Good morning. The lecture today will continue with last months subject of Buddhist practice.
The questions for today, listed in this months schedule, center on Gongyo:
Taking these questions together, I'll begin with an overview of sorts, an introduction to the history of Gongyo, and then cover the questions about correct demeanor and attitude towards Gongyo. I'm going to be using this chalk-board during the lecture today -- can everyone see it? (Note efforts in the original text were made to amplify the original text where illustrations were used. If I can I'll try to find out if there are graphics that can compensate for what was lost in transmission between this text (which I got from Artie from New York) and how it should be presented.
First of all, the customs and practices of Nichiren Shoshu have grown, of course, out of the teachings of Nichiren Daishonin, but the Daishonin himself left no "rule" book on Buddhist Practice. Also with regard to the transmission of orthodox doctrine and practice, there has always been a strong tradition in Nichiren Shoshu of oral teachings. In other words, if you are looking for a seven hundred year old document that states Gongyo is to be done exactly in the manner that you learned to do it, you aren't going to find it. Much of what I learned as a young acolyte at Taisekiji about the rules and regulations of Nichiren Shoshu was presented through lectures and instructions by senior priests. What they taught, though, was based on the written and oral legacy of Nichiren Daishonin, and on the records left by Nikko Shonin and the successive high priests. To take a single instance, the color of this robe I'm wearing is the same color as the robe that Nichiren Daishonin wore. We know that he wore gray robes because he said so in the Gosho. Although it was not codified as a regulation of Nichiren Shoshu until quite a while after the Daishonin's passing, Nichiren Shoshu priests, nonetheless, always wore gray robes.
With respect to Gongyo, Nichiren Daishonin addressed himself to the subject direct in the "Gasshui Gosho", a letter to the wife of Shijo Kingo. He says therein:
Among those twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra, the noblest are the Hoben and Juryo Chapters. The other chapters are all secondary. Therefore, for daily practice, recite the extended parts of the Hoben and Juryo chapters. When you recite the Hoben and Juryo chapters, the virtues of the other chapters are naturally contained ithin them."
In "Reply to Soya" he says:
"I wrote down the extended part of the Hoben chapter for you. Recite it together with the Jiga-ge of the Juryo chapter that I wrote for you previously."
These two writings are specific references to the Daishonin's "format" for Gongyo. He says you must recite the Hoben and Jigage chapters. That is clear, isn't it?
Naturally, Nikko Shonin and the successive High Priests left records that contain references to Gongyo. For instance, the ninth High Priest Nichiu Shonin (1419-1482), whose writings were recorded by his disciples, states in the "Kegi Sho" that on the first and the fifteenth of each month, the first prayer for Gongyo should be done while facing east. According to the Ushidan Sho Kiki Gaki Sho, Nichiu Shonin did Gongyo three times a day: in the morning, at noon, and in the evening. The Dosan Mikyo Shidai, a record dated 1535, left by the twelfth High Priest, Nicchin Shonin, states the following about the format of Gongyo:
"The first prayer in the morning should be done at the Miedo Temple [on the Head Temple Grounds]. The Hoben and Juryo chapters should be recited three times each, followed by three hundred Daimoku."
This first prayer was a prayer of Gratitude to the True Buddha, Nichiren Daishonin, the second High Priest, Nikko Shonin and the third High Priest, Nichimoku Shonin.
"The second prayer, one of gratitude for the Buddhist Gods, was offered at the Ten Kyo Temple [also on the head temple grounds], and consisted of reciting the Hoben and Juryo chapters once each followed by one hundred Daimoku.
"The third prayer, one of gratitude to the Gohonzon, was the recitation of the Hoben and Juryo Chapters once each, followed by one hundred Daimoku at the main Temple.
"The fourth prayer, for Kosenrufu, was offered at the Miedo Temple again, with the Hoben and Juryo chapters being recited once each, followed by one hundred Daimoku.
"The Fifth prayer, followed the same format as the fourth prayer, and was offered at the Mitsubo [also on the Head Temple Grounds] for the ancestors of all priests and believers.
The first prayer of the evening was the same as the third morning prayer, and the second evening prayer was the same as the second morning prayer. The third evening prayer was offered at the "Miedo" temple in gratitude to Nichiren Daishonin and the two successive High Priests. The fourth evening prayer, also at the Miedo Temple, was the recitation of the Juryo Chapter three times, followed by three hundred Daimoku for Kosenrufu. The fifth evening prayer was the same as the fifth morning prayer.
So the record of 1535 states that both morning and evening prayer and the second evening Gongyo consisted of five prayers. At the Head Temple, the prayers were offered moving from one Temple to another. The sutra and Daimoku were chanted at a specific place for a specific prayer and then they moved on to the next temple. The one hundred or three hundred Daimoku following the Sutra recitation may not seem like much to you, but remember they weren't chanting at the "speedy" pace many of you have become accustomed to using. We estimate, from the amount of time it took them to complete Gongyo, that one hundred Daimoku must have taken at least five minutes. The main temple, was of course different from the one you know today, but many of you may have seen the Miedo temple, or at least you have seen photographs of it. Ten Kyo was a platform built specifically for offering prayers for the protection of the Buddhist Gods. Mutsubo is part of the priests' residence.
