ZEN CHANTS

COMMON ZEN CHANTS

The following are chanted at  the opening and close of each of our sittings.  Copies of these chants are  available at the entrance of the interfaith room for those that require them.   If you are planning to make zen meditation part of your life, however, you  may want to consider learning these by heart.

Gata of Repentence

All the evil karma ever created by me of old
On  account of my beginningless greed, hatred and ignorance
Born of my conduct,  speech and thought
I repent of it now.

Great Vows For All
(Sino-Japanese  Version)

SHUJO MU HEN SEI GAN  DO
BONNO MU JIN SEI GAN DAN
HO MON MU RYO SEI GAN GAKU
BUTSU DO MU JO  SEI GAN JO

Great Vows For  All (English  Version)

Creations are  numberless, I vow to be one with them.
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to endure them.
Dharmas are boundless, I vow to be teachable.
The Enlightened Way is unsurpassable, I vow to embody it.

Evening Gata
 
Let me respectfully remind you
Life and death are of supreme importance
Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost
Each of us should strive to awaken…
Awaken…
Take heed:
This night your days are diminished by one.
Do not squander your life.


OTHER CHANTS

Maha Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra
(The Great Sutra of Perfect Understanding)

Avolokitesvara Bodhisattva (The Awakened One Of Compassion),
doing deep prajna paramita,
Clearly saw emptiness of all the five conditions,
thus completely relieving misfortune and pain.
O Shariputra (a disciple), form is no other than emptiness, emptiness no
other than form; Form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly form;
Sensation, conception, discrimination, awareness are likewise like this.
O Shariputra, all dharmas are forms of emptiness, not born, not destroyed;
not stained, not pure, without loss, without gain; So in emptiness
there is no form, no sensation; conception, discrimination, awareness,
No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind;
No color, sound, smell, taste, touch, phenomena;
No realm of sight…no realm of consciousness.
No ignorance and no end to ignorance
No old age and death and no end to old age and death;
No suffering, no cause of suffering, no extinguishing, no path;
No wisdom and no gain. No gain and thus the bodhisattva lives prajna paramita
with no hindrance in the mind, no hindrance, therefore no fear,
Far beyond  deluded thoughts, this is nirvana.
All past, present and future Buddhas live prajna paramita,
And therefore attain anuttara-samyak-sambodhi (perfect enlightenment)
Therefore know, prajna paramita is the great mantra, the vivid
mantra, the best mantra, the unsurpassable mantra;
It completely clears all pain–this is the truth, not a lie.
So set forth the Prajna Paramita Mantra,
Set forth this mantra and say:
Gate! Gate! (Gone, Gone)
Paragate (Gone Beyond)
Parasamgate! (Fully Beyond)
Bodhi! Svaha! (Awake, Rejoice)
Prajna Heart Sutra.