On rituals

[Jiken]

[QUOTE="Last year, I was just a foolish monk.
This year, no change."[/QUOTE]

Says a lot to me

Gassho,

Daido

[Emmet]

As a piper, I participate in a great many rituals and traditions.

Posting the colors. National anthems.
American military honors; the rifle volley and the playing of "Taps", the folding of the flag and presenting it to the next of kin.
Remembrance Day; piping "Flowers of the Forest" on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
ANZAC Day; piping "Flowers of the Forest" on the beach at sunrise.
The flag-draped casket, the regimental bonnet, all the red poppies; the Act of Remembrance; "Last Post".
The "Missing Man" flyover; the riderless horse being silently led down the road, sabre in it's scabbard, empty boots backwards in the stirrups.
At sea, "Piping the Side" one last time, and "The Navy Hymn".
Piping a single girl down the aisle, the exchange of rings, then piping a young couple back up the aisle to a merry tune.
Like any ceremonial dress, even the donning of the kilt, dirk, and bonnet is rife with meaning and symbolism; in a way anchoring you in your place in an ancestral line, lineage, or tradition, connecting you with your predecessors and ancestors.

I do this sort of thing every week; most of us have witnessed or participated in similar events. What did you feel? Particularly to the initiated who know the symbolism, these rituals can be very evocative on a deep level, speaking to something that lies beneath the analytic reasoning mind; nonverbal and beyond words, something atavistic and primal; the subconscious.
Ritual in Zen practice speaks to me in a similar fashion; holistically unifying the conscious/subconscious, mind/body. While not necessary, my practice would seem diminished without it. I realize that this is not everyone's experience; I know of one teacher who had transmission in my tradition but branched off, stripping her teaching down to just sitting, devoid of any ritual, symbolism, or religiosity; not even the Precepts. A dear Dharma sister is fond of recounting the tale of a sitting group where a visitor asked; "where's the Buddha (statue)?". The group's leader picked up a rock, set it on a table, and said "There. There's the Buddha." While I clearly understand the point she was making, and I see the value of such an experience, that's not how my practice has evolved. May your practice evolve in a manner that serves for the liberation of yourself, and of all beings.

[Jundo]

A dear Dharma sister is fond of recounting the tale of a sitting group where a visitor asked; "where's the Buddha (statue)?". The group's leader picked up a rock, set it on a table, and said "There. There's the Buddha." While I clearly understand the point she was making, and I see the value of such an experience, that's not how my practice has evolved. May your practice evolve in a manner that serves for the liberation of yourself, and of all beings.

Actually, that sounds like my sometimes modus operandi too! I may have a strange idea of what is "Buddha", and what is "sacred" and ways to appreciate Buddha ... and it is unusual from what you may find in more traditional Buddhist Sangha.

Sometimes, when I do a ceremony, I place on the Altar anything that strikes my heart ... As a personal Practice, often when I lead a ceremony or sitting for a group, I replace the Buddha statue on the altar with whatever comes to mind ... sometimes a car tire, a dirty diaper, a trash can, a flower, a rock or an open space without any thing at all. Other times, I just bow to the Statue that is there. Once, after 9-11, I replaced the statue with 3 photos ... Mother Theresa, George Bush and Osama bin Laden. That really upset some folks in the group! I had people walk out of the sitting!

But, you know, what isn't the Buddha? And for me, if you think I degradate or insult the Buddha by replacing him(her) with a trash can, or that I raise up the trash can in praise, you miss the point I think. All of life is sacred, all the "Buddha" when seen as such.

By the way, we do not "worship the idol". I take a Buddha statue ... and the Kesa ... as primarily a symbol, like a Crucifix or Star of David, which reminds us of a "greater reality". At heart, it is just wood or stone or cloth. However, all wood and stones and cloths are sacred.

This inspired me as I haven't done so for awhile ... so time to switch the Buddha on the Altar tomorrow during our Zazenkai with Buddha!

Gassho, J

[Risho]

Thanks Piobair and Jundo

I like that teacher's style Different strokes for different folks

I found this quote in Steve Hagen's book "Buddhism Plain and Simple" (pg. 4) which does a better job of articulating what I meant. For me the rituals aren't as important, but that is a very, very personal decision... I'm not in any way degrading them. Plus as Taigu said, I need to investigate things more before dismissing them.

Rituals, ceremonies, prayers, and special outfits are inevitable, but they do not--they cannot--express the heart of what the Buddha taught. In fact, all too often, such things get in the way. They veil the simple wisdom of the Buddha's words, and distract us from it.

