Here's an open thread to celebrate the big day. No, not the Royal Wedding. The 758th Anniversary of chanting daimoku as a primary Buddhist practice!
As brooke noted a couple years ago:
According to legend...Nichiren first chanted Namu-myoho-renge-kyo. I choose to believe differently, however. I believe that he uttered the mantra sometime before April 28, 1253. But on this date, he resolved to make daimoku his primary practice. And yes, he chanted Namu. Granted, this was not the first time in the history of the world that daimoku was chanted, and Nichiren did not invent the mantra. (Contrary to popular belief.) However, April 28, 1253 was the start of daimoku-chanting-as-primary-practice.
Namu. salut!
24 comments
Finally figured out how to fix the permissions eh?BTW, there is no way you can say Nichiren chanted Namu or Nam that day. Martin Bradley states that Nichiren writes NMRK with Namu as a purposeful contraction, and he is an expert in such things.Cool that you're back. I'll announce it on my site. :)
Ok, so I've been chanting for 20 years. My practice has evolved over time. I feel I have made it more a reflection of how I relate to the gohonzon, and to dharma in general -- more "me." And, yeah, I think that's a good thing.I used to have a superhuge fancy butsudan with miltiple tiers and lights (I still have it, but it's in a closet.) Now, I have just a simple, low table as an altar. My gohonzon is in a glass frame on the wall above. (Yes, it's one of "those" gohonzon.)I have a room dedicated as my altar/ meditation/ chanting room. I used to sit on the floor on a persian rug. Sometimes I would use one of those little wooden benches for kneeling, but it was really hard on my knees.I made a change a couple weeks ago that has REVOLUTIONIZED my practice. It makes me so happy, and it's so simple. I should have done it years ago. I finally took a clue from my Shambhala friends and got myself a zafu and zabuton.Why are meditation cushions not standard equipment for Nichiren Buddhists? Does Nichiren Shu use these? If so, they win. The right cushions make it easy to sit in the right posture for long stretches of time.This sounds like a sales pitch, I know. But my point is: making a change in something unrelated to doctrine or organizational affiliations can make a huge difference in how you appreciate and relate to your practice.After 20 years, my advice to new practitioners is... Don't splurge on a butsudan. Get yourself a nice set of cushions and use them. I got mine fromhttp://www.samadhicushions.com/
You'll need Google Earth installed on your computer. This is pretty cool, as it shows the exact spot Nichiren first chanted NMRK, and various other sites. Notice that Nichiren's home is now submerged in the pacific. :)http://callmequeequeg.com/?p=54Courtesy of Queequeg, an outstanding member of the Nichiren Sangha.
Hi, first post on this site. Thank you for the kind words Mark!I plan to keep updating the tour, so check back from time to time. :)
Markp, my understanding is that Josei Toda, when he was the second president of the Soka Gakkai, requested that Nichiren Shoshu priests chant "Nam" instead of "Namu" so people could chant faster and therefore "get benefit" faster.Is this true, or is this apocryphal?When I first started my practice, I learned to chant in the "machine gun" style of SGI, with rapid-fire daimoku using "nam." Many people with whom I practiced hardly uttered syllables at all. Rather, daimoku became a yammering blend of noise.When I left SGI, I adopted a practice of chanting Namu, along with all other syllables of daimoku (similar to how it is chanted in the "Get your chant on" video mroaks posted earlier.) I did this partly as a reaction to what I considered the SGI bastardization of daimoku, and also because I prefer the sound of the mantra with "namu."
It doesn't matter whether you chant nam or namu. They are both equally the same, but nam is easier to chant than namu when chanting for long periods. I use both. When chanting Daimoku, I use nam. When chanting Sansho, I use namu.The controversy surrounding this I find to be ridiculous. As long as you are getting benefit, who cares? :)My point was that there is no way anyone can go back in time and say for sure what Nichiren first chanted, but it is highly likely that it was one or the other. :)
Hi Auntie,That story you heard about Toda is not true.Its not a change introduced by Soka Gakkai. Giving SG too much credit. I don't think anyone in Soka Gakkai would be stupid enough to make that claim, so it has to be something that originates outside of Japan in SGI or something made up by an SG/SGI critic. In any event, not true.As far as I can tell, all the Fuji Schools (schools claiming lineage to Nikko Shonin) chant "Nam". I have also heard "Nam" chanted in Kamakura temples, though I don't recall their sectarian association. Definitely not Shoshu.The difference between "Namu" and "Nam" is that the latter is a contraction - like "Do not" and "Don't". This may be a regional thing - may be sectarian. The people who make the biggest deal about Namu seem to be people associated with Kyoto based schools. Maybe they have preserved the oral tradition better than the temples in the region where Nichiren was actually active, or maybe its a prejudice of the proper speech etiquette of people in the Capitol. Who knows. In any event, the Japanese that Nichiren spoke was probably nearly as different from modern Japanese as middle English from modern English.Silly debate. Probably has more to do with pegging you as associated with one school or one region rather than another.
