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Today I have committed to re-starting a simple daily practice.I will start by lighting an incense stick and offering it to the Buddha on my little shrine, reciting the Impermanence Verse: “Time has passed with the swiftness of light…” (page 4). I will then do five prostrations using the prostrations chant.
As an optional extra I can then sit for a while and either be quiet or do some chanting. I’m keeping it short and simple to make sure that I have no excuses not to do it every morning.
I’ll finish by chanting three times: By the grace that I receive through Amitabha’s vows may I be moved to deeds for the benefit of all.
I’d love to hear about your daily practice if you have one, and if not, will you join me by committing to starting one. You can read about starting Amida Shu practice at home here to help you decide what you’d like to do. Let’s support each other in remembering the Buddha. Namo Amida Bu.
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My daily practice is observing…which may not be in connecting with any spirit, but then maybe it is? I write a small piece of poetry every morning – I have for years since I started writing ‘small stones’ 😉
for example here is this mornings (which I might add to…just observing ‘Stella’ our Nor’easter snow storm which has already dumped about 6″ of the predicted 18″ inches of snow here).
Stella’s Spring Dig
(Elfje…)
1)
Nor’easter
Packing its
Punches in inches
Snow’s shut down the
City~Jules
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I do my daily practice with my partner, Ian. We do 10 minutes in the morning and 5 at night. Ian does Zazen. We sit by our shrine with statues of Shakyamuni and Kuan-Yin. I light a candle and incense. I do bows and silently chant the Nembutsu. There are lots of things on the shrine which other people have given to us- a piece of a Buddhist temple in India, given by Greta at our civil partnership ceremony (she bought it from the monks, she didn’t saw it off with a nail file), cards, stones, little statues, different incense holders, a mandala my sister brought back from Nepal…
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Connecting deeply with the natural world and writing poetry sound pretty spiritual to me! Hoping that Stella isn’t too extreme, Jules! She sounds quite feisty.
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Rev Sujatin,
Thank you. I am glad I remembered to fill my bird feeder. It is a delight to watch the Cardinals, Woodpeckers, Chickadees, Mourning Doves and Junco’s stop by.
Stella is slowing down…in our area at least. Thankfully we have good neighbors, one with a larger snow blower than the one I have has helped several neighbors by clearing walkways and driveways. Later today or tomorrow I think I’ll bake something for them.
My snowblower is not large and does not like the wintery icy mix. So I had to do quite a bit of shoveling by hand. Hope things are ‘Springing Up’ your way.
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Andrew, I think that it is great that you and your partner practice together. That is quite rare around here in Baltimore.
My latest little ceremony has been the Dawn Prayers, homage to the three jewels, nembutsu, homage to Prajna Paramita, Kwan Shi Yin, and the Pure Land, and a dedication of merit. Sometimes, I also sit silently in traditional zazen, with my eyes to the floor, or I will look up to my Amida scroll for a little while.
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I call it my “daily, non-traditional [from a Christian perspective] prayers” … every morning I can, I light a candle and place it before a Buddha figurine (occasionally one that includes Kuan Yin), bow and say the nembutsu in all 4 directions. Then I pray in a fairly traditional way, using some prayer phrases I learned in Eastern Orthodox (Christian) prayer books: “Save and have mercy on …” everyone from each family member in my own and my wife’s extended families, the sick and the suffering (by name), public officials and servants (especially “first responders), the poor, hungry, homeless, lonely, etc. etc. If there’s time, and if I even feel like it by this point, I pray for myself as well, but only after the other parts are covered. Occasionally this tails off into a period of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual silence. I have just had to come to terms with the fact I am spiritually an amphibian, at home in 2 spiritual domains, Pure Land (Shinshu) and a broad Christianity (Quaker despite the origin of the prayer phrases).
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Hi Paul, welcome.
This page, http://www.amidamandala.com/how-to-start-to-practice-at-home/, has links to audio recordings of chants you can practice at home. Or you could do a simple recitation practice where you say, “Namo Amida Bu” for each bead you move on a mala.
