Incense Offering

 

Precious incense is burning.

Pervading the Dharma realm,

the assembly of Buddhas

receives the jewel-like fragrance.

 

Auspicious clouds now appear

as I sincerely request,

that in their loving-kindness,

the Buddhas be present here.

 

Verse for Donning the Kessa
 

The Buddha robe is immense,

vast as the Dharma itself.

I surround myself with it,

benefiting the three worlds.

 

The Five Remembrances

 

If I live I will grow old.

Old Age is a part of life.

I will also have ill health.

Ill Health is a part of life.

 

My Death is also certain.

Death too is a part of life.

Everything I love will change.

Change is inherent in life.

 

I am heir to my actions,

the consequences of which,

wholly inescapable,

are the ground on which I stand.

 

 Opening the Dharma

 

The profound and rare Dharma

not easily encountered,

I now see, hear and accept.

May I know its true meaning.

[Bell]

 

Verses Based on the One Sheet Document

 

Buddhist masters of China
and the royal courts of Japan
teach that the nembutsu is
a kind of contemplation.

 

This is not the way we teach;
Namu-Amida-Butsu
is the working of the Vow

by which we attain Ojo.

 

To practice the nembutsu
is simply to hold the name
without depending upon
insight or erudition.

 

From the nembutsu itself

arises the mind of faith,

the three hearts of devotion

and the four modes of practice.

 

We know no deeper secrets.

Should these words be insincere

may we be abandoned here

and excluded from the Vow.

 

One who studies all the words

of Shakyamuni Buddha

should not put on any airs

but humbly follow the Way

 

And recite the nembutsu

with the same dedication

as a simple monk or nun

ignorant of such learning.

 

This is the Path of Anjin

as taught by Honen Shonin

and confirmed by his own hands
lest confusion should arise.

 

In Praise of Amida Buddha's Light

 

Amida Buddha's light shines

throughout the ten directions

grasping those who hold his name

never to abandon them.

 
[Nembutsu]

 

Vow for Rebirth and Return

 

At the moment of my death

there will be no obstacles.

I will instantly be born

in Amida Buddha's land.

 

I will return to this world

until the hells are empty.

Only when all have been saved

will I enter cessation.

 

The Bodhisattva Vows

 

The numberless multitude,

I will lead across and save;

Inexhaustible passions,

I will cut off and remove.

 

Dharma-gates without measure,

I will enter and master;

The unsurpassed Buddha way,

I will follow and attain.

 

Dedication of Merit

 

May this merit and virtue

be shared universally,

that all may be led across
 

each in their own time and way

and together we may be

born in Utmost Happiness.