Shingon daily practice
Posted: Wed Oct 07, 2015 11:06 pm
What is the daily practice for a lay practitioner of Shingon Buddhism? What are the common practices done outside the temple? I appreciate your sharing.
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The Mystical Nembutsu of Shingon
The Shingon school is a Japanese form of esoteric Buddhism, similar to the Tantric Buddhism of Tibet. It was the other major school to the Tendai school during Honen’s days. Kakuban (1095-1143) was a famous monk of the Shingon school who developed an esoteric interpretation of the Pure Land teaching. He believed that the central buddha of Shingon devotion, Vairocana Buddha, and Amida Buddha were one and the same and that their pure lands were also one and the same. He once wrote: “Amida is only another name for Vairocana, the great Sun Buddha. If a person will but repeat the three syllables of Amida’s name, his bad karma that has been accumulating from time immemorial will be extinguished. Meditation upon the one Buddha Amida brings endless blessedness and wisdom. Amida is but an intellectual faculty of Vairocana, who is the substance of Amida’s person. Amida’s Pure Land is really everywhere, so that the place where we meditate upon him is verily his own land. When we come to realize the truth of this, we do not need to leave this present fleeting world at all to get to the Pure Land - we are already there. And in our present bodies and persons, just as we are, we are assimilated to Amida, and he to Vairocana, from whom we derive our being. This is the path of meditation by which, just as we are, we attain buddhahood.” This equating of Vairocana and Amida was a radical step within the confines of Shingon doctrine, and as it was done to gain greater popular appeal among the masses, it shows the basic popularity which Pure Land ideas had gained by this time.
http://www.jsri.jp/English/Pureland/DOC ... mbutsu.htm
For what it's worth, I'm trying to get copies of the English version of the Koyasan Shingon-shu daily practice which I understand is appropriate for lay practitioners. I'll let you know when/if I'm successful.Serenity509 wrote:What is the daily practice for a lay practitioner of Shingon Buddhism? What are the common practices done outside the temple? I appreciate your sharing.
the shingon daily practice for lay people is:jake wrote: For what it's worth, I'm trying to get copies of the English version of the Koyasan Shingon-shu daily practice which I understand is appropriate for lay practitioners. I'll let you know when/if I'm successful.
Here's the service you want : http://shingon.org/ritual/daily.htmljake wrote:For what it's worth, I'm trying to get copies of the English version of the Koyasan Shingon-shu daily practice which I understand is appropriate for lay practitioners. I'll let you know when/if I'm successful.Serenity509 wrote:What is the daily practice for a lay practitioner of Shingon Buddhism? What are the common practices done outside the temple? I appreciate your sharing.
Does anyone know of other Shingon traditions that are making efforts to translate things into English? I know Koyasan Shingon-shu is actively translated a lot of material but don't know about other traditions.
Thanks Nyedrag Yeshe for the link. I believe this link is for a rather old(90s) translation of the Koyasan Shingon-shu lay service. I have a copy of the recent Kongobuji translation which I use. I am still curious if other traditions are translating their works into English, e.g. Buzan-ha or the like?Nyedrag Yeshe wrote:Here's the service you want : http://shingon.org/ritual/daily.htmljake wrote:For what it's worth, I'm trying to get copies of the English version of the Koyasan Shingon-shu daily practice which I understand is appropriate for lay practitioners. I'll let you know when/if I'm successful.Serenity509 wrote:What is the daily practice for a lay practitioner of Shingon Buddhism? What are the common practices done outside the temple? I appreciate your sharing.
Does anyone know of other Shingon traditions that are making efforts to translate things into English? I know Koyasan Shingon-shu is actively translated a lot of material but don't know about other traditions.
Yes of course... there are some monks who did it and do it still today. I knew at least a few of them, young and old. But it is worth to mention that it worked also other way round. There were some shingon and tendai monks who went to zen masters and some became zen masters themsleves. Most famous in Japan would be probably Jiun Sonja, who attained satori under soto master Daibai. Jiun sonja influenced very much Sawaki Kodo and making nyoho-e kesa or kashaya, a Buddha's robe which got some popularity among soto zen monks. So there is also a material evidence of his and shingon influence within soto. Some soto monks buy and wear directly shingon nyoho-e today But also during times of Keizan zenji there were many shingon monks who practice zen. So within zen, both soto and rinzai are some shingon practices which were imported by them to zen monasteries. It happned already at the very beginning of zen tradition in Japan.Phyllobius wrote:I don't know if there's an "official nenbutsu practice" in Shingon, but the feeling that i gather from frequenting my teacher is that the Shingon worldview is compatible with many many forms of buddhists practices. Until the Edo period there wrerent intersectarian barriers. I've read here: http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/111511 that Zen monks came on Kôyasan to practice with Shingon monks. I wonder if informally this happens nowadays.
Somotimes I recite this japanese version that belongs to Chisan-ha. The only difference I see is that they don't recite the 13 Buddhas's mantras, just the light dharani. Also they include besides the invocation to Kobo Daishi, invocations to two of their lineage master, Kogyo Daishi. And also a dedication to the deceased. Also the confession prayer at the beginning and they ommit the prostration mantra. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV6Wbj0wT2Ajake wrote:Thanks Nyedrag Yeshe for the link. I believe this link is for a rather old(90s) translation of the Koyasan Shingon-shu lay service. I have a copy of the recent Kongobuji translation which I use. I am still curious if other traditions are translating their works into English, e.g. Buzan-ha or the like?Nyedrag Yeshe wrote:Here's the service you want : http://shingon.org/ritual/daily.htmljake wrote:
For what it's worth, I'm trying to get copies of the English version of the Koyasan Shingon-shu daily practice which I understand is appropriate for lay practitioners. I'll let you know when/if I'm successful.