This is a major problem, and not just for those of us raised in the West. It is not easy to know where Buddhism ends and Asian culture begins, or to distinguish the original and authentic teachings of the Buddha from what was added later by people with less acute insight. As a result, many Americans and Europeans genuinely believe that Buddhism is about worshipping Buddha, or bowing and wearing robes, or working oneself into a trance, or coming up with answers to bewilder riddles, or past and future incarnations.

Gassho,

Risho

[Dosho]

Kirk,

I hope you will take the precepts with us and embrace this path, but I understand it is difficult for many. All I will say is that, for me, it was very freeing to learn this new language, slowly and carefully, finding how to grasp the culture but not by grasping! In the West in can appear foreign and it is, but as they say "a rose by any other name smells just as sweet". Or something like that. I question myself at times, as we all do, as to whether I am "going native" because of some status it may appear to give me. But then I realize that all of this comes from a language Western society has largely forgotten and which was always there for the "taking". Some go to Japan, some to India, some just go into the woods and live near a pond. It starts as a search that ends with nothing to find...because what you sought was always there in front of you.

Deep bows,
Scott

[Seishin the Elder]

What never ceases to amaze me is to hear the reaction against what are called "religious rituals" when we surround ourselves in ritual of all sorts religiously all the time, and think nothing of it. Think about the ritual one creates around watching the big game on the TV: all the snack foods are arrayed on the table, the drinks are set up, we put on the team jersey, maybe even a strange hat (for luck) and begin an hours long ritual or emotion and eating. Even chores around the home have their ritual, take mowing the lawn: the mower is brought out, the tank is filled with gas, the cord is pulled (sometimes along with prayer that it will start right away!), then we start to mow in certain patterns. When the lawn is done we clean the mower and put it away. Ritual. Why do we so easily ritualize our life otherwise, but when it comes to our spiritual life we baulk at ritual? Well mostly, I think it is because we do not feel we made that ritual, someone else did and they are therefore telling us what to do...and we do not like that, beling told what to do, especially with regard to our spiritual life. Really?! Then why did we look for a teacher? Why aren't we sitting alone in a cave, in the forest, on a mountain, in our room with no one telling us how to work our spiritual life and practice? When we come to any particular teacher, school or church (there I said that horrible word!) we are saying that we wish to learn how to work on our spiritual life according to the principles of that teacher, school or church. If that includes ritual, that's what we signed up for. If it is strange and foreign to us, we might exercise our sense of adventure to experience it. If after trying it we do not like the taste we do not have the eat there again; but to simply throw up barriers before trying is being dishonest with our human nature which surrounds itself with ritual every day.

Gassho..
Seishin Kyrill

[Ryumon]

I will agree with the sports metaphor, but the lawn mower is certainly not a ritual. It's just the way you do something.

As for the rest, to me it's the lack of inherent meaning in a ritual that I am not familiar with, and ,in this case, the fact that that meaning is foreign.

[Dosho]

Of course mowing is a ritual! And it is nothing but Buddha!

Forgive me if this sounds harsh and I am only a priest in training, but take your toes out of the water and jump in with your whole body and being. You can always get out (but not really since you were always in!).

Just do it!

Gassho,
Dosho

[Risho]

I actually posted something anti-ritual again, but then as I took my dogs out I thought about what Kyrillos said and what Taigu said, and Kirk and myself. So I removed it. I really need to practice these more to investigate what they mean (as Taigu said earlier). I do adopt some of the rituals and feel less comfortable with others. So why is that? And this way is important to me, and it's not something I'm going to just drop because my ego is so convinced that the rituals aren't necessary.

Part of my posts is that I like to argue and debate. lol But I was going to argue that these rituals are foreign because they come from a different time ,but sports rituals are not because they are done now. Perhaps my acceptance of one over the other is that I'm used to seeing people do the sports rituals but not the Zen rituals and I'm not comfortable just expressing myself. Because they are both odd. hahahah Anyway, I'm done posting on this I will be practicing.

Gassho,

Risho

P.S. Thank you Kyrillos for your thoughtful post.

[Mp]

Of course mowing is a ritual! And it is nothing but Buddha!

Forgive me if this sounds harsh and I am only a priest in training, but take your toes out of the water and jump in with your whole body and being. You can always get out (but not really since you were always in!).

Just do it!

Gassho,
Dosho

Nicely put Dosho, thank you.

