If you have attended retreats or dharma assemblies at the Holy Vajrassana Temple, you have probably used our chant book and you may have noticed that it is evolving. We started with pretty much what our other temples did only we tried to make it bilingual, doing many chants in both English and Chinese and sometimes in Spanish and/or Tibetan. The Buddha Master told us we should understand the meaning of what we chant, so overtime we have replaced older more traditional Chinese chants with ones that reflect the foundational teachings of the Buddha so we could reflect on our cultivation each day as well as pay our respect to various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and express our gratitude for their blessings and teachings. Disciples have requested copies for their own use or to take back to their dharma centers and temples or personal use so we posted it on the temple website with the same introduction given above. My intention is to introduce you on this BLOG to the various chants and share what I know about them.
The Chant book contains four sections: chants for our morning service that is done every day at 6:00 am and a shorter evening service that happens at 5:00 pm. You may join us at any time for those. Even when we are holding retreats, others may usually join us as long as they respect the fact that we are observing silence (not all are silent retreats). The other two chants are used before we start and when we end a class.
In Learning From Buddha the Buddha Master told us we should reflect on what the Buddhas taught us three times a day. Our daily chant book enables us to do just that. We include the most basic teachings and provide a period of silence to reflect on how well we have observed and followed those teachings. When the Supreme and Unsurpassable Mahamudra of Liberation is available in English, more will be added and/or revised; likewise for Imparting the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra. The Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra itself needs to be changed to reflect the teachings by H.H. Dorje Chang Buddha III. We tried chanting the new translation at a recent retreat and it works, even if it doesn’t have the beat of what we are now using. I am hopeful that I can get permission to use it asap as it does reflect a different Mahayana understanding of the truth of that great sutra. I have been chanting and loving a version similar to what we are using for over 35 years, so this will take some adjustment, but now that I see it differently, I very much want to change. We will be studying the part that impacted me so much at our October retreat, so those of you who will attend will understand.
One point the Buddha Master makes in His Heart Sutra commentary is that we need to follow both Pure Land and esoteric dharma. Our Chant Book does that. I believe that most or at least many of the original chants we include from Hua Zang Si are Pure Land Chants. I admit that my goal was to replace more of them, but that has changed since I have been able to read Imparting the Absolute Truth through the Heart Sutra.
I must put in another plug for that incredible book. Please try and find a way to read it, even in preliminary form. It is so profound and easy to understand. Part of the translation still needs work, but even so, it is by far the most wonderful book of dharma that I have ever found. CLICK for more on book and CLICK AGAIN for schedule of where and when you may read it. Because it is so profound and challenging, I am not sure when it will be released. Don’t wait. Learn what you can now and read it again many times when an approved version is available. I have added an expanded “Table of Contents” to give you a better idea of all that is included.
CLICK for on-line copy of chants.
CLICK for Index to all articles on individual Chants. This will be updated as more chants are added to blog.
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