Does anyone know of other Shingon traditions that are making efforts to translate things into English? I know Koyasan Shingon-shu is actively translated a lot of material but don't know about other traditions.
Thanks again!
If anyone is interested, the Koyasan Shingon Lay Service Books have arrived. It was published in 2012 by the Education Department of the Head Temple of Koyasan Shingon-Shu and Translated by Eijo Dreitlein. This book presents everything in Japanese, Romaji, and English translation with Mantra in Siddham script.jake wrote:For what it's worth, I'm trying to get copies of the English version of the Koyasan Shingon-shu daily practice which I understand is appropriate for lay practitioners.
HI Matylda,Matylda wrote: ↑Thu Jun 23, 2016 12:08 pmYes of course... there are some monks who did it and do it still today. I knew at least a few of them, young and old. But it is worth to mention that it worked also other way round. There were some shingon and tendai monks who went to zen masters and some became zen masters themsleves. Most famous in Japan would be probably Jiun Sonja, who attained satori under soto master Daibai. Jiun sonja influenced very much Sawaki Kodo and making nyoho-e kesa or kashaya, a Buddha's robe which got some popularity among soto zen monks. So there is also a material evidence of his and shingon influence within soto. Some soto monks buy and wear directly shingon nyoho-e today But also during times of Keizan zenji there were many shingon monks who practice zen. So within zen, both soto and rinzai are some shingon practices which were imported by them to zen monasteries. It happned already at the very beginning of zen tradition in Japan.Phyllobius wrote:I don't know if there's an "official nenbutsu practice" in Shingon, but the feeling that i gather from frequenting my teacher is that the Shingon worldview is compatible with many many forms of buddhists practices. Until the Edo period there wrerent intersectarian barriers. I've read here: http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/111511 that Zen monks came on Kôyasan to practice with Shingon monks. I wonder if informally this happens nowadays.
I guess it is almost the same.. in fact soto kesa was same as rinzai untill mid 19th century. One of the Eiheiji abbots abolished the use of KAN in the kesa. rinzai keeps it of course. Soto rakusu also changed, before it was bigger and longer, again same as rinzai, now it is short and smaller. So originally soto and rinzai shared the same robesDruniel wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2019 10:45 pmHI Matylda,Matylda wrote: ↑Thu Jun 23, 2016 12:08 pmYes of course... there are some monks who did it and do it still today. I knew at least a few of them, young and old. But it is worth to mention that it worked also other way round. There were some shingon and tendai monks who went to zen masters and some became zen masters themsleves. Most famous in Japan would be probably Jiun Sonja, who attained satori under soto master Daibai. Jiun sonja influenced very much Sawaki Kodo and making nyoho-e kesa or kashaya, a Buddha's robe which got some popularity among soto zen monks. So there is also a material evidence of his and shingon influence within soto. Some soto monks buy and wear directly shingon nyoho-e today But also during times of Keizan zenji there were many shingon monks who practice zen. So within zen, both soto and rinzai are some shingon practices which were imported by them to zen monasteries. It happned already at the very beginning of zen tradition in Japan.Phyllobius wrote:I don't know if there's an "official nenbutsu practice" in Shingon, but the feeling that i gather from frequenting my teacher is that the Shingon worldview is compatible with many many forms of buddhists practices. Until the Edo period there wrerent intersectarian barriers. I've read here: http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/111511 that Zen monks came on Kôyasan to practice with Shingon monks. I wonder if informally this happens nowadays.
is there any rilevant difference between Shingon Nyoho-e and the Soto Zen one ? I mean the size, the way to wear it, colours.
Thank you
Dan
I guess it is almost the same.. in fact soto kesa was same as rinzai untill mid 19th century. One of the Eiheiji abbots abolished the use of KAN in the kesa. rinzai keeps it of course. Soto rakusu also changed, before it was bigger and longer, again same as rinzai, now it is short and smaller. So originally soto and rinzai shared the same robesDruniel wrote: ↑Fri Jun 07, 2019 10:45 pmHI Matylda,Matylda wrote: ↑Thu Jun 23, 2016 12:08 pmYes of course... there are some monks who did it and do it still today. I knew at least a few of them, young and old. But it is worth to mention that it worked also other way round. There were some shingon and tendai monks who went to zen masters and some became zen masters themsleves. Most famous in Japan would be probably Jiun Sonja, who attained satori under soto master Daibai. Jiun sonja influenced very much Sawaki Kodo and making nyoho-e kesa or kashaya, a Buddha's robe which got some popularity among soto zen monks. So there is also a material evidence of his and shingon influence within soto. Some soto monks buy and wear directly shingon nyoho-e today But also during times of Keizan zenji there were many shingon monks who practice zen. So within zen, both soto and rinzai are some shingon practices which were imported by them to zen monasteries. It happned already at the very beginning of zen tradition in Japan.Phyllobius wrote:I don't know if there's an "official nenbutsu practice" in Shingon, but the feeling that i gather from frequenting my teacher is that the Shingon worldview is compatible with many many forms of buddhists practices. Until the Edo period there wrerent intersectarian barriers. I've read here: http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/handle/2027.42/111511 that Zen monks came on Kôyasan to practice with Shingon monks. I wonder if informally this happens nowadays.
is there any rilevant difference between Shingon Nyoho-e and the Soto Zen one ? I mean the size, the way to wear it, colours.
Thank you
Dan