Gassho
Michael

[Emmet]

to me it's the lack of inherent meaning in a ritual that I am not familiar with, and ,in this case, the fact that that meaning is foreign.

Every ritual act should have inherent meaning; otherwise, what's the point? Every bell and bow means something to me, and I execute them mindfully. The one exception which I can think of is the Shosai Myokichijo Darani; "the Dharani to Allay Disasters"; the only chant we don't do in English. Neither I, nor any member of my sangha, speak Japanese, so it feels like meaningless gibberish to me. It doesn't inspire confidence to know that it's traditionally chanted before an effigy of Idaten, a mythical guardian deity, which smacks of what I consider to be superstitious bunkum. I don't feel like I derive much benefit from it as it appears to me to be devoid of meaning, but there are many things whose value is not readily apparent to me, not because of their inherent lack of value, but because of my lack of sufficient depth of insight. But as I belong to this sangha, which belongs to a lineage tradition, and as this is our practice, which my teacher and our predecessors consider to be of value, I will sound the keisu bells and chant with everyone as earnestly as if it were the Heart Sutra or Four Vows (in English). I still have much to learn, and this might be one of the lessons. Sometimes I think the key to learning isn't being particularly smart, but simply being open-minded.

[Jundo]

Actually, that sounds like my sometimes modus operandi too! I may have a strange idea of what is "Buddha", and what is "sacred" and ways to appreciate Buddha ... and it is unusual from what you may find in more traditional Buddhist Sangha.

Sometimes, when I do a ceremony, I place on the Altar anything that strikes my heart ... As a personal Practice, often when I lead a ceremony or sitting for a group, I replace the Buddha statue on the altar with whatever comes to mind ... sometimes a car tire, a dirty diaper, a trash can, a flower, a rock or an open space without any thing at all. Other times, I just bow to the Statue that is there. Once, after 9-11, I replaced the statue with 3 photos ... Mother Theresa, George Bush and Osama bin Laden. That really upset some folks in the group! I had people walk out of the sitting!

But, you know, what isn't the Buddha? And for me, if you think I degradate or insult the Buddha by replacing him(her) with a trash can, or that I raise up the trash can in praise, you miss the point I think. All of life is sacred, all the "Buddha" when seen as such.

By the way, we do not "worship the idol". I take a Buddha statue ... and the Kesa ... as primarily a symbol, like a Crucifix or Star of David, which reminds us of a "greater reality". At heart, it is just wood or stone or cloth. However, all wood and stones and cloths are sacred.

This inspired me as I haven't done so for awhile ... so time to switch the Buddha on the Altar tomorrow during our Zazenkai with Buddha!

Gassho, J

Today's Buddha on the Altar during our Zazenkai was an old rubber boot (watch the first few minutes). Boot-dha.

How vast is Buddha? About a size 9 (42 in Europe)

How do you recognize a Buddhist boot? It has no soul. (I gotta million of 'em)

Of course mowing is a ritual! And it is nothing but Buddha!

It is, but a ritual I need to perform more.

Every ritual act should have inherent meaning; otherwise, what's the point? Every bell and bow means something to me, and I execute them mindfully. The one exception which I can think of is the Shosai Myokichijo Darani; "the Dharani to Allay Disasters"; the only chant we don't do in English. Neither I, nor any member of my sangha, speak Japanese, so it feels like meaningless gibberish to me. It doesn't inspire confidence to know that it's traditionally chanted before an effigy of Idaten, a mythical guardian deity, which smacks of what I consider to be superstitious bunkum

Me too, which is why I do not chant it. An 'abracadabra' hocus-pocus magic spell of gibberish to prevent bad things from happening, and I will not chant it. Poppycock. I would rather dance the macarena in front of the Altar for all the effect it has. In fact, have done just that.

Taigu chants it during our annual Rohatsu Retreat, and you will have to ask him his reasons for doing so ... but I think it is mostly because he has a beautiful voice and likes doing it! When he does, I hum along to be polite. Taigu?

Gassho, J

[Jundo]

By the way ...

Dharani are chants, sometimes intelligible but often unintelligible as the original Indian meanings have been lost (for example, they are chanted phonetically in Japanese vaguely based on purely phonetic Chinese, itself based on some original long lost Indian words!! ), often felt to have protective, good fortune bringing or other special powers thought to derive from the power of the sound (more than the lost meaning). Mantra are similar, but typically shorter. Dharani are recited as part of standard Soto rituals, and in most other schools of Buddhism.