Hope that helps a little, let me know if you have any specific questions, or we could Skype sometime if you’d rather speak face to face.
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Every morning I say the impermanence prayer in front of my shrine. Such a wonderful prayer that reminds me of how fragile our lives are. I then bow and say Namo Amida Bu. In the evening I light an incense stick as an offering to Amida. Some days I miss the evening practice. I must try harder without becoming too attached to rituals rather than Nembutsu.
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My daily practice starts with silent meditation. Then a prayer to Odin all father.
Iam here father,you have called me,
And iam here.
Where your wind talks to trees,
And carries your ravens to the mountains,
Where the last of the old ones live.
Iam here father,I take possession of my Heritage, and step into the line of my ancestors,
I grasp the spear of my will,and gird myself with the courage of seekers.
I draw the runes of power around me.
Then I light incense sticks on my garden shrine and chant the nembutsu.
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My daily practice tends to be a mixture of my Norse beliefs and my Buddhist beliefs from my days at the Buddhist house,some might not understand how I mix the two,but it works for me my Wa (harmony) is very good and each day is a new blessing.my last heart operation was very bad and I nearly( or as one nurse said I did for a while) died because of a severed artery.this caused a blood clot that caused my stroke.but I survived.so each day is a new life and a reason to celebrate namo amida bu.
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I pray the Dawn Prayers and read the Summary of Faith and Practice on many days, though not all, with sung nembutsu, maybe a mala or two, interspersed. I recite the rosary prayers pretty much every day, speaking whatever’s foremost in the heart to Nyorai, as Mother of God. Doing so has been my main daily practice for two years now. Somehow, each of these activities – nembutsu, rosary – have come to embrace and imply the other, over time: the same entrusting gesture, as it were. Namo Amida Bu, sometimes Namo Quan Shi Yin Bosat, moves among all else, silently on the breath, or spoken quietly. I’m not at all sure this is a coherent way to proceed. In fact, I’m fairly sure its not very coherent. A work in progress, just as we are, as ever. Silent meditation I’ve all but abandoned as a formal practice, some years ago now.
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For right now I do some formal chanting of Namu Amida Bu in the evening after work on mala beads. During the day I informally mentally or silently repeat the Nembutsu to myself while commuting or at work. I am currently reading the NienFo Book and seeing how I can incorporate it into my formal practice. I am also trying to get up earlier in the mornings to pray before and chant some Nembutsu formally to start my day off.
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Vittorio – I don’t see any reason not to! If Amida has called you and connected with your heart in this form then, along with Nembutsu chanting, this would make a beautiful, profound and meaningful practice for you. What a blessing!
Junirai “The Twelve Adorations”
About Junirai
Junirai was written by Nagarjuna (c. 2nd –3rd BCE) the first of the Seven Masters of Jodo Shinshu. It expresses eloquently the depth of Nagarjuna’s gratitude to Amida Buddha.
