Tendai Buddhist Liturgy
Posted: March 13, 2009 | Author: Doug | Filed under: Buddhism, Religion, Tendai, Zen | 2 Comments »A while back, I was on a discussion about Tendai Buddhism and Amida Buddha, when a well-respected member and Shingon priest kindly posted some info about Tendai Buddhist liturgy and chanting here. According to this priest, the chants online (all in mp3 format) are as follows:
Morning Gongyo
- Sanjo Shakujo
- Kannon-Sutra (Ch. 25 of the Lotus Sutra, verse section only)
- Heart Sutra
- The name of Chisho Daishi, founder of the Jimon lineage of Tendai including the temple in question
- Dedication of merit
Evening Gongyo
- Sangemon Confession
- Kaikyoge (verse on opening the sutras)
- Junyoze
- Jigage
- Amidasan (praise of Amida)
- Endonsho
- Shariraimon (praise of the relics)
- Komyo Shingon (the Mantra of Light)
- Zuigu Darani
- Hongakusan (praise of Hongaku)
- Kankyomon (from the Contemplation Sutra)
- Nenbutsu
- Dedication of merit
Most of these are Tendai-specific chants and liturgy that I am not aware of, but some like the Heart Sutra or the verse section of the “Kannon Sutra” (Chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra) as well as the Contemplation Sutra and Nenbutsu are more universal within East Asian Buddhism devotionals. The dedication of merit is of course something almost universal through Buddhism. Some of these common chants though have slightly different styles than what you’d hear in more well-known sects like Zen, where some characters are pronounced slightly different, but the difference is largely academic. It’s still the same sutras, and since Zen is an off-shoot of Tendai, like much of Buddhism in Japan, the liturgies are not-suprisingly similar. Also, the eclectic nature of the liturgy (Heart Sutra, Amida devotionals, Lotus Sutra chants) is a hallmark of Tendai Buddhism, which tends to incorporate a little of everything.
It’s nice to see them in easy-to-access mp3 format though, for those who like to hear Buddhist chanting, Japanese style. Unfortunately, if you want to chant these yourselves, you’ll have to find the text elsewhere as they do not provide it on that website.
Enjoy!
Namu Amida Butsu
Hello, this blog is about my life as a father, Buddhist and Japanophile. Any useful information I can pass along will hopefully make the 
Thanks Very Much!!!
I have enjoyed your blog from time to time, but the benefit of this entry is enormous. I am using this (the audio files) to improve my pronunciation here in an area with no other known Tendai practitioners.
Has a transliteration of their Gongyo turned up? It looks like some of this shows up in Japanese on their site. I have some of this already, but there are portions that I am not familiar with.
Thanks again, Gassho,
Bryan_jh
Howdy Bryan and welcome to the JLR! Thanks for the kind words, and glad this is of some help.
I think one of the links from that same site also had the texts on there written out, but nothing in Japanese. I bet they’re not aware of the increasing interest among English-speakers, and my Japanese isn’t good enough to ask for a transliteration. I suppose it’s something we can do.
For what it’s worth, I’ve been gradually transliterating a Tendai prayer service book among the Buddhist texts section above. The Heart Sutra, 10-verse Kannon Sutra and Kannon Sutra (work in progress) are all from the same book. The more obscure liturgy is something specific to their branch of Tendai, and I am not sure it’s well-known outside of this. :-/
Now that you mention it, I may try to transliterate, time permitting. The blog here exists for that reason: to make Japan, Buddhism and Japanese religious info more accessible, so I will try my best.