For chanting we mostly chant in Japanese rather than using English translations, though there are one or two exceptions. The symbol ⊙ marks the striking of the orin bell, ⊘ clamping the bell with the bai wand. To download our chantsheets, please see the bottom of this page.
Takkesage 搭袈裟偈 – Draping on the Okesa Verse
Just before the end of the second 25-minute zazen, we chant the Robe Verse three times while facing the wall.
Okesa Verse
大 哉 解 脱 服
DA – I SA – I GE DAP – PUKU
無 相 福 田 衣
MU SOU FU KU DE – N E
披 奉 如 来 教
HI BU NYO RA – I KYOU
広 度 諸 衆 生
KOU DO SHO SHU JOU
Translation
How great the robe of liberation
A formless field of merit
Wrapping ourselves in the Tathagata’s teaching
We free all beings
Maka Hannya Haramitta Shingyou
摩訶般若波羅蜜多心経
The Heart Sutra
The Heart Sutra is one of the most popular in Mahayana Buddhism. It comes from the family of Prajnaparamita Sutras. You can download an mp3 of us chanting the Heart Sutra here.
Heart Sutra
Godo only:
⊙⊙⊙⊘ MAKA HANNYA HARAMITA SHINGYO
Everyone:
⊙KAN JI ZAI BO SATSU
GYO JIN ⊙HAN NYA HA RA MI TA JI
SHO KEN ⊙GO ON KAI KU
DO IS SAI KU YAKU
SHA RI SHI
SHIKI FU I KU
KU FU I SHIKI
SHIKI SOKU ZE KU
KU SOKU ZE SHIKI
JU SO GYO SHIKI
YAKU BU NYO ZE
SHA RI SHI ZE SHO HO KU SO
FU SHO FU METSU
FU KU FU JO
FU ZO FU GEN
ZE KO KU CHU
MU SHIKI MU JU SO GYO SHIKI
MU GEN NI BI ZE SHIN I
MU SHIKI SHO KO MI SOKU HO
MU GEN KAI NAI SHI MU I SHIKI KAI
MU MU MYO YAKU MU MU MYO JIN
NAI SHI MU RO SHI
YAKU MU RO SHI JIN
MU KU SHU METSU DO
MU CHI YAKU MU TOKU
I ⊙MU SHO TOKU KO
BO DAI SAT TA
E ⊙HAN NYA HA RA MI TA KO
⊙SHIN MU KEI GE
MU KE GE KO
MU U KU FU
ON RI IS SAI TEN DO MU SO
KU GYO NE HAN
SAN ZE SHO BUTSU
E ⊙HAN NYA HA RA MI TA KO
TOKU A NOKU TA RA SAN
MYAKU SAN BO DAI
KO CHI ⊙HAN NYA HA RA MI TA
ZE DAI JIN SHU
ZE DAI MYO SHU
ZE MU JO SHU
ZE MU TO DO SHU
NOJO IS SAI KU
SHIN JITSU FU KO
KO SETSU ⊙HAN NYA HA RA MI TA SHU
SOKU SETSU SHU WATSU
GYA TEI GYA TEI
HA RA GYA TEI
HARA SO GYA TEI
BO JI SOWA KA
⊙HAN NYA SHIN GYO⊘
Translation
The Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra
The Bodhisattva of Compassion
sitting in the deepest wisdom
saw the hollowness of things
and snapped the ties
that bound him to suffering
Sariputra form and formlessness are not two
but one thing
feeling and thought, awareness and will
are formless
all the ways of occurrence
are formless
They aren’t made or broken
they don’t rise or fall
they’re not good or bad
When all of these are empty
eyes and ears
nose and tongue
body and mind
are gone
Sight and hearing
smell and taste
touch and thought
are gone
all the ways of knowing are gone
But not knowing is gone too
and stopping not knowing
and the outcomes of not knowing:
wasting away, death
they are all gone
hurt is gone, illness is gone, and the cure for it
wisdom is gone
and its getting.
The Bodhisattva, letting everything go
resting in the deepest wisdom
loses his false bonds and the fears they bring
and comes to the clearest light.
All the awakened,
those already gone,
those here now,
those yet to come,
through this deep wisdom
become the clearest light.
So know this flawless wisdom
this bright spell, no others match it,
the best spell, it never fails,
it cures all ill.
This is wisdom’s endstop
true beyond mistaking
grasp its truth and bring it forth
Gone, gone
gone over
gone all the way over
wake up! take heart!
The wisdom sutra
Shiguseiganmon 四弘誓願文 Four Universal Vows and Fuekō 普回向 Universal turning of merit
You can download an mp3 of us chanting the Vows and Fueko here.
Four Vows
Everyone:
衆 生 無 辺 誓 願 度
◎ SHU- JŌ MU-HEN SEI -GAN DO
煩 悩 無 尽 誓 願 断
◎ BON- NŌ MU- JIN SEI- GAN DAN
法 門 無 量 誓 願 学
◎ HŌ- MON MU- RYŌ SEI- GAN GAKU
仏 道 無 上 誓 願 成
◎ BUTSU- DŌ MU- JŌ SEI- GAN JŌ
English chant version:
◎ Beings are numberless; I vow to free them
◎ Delusions are inexhaustible; I vow to end them
◎ Dharma gates are boundless; I vow to enter them
◎ The Buddha Way is unsurpassable; I vow to realize it
Fueko
Godō 後堂 (rear hall position):
願わく は 此の 功徳 を
NEGAWAKU WA KONO KUDOKU O
以て 普く 一切 に 及ぼし
MOTTE AMANEKU ISSAI NI OYOBOSHI
我等 と 衆生 と 皆 共 に
WARERA TO SHŪJŌ TO MINA TOMO NI
仏道 を 成ぜん こと を
BUTSUDŌ O JŌZEN KOTO O – –
Everyone:
十 方 三 世 一 切 佛
◎ JI HŌ SAN SHI I SHI FU
諸 尊 菩 薩 摩 訶 薩
◎ SHI SON BU SA MO KO SA
摩 訶 般 若 波 羅 蜜
◎ MO KO HO JA HO RO MI
Translation
May the good that comes from saying these sutras
flow through all the earth
and touch all that live there.
This I ask of the Buddhas
of all ten directions and all three times
and of the Bodhisattvas and Mahasattvas
and of the great wisdom of the other side
the wisdom that leads to the truth.