With all due respect to those who say that the difference between nam and namu is a pointless distiction, I have to disagree.1. It makes a difference when you get together as a group to chant, and some people in your group chant nam and some chant namu. Namu adds an extra beat, so you can't just ignore the distinction. Which do you chant, nam or namu? Who decides? This is a practical issue that actually comes up in real life.2. The people who say the difference is no big deal are almost always the ones who insist that the "right" way for chanting group daimoku is to say Nam. As QQ points out, these are mostly people with a fuji-school background. Maybe it's not a big issue for them -- because they have no problem with the whole package of fuji-based assumptions about Nichiren Buddhism. However, some Nichiren Buddhists repudiate significant elements of fuji interpretations. Chanting Namu is part of this. Chanting Namu is a symbolic but also very practical way to express an interpretation of Nichiren Buddhism different than fuji. Chanting Namu is a sign that you know and respect this difference.3. Linguistically, there may be no difference in the literal mean of Nam and Namu, but there are layers of cultural meaning and history between the two. It may seem like a "silly argument," but there's a lot more to it than there is to the difference between "can't" and "cannot."
Hey Brook, please put the NBLocator on the site somewhere. http://nblocater.orgSorry, spelled it wrong when getting the domain, and now I'm stuck with it. :)
These things that separate the practitioners of Nichiren Buddhism were designed to attract followers. They are distinctions that have no consequence in the end except to get someone to practice with this or that temple. They carry the consequences of money, in that if you can make a distinction that people like you get more money.The Fuji school banked their distinction on the True Buddha, hoping that it would attract a Japanese audience that wants there to be a Japanese Buddha. The Shu replied with their own distinction which is both Namu and the Eternal Buddha as a man, which is as wrong as Nichiren as the True Buddha.This has led to nothing other than the slander of Nichiren practitioners. This is the only benefit of distinctions! Damn, what a benefit. I can now go through thousands of years of hell because I'm slandering other Nichiren practitioners! Great!Kempon Hokke went even further in their slander of Nichiren sects, but their main distinction is also the Eternal Buddha and nam v namu. The problem with all this slander is that most of it is based on "Letter to Niike" which by their own admission is a forgery!How weird is that? That's the Japanese psyche for you!Joe is also right in his assessment of what is going on. We become members of a sect and now we need enemies to sustain us, and we have given ourselves plenty of enemies. The problem is that those enemies are ourselves!
Hi Brooke,Not a pointless distinction, but for me, its academic. If you find meaning in the distinction, fair enough. As you will.I'm looking for the Nichiren community to grow out of all this sectarianism. Westerners are kind of screwed from the get go because most of us were introduced to Nichiren through the prism of a particularly intolerant iteration of Nichiren Buddhism. You say tomayto, I say tomahto, let's call the whole thing off... and that's the problem with this. It introduces a basis for schisms. It divides the house. And over what? What really seems to me a regional difference in dialects that has somehow someway been elevated to the level of doctrine.From what I understand, the priests of almost all sects attend Rissho University. Only Shoshu has stopped sending their priests there because they established their own University. Soka Gakkai and Rissho Koseikai both have their own universities as well, but they don't really have clergy to train. Even where schools disagree on doctrine, most still get together to share scholarly research findings at regular conferences. Soka Gakkai and Rissho Koseikai participate. The only people who don't participate is Shoshu and that's mostly because they start citing to authorities that no other sects accept and everyone is reduced to blank stares. Maybe you have a few hardcore fuju-fuse adherents around here and there, but that seems to be the exception. Most seem to be cooperative and ecumenically oriented enough to get together and discuss scholarly and doctrinal matters. This works as long as people aren't telling each other one is categorically right and others categorically wrong with no room for discussion.Some things to point out. Nam or Namu, its still six beats. If we were to imagine Daimoku as 6/8 time, Namu would be eighth notes, and the rest quarter notes. titi ta ta ta ta ta, titi ta ta ta ta ta. Six beats seems to have some significance for Buddhist chants. Om mani padme om. Namu Amida Butsu. Tientai refers to the benefits of Avalokitesvara mantras in six beats for purification in the MohoChihkuan/Makashikan. Six Paramitas. "Sad means six" "perfect endowment" etc.Another point, maybe you are aware, but for anyone following along out there who may not know - the Fuji School does not mean only Nichiren Shoshu and its offshoot SGI. It also includes Honmon Shoshu based at Nishiyama, the Nikko faction of Nichiren Shu headquartered at Kitayama, as well as a few others. Only Shoshu believes Nichiren is the honbutsu and that the Daigohonzon is the mothership honzon. Not even Nishiyama where all this Nichiren true buddha stuff apparently started doesn't accept that doctrine anymore.My sense is this Nam/Namu thing has gotten blown out of proportion. When claims about orthodoxy are attached to grammatical choices that I sense are regional, well... it is what it is.
