Chanting is a part of Zen practice, of wholeheartedly using voice and body to practice in harmony, with your own body and with other voices. When chanting with others, pay attention to both blending your voice with others, yet expressing the fullness of the chant in your own breath and body.
Our sangha uses traditional short chants, or gathas, in our services. The versions we chant are listed here, more or less in order. The incense offering is unique to our immediate lineage and was written by Rose Mary Myoan Dougherty, Sensei and Janet Jinne Richardson, Roshi.
We chant traditional Zen sutras like the Heart Sutra, Sandokai, Enmei Jukkku Kannon Gyo, and the Genjokoan, along with some more modern verses like Liberation from All Obstructions by Hogen Bays, Roshi. Our current sutra book is available for download.
SUTRA BOOK – Downloadable PDF
INCENSE OFFERING
(Three bells. When Teacher is in place to offer incense, chanting begins.]
ALL: In Gratitude we offer this incense to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout space and time.
(Two bells. Teacher bows and raises incense.)
ALL: Teaching and living the way of awareness in the very midst of suffering and confusion, Shakyamuni Buddha, the Enlightened One, to whom we bow in gratitude.
(Two bells. Teacher bows and raises incense.)
ALL: Showing the way fearlessly and compassionately, the stream of ancestral teachers, to whom we bow in gratitude.
(One bell. Teacher bows, raises incense and returns to her/his place.)
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MORNING BELL CHANT
May the sound of this bell spread throughout the universe,
Making darkness bright,
relieving the three realms of suffering,
shattering swords.
May it bring all beings to enlightenment.
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EVENING BELL CHANT
Hearing the sound of the bell,
all thinking is cut off,
wisdom grows,
enlightenment appears,
confusion is left behind,
I vow to perceive true self and to save all beings.
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GATHA OF ATONEMENT
All evil karma ever committed by me since of old,
on account of my beginning-less greed, anger, and ignorance,
born of my body, mouth, and consciousness,
now I atone for it all.
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VERSE OF THE KESA
Vast is the robe of liberation,
a formless field if benefaction.
I wear the Tatagatha’s teachings
to awaken countless beings.
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GATHA ON OPENING THE SUTRA
The Dharma, incomp’rably profound and infinitely subtle,
is rarely encountered, even in millions of ages.
Now we see it, hear it, receive and maintain it.
May we completely realize the Tathagata’s true meaning.
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EVENING GATHA
Let me respectfully remind you:
Life and death are of supreme importance.
Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost.
Each of us should strive to awaken —
awaken, take heed!
This night your days are diminished by one.
Do not squander your life.
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THE FOUR VOWS
(chant 3 times)
Creations are numberless, I vow to free them;
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to put an end to them;
Reality is boundless, I vow to perceive it;
The enlightened way is unsurpassable, I vow to embody it.
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SHI GU SEI GAN MON
(The Four Great Bodhisattva Vows in Japanese)
SHU JO MU-HEN SEI GAN DO
BON NO MU-JIN SEI GAN DAN
HO MON MUR-YO SEI GAN GAKU
BUTSU-DO MU-JO SEI GAN JO
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MEAL GATHA
First, seventy-two labors brought us this food; we should know how it comes to us.
Second, as we receive this offering, we should consider whether our virtue and practice deserve it.
Third, as we desire the natural order of mind to be free from clinging, we must be free from greed.
Fourth, to support our life we take this food.
Fifth, to attain our Way we take this food.