I do not recite many Dharani here at Treeleaf, for I tend to consider them too much "hocus pocus and abracadarba". As discussed, Taigu sometimes does.

Below is what I write on why I will not chant magic spells, but I do feel at home to chant certain Mantra, such as at the end of the Heart Sutra ...

Gate! Gate! (Already Gone, Gone)
Paragate! (Already Gone Beyond)
Parasamgate! (Already Fully Beyond)
Bodhi! Svaha! * (Awakening, Rejoice)

---------------------------

I would say that this all depends how one defines a Mantra in one's heart. In much of Buddhism and related religions of India (although something very similar can be found in about all religions really ... e.g., like "God Is Great/Allahu al-Akbar" in Islam, an orthodox Jew's reciting the sacred letters of Torah, or "Praise Jesus" in some corners of Christianity), it is a sound, word or words that create transformation in some way.

Now, the meaning of "creates transformation" can mean anything from (a) a magic "abracadabra" incantation to the Buddhas or gods asking for their power, support or favor to cure one's disease, get a good grade on an exam, have business success or grant admission to some Heaven or good rebirth in a future incarnation etc. ... to (b) a simple reminder or focus of the mind on some subtle spiritual truth while calming and steadying the heart&mind. In most cases, I would say that Mantras have been used as a mix of (a) and (b) throughout their history. In my view, it depends on the heart of the chanter whether (a) or (b) is the dominant motive, but that most lay folks throughout history in Asia (including in many modern Buddhist groups active in the West) chant Mantra with a heavy dose of (a).

Now, with regard to (b), those "spiritual truths" can range anywhere from "simple, yet subtle truths" of wisdom and compassion to incredibly dense and complicated systems, whole philosophies and esoteric systems, much like the Jews have found the whole system of Kabbalah in the sounds of the Hebrew Alphabet and some Buddhists or Hindus all levels-upon-levels of cosmic meanings in Sanskrit sounds.

I feel in my heart that the little Mantra at the endless end of the Heart Sutra ... with its emphasis on Wisdom and Emptiness ... is (b), as is the whole Heart Sutra. Moreover, the lessons there are infinitely profound and subtle, yet simple too as the breeze or the sound of raindrops. In Zen, we tend to avoid the "intricate complicated, esoteric philosophies and systems". We are content to be simple minded.

Also, Mantras and Dharani ... like classical music ... can have a profound meaning often beyond words that is spoken to the heart. That is fine. All sounds arise from and return to Silence! The bare sounds truly can resonate with the heart and outward into space. If you have no problem, and it makes your heart feel good, to walk down the street on a summer day, singing the Beatle's unintelligible "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", then why not the Dharani's equally unintelligible "gya gya gya ki gya ki" if it rings in your heart?

...

My real objection is to those Dharani and Mantras used quite clearly as abracadabra magic spells and incantations to get some material benefit such as a new job or new car or love or even medical recovery. I believe that, for most people, that is the way they have been primarily thought of and used through the centuries. Often the ways in which we chant "to get stuff" can be much more hidden and subtle, and we should be cautious.

...

We usually chant in English as the common language we share in this international Sangha. We also chant in Japanese (to be exact, "Sino-Japanese", the Japanese pronunciation of classical Chinese) from time to time out of respect for tradition and honoring our "roots" (Sometimes, but more rarely, we chant something in Sanskrit). I also agree that it is important to understand the philosophy and perspectives presented in the words of the Heart Sutra, the Identity of Relative and Absolute and all of the other chants we chant. (I even translated the little Mantra that closes the Heart Sutra into understandable English in our Chant Book).

However, there is also a point where we "Just Chant" (like "Just Sit") ... throwing one-self into the chanting. In such case, it does not matter if we chant in English, Japanese, Esperanto, Martian or Silently. Got the point?

On the other hand, I do not encourage around here the Chanting of "Dharani", even several traditional to the Soto school and Zen in general. It is just too much "abracadabra" removed from all sense of meaning.

Read a bit more about Dharani here ... by D.T. Suzuki

http://sacred-texts.com/bud/mzb/mzb02.htm

Gassho, J

[Emmet]

Very good stuff Jundo, thank you.

[Taigu]

yes I like doing it (though challenging), I like its sound ( not mine, but the sound in my heart) and wish its reality to pervade the four corners of this universe (and it does already, with or without it)
Dharani stuff is expressing what is already, not what should, could , ought to be...
The magic is in the being with this.


gassho


T.