(translation below)
KEI SHU TEN NIN SHO KU GYO
A MI DA SEN RYO ZOKU SON
ZAI HI MI MYO AN RAKU KOKU
MU RYO BUSHI SHU I NYO
KON JIKI SHIN JO NYO SEN NO
SHA MA TA GYO NYO ZO BU
RYO MOKU JO NYAKU SHO REN GE
KO GA CHO RAI MI DA SON
MEN ZEN EN JO NYO MAN GATSU
I KO YU NYO SEN NICHI GATSU
SHO NYO TEN KU KU SHI RA
KO GA CHO RAI MI DA SON
KWAN NON CHO DAI KWAN CHU JU
SHU JU MYO SO HO SHO GON
NO BUKU GE DO MA KYO MAN
KO GA CHO RAI MI DA SON
MU BI MU KU KO SHO JO
SHU TOKU KYO KETSU NYO KO KU
SHO SA RI YAKU TOKU JI ZAI
KO GA CHO RAI MI DA SON
JIPPO MYO MON BO SASSHU
MU RYO SHO MA JO SAN DAN
ISHO SHU JO GAN RIKI JU
KO GA CHO RAI MI DA SON
KON TAI HO KEN CHI SHO KE
ZEN GON SHO JO MYO DAI ZA
O HI ZA JO NYO SEN NO
KO GA CHO RAI MI DA SON
JIPPO SHO RAI SHO BUSSHI
KEN GEN JIN ZU SHI AN RAKU
SEN GO SON GEN JO KU GYO
KO GA CHO RAI MI DA SON
SHO U MU JO MU GA TO
YAKU NYO SUI GATSU DEN YO RO
I SHU SEPPO MU MYO JI
KO GA CHO RAI MI DA SON
HI SON BUSSETSU MU AKU MYO
YAKU MU NYO NIN AKU DO FLI
SHU NIN SHI SHIN KYO HI SON
KO GA CHO RAI MI DA SON
HI SON MU RYO HO BEN KYO
MU U SHO SHU AKU CHI SHIKI
O JO FU TAI SHI BO DAI
KO GA CHO RAI MI DA SON
GA SETSU HI SON KU DOKU JI
SHU ZEN MU HEN NYO KAI SUI
SHO GYAKU ZEN GON SHO JO SHA
E SE SHU JO SHO HI KOKU
NAMANDABU
NAMANDABU
NAMANDABU
NAMANDABU
NAMANDABU
NAMANDABU
EKOKU
GAN NI SHI KU DO KU
BYO DO SE ISSAI
DO HON BO DAI SHIN
O JO U AN RA KOKU
The English translation of this gatha is from the Shinshu Seiten, Jodo Shin Buddhist Teaching, published by the Buddhist Churches of America, 1978.
Junirai Translation
Before Amida Buddha, whom Deva and men worship,I humble myself in deepest reverence.
In His wondrous Land of Bliss
Surrounded is He by countless Bodhisattvas.
His golden form shines forth pure, like the King of Mount (Sumeru);
His practice of Truth is steadfast, like an elephant’s pace;
His eyes radiate, like pure blue lotus blossoms.
Thus I prostrate myself before Amida Buddha.
His countenance is perfectly pure and round, like the full moon;
His majestic light shines like a thousand suns and moons;
His voice is like a heavenly drum, yet like a heavenly bird (Kokila).
Thus I prostrate myself before Amida Buddha.
Avalokitesvara wears upon his crown,
The image of Amida adorned with many precious jewels,
He subdues the arrogance of demons and heretics,
Thus I prostrate myself before Amida Buddha.
Incomparable, vast and pure His Virtues are,
Clearly extending like vast open space,
His acts freely benefiting all.
Thus I prostrate myself before Amida Buddha.
Bodhisattvas from the ten quarters
And countless maras always venerate Him.
He dwells with Vow-power for the sake of all beings.
Thus I prostrate myself before Amida Buddha.
In the Golden treasure pond where the lotus flowers bloom,
Established with goodness is a wondrous throne;
Where reigns the Lord, like the King of Mount (Sumeru).
Thus I prostrate myself before Amida Buddha.
From the ten quarters Bodhisattvas come,
Revealing wondrous powers, they attain blissful state;
Honoring His face, they offer eternal homage.
Thus I prostrate myself before Amida Buddha.
All things are transient and without self
Like the moon on water, lightning, shadow, or dew.
“The Dharma cannot be expressed by words,” the Buddha proclaimed.
Thus I prostrate myself before Amida Buddha.
No words of evil are in His Land;
No fear of evil doers, nor evil paths;
With sincere heart all beings worship Him.
Thus I prostrate myself before Amida Buddha.
His Land of infinite expediencies
Is without degenerate things or wicked beings;
Upon Rebirth, Non-Retrogressive Bodhi does one attain.
Thus I prostrate myself before Amida Buddha.
Thus have I praised the Virtues of Amida.
Boundless are they like the water of the sea.
Upon receiving these pure and good qualities
May all beings be reborn into his Land.
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