Two hundred years later, in 1740, the 31st High Priest, Nichiin Shonin, recorded a five-prayer morning, three-prayer evening format in the Toke Kiki Gaki. By this time people were doing one entire morning or evening Gongyo in one place, and rather than chanting Daimoku between prayers, they were doing Sansho of Hiki-Daimoku [Hiki-Daimoku (slow recital three times), and then chanting Daimoku after the sutra recitation was completed. That format, however, was still different from the recitation we are familiar with today. For instance, the third evening prayer was the recitation of the Jiga-ge three times. You know, the section that begins,
...That is the Jiga-ge. So the Jiga-ge was recited three times and that was the third evening prayer. For the fourth prayer of morning Gongyo, the hoben chapter was recited alone, without the Juryo Chapter.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, people were practicing Gongyo with almost the same five-prayer morning, three-prayer evening format that is familiar today. They were not, however, praying for their personal desires during the fourth prayer. Rather if they had a sick relative or some urgent concern they added an extra prayer to Gongyo. That is, they made an additional rectiation and then offered the special prayer.
You can see that, while the format of Gongyo has shifted a bit over time, the recitation of the Hoben and Juryo Chapters has been constant since the days of the Daishonin.
About the first part of your question, you must know how you feel about your life with respect to prayer. It is a natural feeling. Don't you know how you feel? Adding an extra prayer to Gongyo involves natural feeling towards Gohonzon, not strategy. The Komon Shu Chi Soku (1927), the record that states if something is deeply affecting your life, then you may recite the Hoben and Juryo chapters one extra time and pray for your deep concern, was written at a time when there was a stricter tradition and there was no prayer for personal concerns included in the format for Gongyo.
Today, the fourth prayer of Gongyo allows for personal prayers. In the fourth prayer of Gongyo we pray for Kosen-rufu first, and then we make our personal prayers. This indicates that Kosen-rufu is paramount and that our personal prayers should be under the umbrella of such faith. Once again, I hasten to add, this is not a technique. I am definately not suggesting the rediculous practice such as making up a list of wishes and trying to convince the Gohonzon that you want them fulfiled for the "sake" of Kosen-rufu. "I need this new aparment with a new wardrobe (car, stereo, vcr, million dollars, etceteras...) I promise I will spend all my time working for Kosen-rufu." The idea of bargaining like that is nonsense, and is deeply insulting to the Gohonzon. If you really care that much for Kosen-rufu, you will devote yourself wholeheartedly, million dollars or no. If adding on an extra prayer becomes that much of a question, I would say please chant Daimoku -- as sincerely as possible -- instead.
The second part of your question touches on the issues of attitude and demeanor during Gongyo, as well as format. When I first came here from Japan, my strongest initial impression was that everyone wanted to do the speediest Gongyo possible. I must say, I didn't really know what to think. It was as if the goal was to fly through Gongyo. I was accustomed to hearing Soka Gakkai members in Japan chanting slurred, "flying" daimoku, but I had never heard anyone reciting the Sutra in the manner I heard when I arrived here. It was not only untraditional -- frankly, it didn't sound very nice. When I asked some members why they did Gongyo that way, many of them said that they were taught that they should try to do Gongyo like that, adding that, if they did Gongyo at a slower pace, they wouldn't have time to chant Daimoku.
I introduced the format of reciting the entire sutra book through once, followed by Daimoku and the offering of all the prayers at the end, to stress to believers that chanting pure Daimoku is the most important thing in Buddhist Practice. If someone is racing through a five-prayer-morning and three-prayer evening recitation, and even at that, having only enough time left over for five minutes of hurried Daimoku, it is definately preferable to recite the Hoben and Juryo Chapters once steadily and rhythmically, and to follow that with chanting of pure Daimoku.
I learned this from the late high Priest, Nittatsu Shonin. In the course of fulfilling hte responsibilities of his position, he naturally found it necessary to visit many Nichiren Shoshu Temples for one reason or another. When he visited Tokyo, he usually stayed at the Branch Temple that I was assigned to as an assistant for a time. I did Gongyo many times with Nittatsu Shonin, and that is the way he did Gongyo when he visited the Temple. He went through the Hoben and Juryo Chapters once, chanted Daimoku for a long time, and then prayed all five prayers at the end of the Daimoku. This is not strange or secret; many priests have done Gongyo with Nittatsu Shonin using this format. So, priests might follow this format sometimes, or might recite the extend Hoben and Juryo Chapters sometimes, but what they all bear in mind is that the Daimoku is the primary practice of their faith.
Just for your information htere is a special recitation of Gongyo that some priests -- expecially older priests -- sometimes do, that involves dropping some consonants and emphasizing some vowels. It takes less time to recite the Sutra this way -- some of hte older priests can recite the Hoben chapter in this style with one breath -- but it takes a lot of training, and the sound of it in no way resemebles the slurred, quick Gongyo I was referring to before.
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