"Chanting is an effective means of harmonizing body and mind.
Chant with your ears, not with your mouth.
When chanting, be aware of the others who are also chanting.
Blend your voice with their voices.
Make one voice, all together.
Chant not too high, not too low, not too fast, not too slow.
Take your pace from the senior practitioner, who will take the initiative.
Chanting should not be shouting.
When a person chants like that, he chants as if only he exists and no one else, which is not so.
Always adjust yourself to the others, rather than expecting them to adjust to you.
Then there is harmony.
Chant as though each syllable were a drop of rain in a steady shower.
It is very mild, consistent, and sustained.
Chanting functions the same as all of our practices in Zen.
On one level, we can see that the sutras we chant have their own content; they mean something.
Some, like the Heart Sutra for example, are especially concise and packed with deep meaning.
But again, apart from the texts, the act of chanting is in itself an absolute practice,
simultaneously expressing and creating an inner state of consciousness.
And as we chant together and hear each other chanting, we are helped further in joining our minds.
This is harmony.
This is practice together."
Taizan Maezumi Roshi
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Vast is the robe of liberation A formless field of benefaction I wear the Tathagata-teaching Saving all sentient beings. |
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Sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them. Desires are inexhaustible, I vow to put an end to them. The Dharmas are boundless, I vow to master them. The Buddha Way is unattainable, I vow to attain it. |
SHU JO MU HEN SEI GAN DO BON NO MU JIN SEI GAN DAN HO MON MU RYO SEI GAN GAKU BUTSU DO MU JO SEI GAN JO |
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No Mo San Man Da Moto Nan Oha Ra Chi Koto Sha Sono Nan To Ji To En Gya Gya Gya Ki Gya Ki Un Nun Shiu Ra Shiu Ra Hara Shiu Ra Hara Shiu Ra Chishu Sa Chishu Sa Chishu Ri ° Chishu Ri Sowa Ja ° Sowa Ja Sen Chi Gya Shiri E Somo Ko |
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Kanzeon! At One with Buddha Directly, Buddha Also, indirectly Buddha And indirectly, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha Joyful, pure, eternal being! Morning Mind is Kanzeon Evening Mind is Kanzeon Nen, Nen arises from Mind. Nen, Nen is not separate from Mind. |
KAN ZE ON NA MU BUTSU YO BUTSU U IN YO BUTSU U EN BUP PO SO EN JO RAKU GA JO CHO NEN KAN ZE ON BO NEN KAN ZE ON NEN NEN JU SHIN KI NEN NEN FU RI SHIN |
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All buddhas, bodhisattvas, protectors of the Dharma and the Three Treasures With all sentient beings, I lift my heart to transform ignorance, violence and suffering. May healing and peace prevail throughout the Dharma worlds! Maha prajna paramita! |