Sure you guys. I get the theory. But it remains a problem in practice. QQ, you say it's the same number of beats. But when you get together with two people who chant like this:http://www.buddhajones.com/upl...And two people who chant like this:http://www.buddhajones.com/upl...How can you have unity? The only way to chant together is to pick a "side." So my question is, which do you pick? How do you pick so everyone is respected?The second way is considered normative by most Americans I know who chant. But as you say, most of us came to chanting via introduction by NShoshu/SGI.And now, many of us have discovered that half the stuff we learned in NShoshu/SGI is utter nonsense (for example, as you mentioned, the Daigohonzon and Nichiren as True Buddha.) So that calls into question EVERYTHING asserted by NShoshu/SGI.Most of us "independents" want to find an inclusive way to practice. I'm not trying to reinforce divisions.If someone wants to suggest a "compromise" way to chant, send in an audio file (mp3 format, please.) Maybe we should post the choices and vote!....Actually, I was being sarcastic. But on second thought, I think that's an interesting idea. If you'd would like to, please send a recording of how Group Daimoku should be chanted (in your opinion) to nine@buddhajones.com. (Nine Lives, I volunteered you to handle this. :0)
Have you ever sang a capella? :) Six beats is six beats. Nam over Namu - the rest is the same. Just takes a little getting used to. Let's say it together - Tomato.Or how about alternating Nam and Namu every daimoku?My family chants Nam, sometimes I'll say nam, but mostly I say Namu - but in my case, the "u" is clipped, even silent, and becomes just an annunciated "Nam'(uh) Myo". Even saying namu I don't chant as slowly as the sound clip.Tempo is probably more an issue. Personally, I can't take the slow funeral pace of some people's chants. But I grew up on lightning fast gongyo and daimoku of NSA YMD meetings. What do?Its not something that is going to get resolved in short order. Unlike some people, conformity among independents who want to join together in fellowship can't be made to all get on the same page by fiat. We'll have to work it out the way it ought to be worked out - the hard way - by attrition. But the first thing that has to be off the table is elevating the choice if Nam or Namu to dogma.The desire for fellowship is going to have to moderate our attachments to Nam or Namu. For the sake of sangha, I'll say it however you need me to say it.
"So that calls into question EVERYTHING asserted by NShoshu/SGI."Yeah. I hear that.Its too bad, because SG/Shoshu, for their definite shortcomings, are Buddhism. They just make a few terribly unfortunate decisions about doctrine. SGI (don't confuse SG and SGI - very different movements), I'm not so sure about, and the more they spin out into this netherworld of Mentor worship, the less Buddhism they seem to be. At best, a Buddhism-like substitute you can add to your coffee.
Buddhism needs to be in the native language. Instead of arguing over Japanese, sectarian differences, best to develop the Daimoku in the language of one's country.For instance, in EnglishI'm sure the Daimoku in English can be found.http://www.saddharmapundarika....http://www.saddharmapundarika.com
Whatever it is, it ought to work out to six beats.How about "Namu Sublime Law White Lotus Teaching" with each word one beat. Just gave it a try and it might just take a little getting used to and training the tongue to rattle it off.:)
Should be a reply to Daimoku in English.
Re: English Daimoku suggestion above. Don't think I can get behind this idea right now. Put it out there as a suggestion, but I'm not about to go out blazing that trail. haha.
Implied in the idea that chants ought to be spoken in one's native language is that there is not absolute expression it must follow. Its a sense of flexibility in expression. Presumably, the main idea behind translating chants is so that the person speaking the chant understands it.I think demanding strict adherence to the idea that everything MUST be translated is just as extreme a position as saying the chant MUST be uttered in the exact manner established by The Authority. There is no direct translation of Namah in English. Its not just a term of reverence, but also includes a mode of behavior and consciousness that simply is not part of the language and culture. It should not be underestimated how much language and culture condition experience to the point that it can to a large degree open as well as limit types of experience a person can have. There are terms with specific feelings that I know in Japanese that I simply cannot express in English, just as there are ideas I can't express in Japanese because they only exist in English. Speaking with others who are also multililingual I understand that this is very common. Language is an ever evolving thing - contrary to the opinions of those who want us all speaking some "proper" English. What up, yo? There are many many words in English that are of foreign origin and through use become "English." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F...Karma for instance has become an "English" word. Beef is derived from the French word for Cow, just as Pork is pig, poultry is chicken, etc.You'd be going through just as many hoops to inject the meaning of Namah into a preexisting English word as simply adopting the term into English.The key is flexibility and getting meaning across, not strict adherence to some abstract rule, especially when that rule would tend to get in the way of accomplishing what it is purported to accomplish. Declaring that everything must be categorically translated into one's native language seems to be one of those rules that will get you painted into a corner of rules for the sake of rules.
I understand your POV. But perhaps the ramifications of foreign Daimoku, might not be fully appreciated. Nichiren didn't go for either exact Sanskrit or Chinese.I am sure there are a number of translation of Nam'u
What are some of the ramifications you have in mind? I'm not set in any particular choice, but changing the Daimoku into English is a pretty drastic step that is going to need a load of compelling arguments to adjust what the majority of people do now.And I'm not sure there is really any translation of Namah in English that captures its nuance. That's probably why Namah became Namo in Chinese and Namu in Japanese - that Indian term is pretty unique.