lay participation as far as I could see - the monks id it all. On the other other hand, that's pretty much what you got in Catholic churches before the reform which allowed churches to offer Mass in the local language instead of Latin http://www.togetheratonealtar.catholic. ... ontent.cfm. That was only a little more than 50 years ago, so many westerners still remember church services in a language they didn't understand.

:namaste:
Kim

{Edit: image links didn't work. Fixed now, I hope.]
As I said these are monthly occurances. Not weekly, and no participation from the laity, apart of making offerings and doing some chanting. The aim obviously is merit making.

Apart from this and major festivals like magha puja o kathina. People go to the Wat when they want or feel like doing it. No regurality and no mandatory attendance. But i always get the impression that many who take part in uposatha observances in SA theravada countries are more devout people that the norm.

I come from a Eastern Orthodox background, in many churches services are still held in old church slavonic, or koine greek. Many people, including myself as a kid, didn't understand much of what was going. And also most of singing is done by a professional choir and the priest.
“Whatever has to happen, let it happen!”
“Whatever the situation is, it’s fine!”
“I really don’t need anything!
~Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje (1161-1211)
ओं पद्मोष्णीष विमले हूँ फट । ओं हनुफशभरहृदय स्वाहा॥
འ༔ ཨ༔ ཧ༔ ཤ༔ ས༔ མ༔ ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོ།
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Re: Japanese Temple Services

Post by Nyedrag Yeshe »

There are beautiful and huuuge, massive communal pujas that sri lankans held in religious festivities.
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“Whatever has to happen, let it happen!”
“Whatever the situation is, it’s fine!”
“I really don’t need anything!
~Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorje (1161-1211)
ओं पद्मोष्णीष विमले हूँ फट । ओं हनुफशभरहृदय स्वाहा॥
འ༔ ཨ༔ ཧ༔ ཤ༔ ས༔ མ༔ ཀརྨ་པ་མཁྱེན་ནོ།
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