SUTRAS & VERSES

Download PDF of all chants

Robe Verse

Dai sai ge da pu ku
musō fuku den e
hi bu nyo rai kyo
kō do shoshu jo (x2)

Great robe of liberation
Field far beyond form and emptiness
Wearing the Tathagata’s teaching
Saving all beings.

Enmei Jukku Kannon Gyo

Kanzeon
namu butsu
yo butsu u in
yo butsu u en
buppo so en
jo raku ga jo
cho nen kanzeon
bo nen kanzeon
nen nen ju shin ki
nen nen fu ri shin

After Service

All buddhas, ten directions, three times,
All honoured ones, bodhisattva-mahasattvas
Wisdom beyond wisdom, Maha Prajña Paramita

Refuges

Buddham saranam gacchami
Dhammam saranam gacchami
Sangham saranam gacchami

Dutiyampi buddham saranam gacchami
Dutiyampi dhammam saranam gacchami
Dutiyampi sangham saranam gacchami

Tatiyampi buddham saranam gacchami
Tatiyampi dhammam saranam gacchami
Tatiyampi sangham saranam gacchami

Metta Sutta

This is what should be accomplished by the one who is wise,
Who seeks the good, and has obtained peace.
Let one be strenuous, upright, and sincere,
Without pride, easily contented, and joyous.
Let one not be submerged by the things of the world.
Let one not take upon oneself the burden of riches.
Let one’s senses be controlled.
Let one be wise but not puffed up and
Let one not desire great possessions even for one’s family.
Let one do nothing that is mean or that the wise would reprove.
May all beings be happy.
May they be joyous and live in safety.
All living beings, whether weak or strong,
In high or middle or low realms of existence,
Small or great, visible or invisible,
Near or far, born or to be born,
May all beings be happy.
Let no one deceive another nor despise any being in any state.
Let none by anger or hatred wish harm to another.
Even as a mother at the risk of her life
Watches over and protects her only child,
So with a boundless mind should one cherish all living things,
Suffusing love over the entire world,
Above, below, and all around, without limit.
So let one cultivate an infinite goodwill toward the whole world.
Standing or walking, sitting or lying down,
During all one’s waking hours,
Let one practise the way with gratitude.
Not holding to fixed views,
Endowed with insight, freed from sense appetites,
One who achieves the way
Will be freed from the duality of birth and death.

Heart of Great Perfect Wisdom Sutra

Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva, when deeply practising prajña paramita, clearly saw that all five aggregates are empty and thus relieved all suffering. Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form. Form itself is emptiness, emptiness itself form. Sensations, perceptions, formations, and consciousness are also like this. Shariputra, all dharmas are marked by emptiness; they neither arise nor cease, are neither defiled nor pure, neither increase nor decrease. Therefore, given emptiness, there is no form, no sensation, no perception, no formation, no consciousness; no eyes, no ears, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind; no sight, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no object of mind; no realm of sight … no realm of mind consciousness. There is neither ignorance nor extinction of ignorance… neither old age and death, nor extinction of old age and death; no suffering, no cause, no cessation, no path; no knowledge and no attainment. With nothing to attain, a bodhisattva relies on prajña paramita, and thus the mind is without hindrance. Without hindrance, there is no fear. Far beyond all inverted views, one realizes nirvana. All buddhas of past, present, and future rely on prajña paramita and thereby attain unsurpassed, complete, perfect enlightenment. Therefore, know the prajña paramita as the great miraculous mantra, the great bright mantra, the supreme mantra, the incomparable mantra, which removes all suffering and is true, not false. Therefore we proclaim the prajña paramita mantra, the mantra that says: “Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha.”

Harmony of Difference and Equality

The mind of the great sage of India
Is intimately transmitted from west to east.
While human faculties are sharp or dull,
The way has no northern or southern ancestors.
The spiritual source shines clear in the light;
The branching streams flow on in the dark.
Grasping at things is surely delusion;
According with sameness is still not enlightenment.
All the objects of the senses interact and yet do not.
Interacting brings involvement. Otherwise, each keeps its place.
Sights vary in quality and form, sounds differ as pleasing or harsh.
Refined and common speech come together in the dark,
Clear and murky phrases are distinguished in the light.
The four elements return to their natures just as a child turns to its mother;
Fire heats, wind moves,
Water wets, earth is solid.
Eye and sights, ear and sounds,
Nose and smells, tongue and tastes;
Thus with each and every thing,
Depending on these roots, the leaves spread forth.
Trunk and branches share the essence;
Revered and common, each has its speech.
In the light there is darkness, but don’t take it as darkness;
In the dark there is light, but don’t see it as light.
Light and dark oppose one another
Like the front and back foot in walking.
Each of the myriad things has its merit,
Expressed according to function and place.
Phenomena exist; box and lid fit;
Principle responds; arrow points meet.
Hearing the words, understand the meaning;
Don’t set up standards of your own.
If you don’t understand the way right before you,
How will you know the path as you walk?
Progress is not a matter of far or near,
But if you are confused, mountains and rivers block your way.
I respectfully urge you who study the mystery,
Do not pass your days and nights in vain.