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The Confessional Samadhi of the Lotus Sutra, page 19
9. Chanting the Sutra
The practitioner has already, in walking, called upon the names of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. With a single mind and proper remembrance, one chants The Lotus Sutra. However there are two kinds of people that chant:
A. Those that
chant completely
B. Those that
chant incompletely
A. Those That Chant Completely
The practitioner has already chanted The Lotus Sutra in its entirety, has keenly penetrated it and made entry into the Bodhimandala. From the first chapter, one can chant one or two chapters, or even a whole volume1. Those that desire to walk can stop chanting the Sutra and call upon the names of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas as indicated before. Having taken the Threefold Refuge2, one returns to one's original seated position. If one is not ready yet for seated meditation, one can again sit erect and chant the Sutra, also more or less according to one’s wishes. However if after four times in seated meditation one is still not ready to stop chanting and meditate, it will be necessary to sit longer.
If one has not learned seated meditation, and only desires to chant the Sutra and confess, one must keep chanting the Sutra and confessing while seated until one is completely finished with it. Upon briefly observing one’s mundane thoughts3, one exhales and inhales, and then again chants the Sutra. One also observes these rules in walking and calling out the names of the Three Treasures. Thus the Sutra says:
“Even though they have not entered into Samadhi, just because they chant and embrace this Sutra they will see its most wonderful vision”4.
2. Those That Chant Incompletely
This is for those that have not previously chanted The Lotus Sutra. Now, in order to practice Samadhi, one should chant the Chapter on The Practice of Peace and Contentment5 and ultimately penetrate it. When one circumambulates, one chants this chapter one, two, or three times, more or less in accordance with one's wishes. When one concurrently chants other chapters of The Lotus Sutra, the same may be attained. However one will not attain the same by chanting other Sutras.
One should use The Prose and Verse of The Lotus Sutra6 to clarify the meaning. The sound of the voice should not be too loud or too soft and one’s pace should not be too fast or too slow. One focuses on the proper diction of the words and verse of the Sutra, facing each and every word as it comes, without difference and without mistake.
One should quiet the mind and understand that the nature of sound and the voice is like an echo in a canyon. Although one does become attached to the sound of the voice, one clearly illuminates the meaning of the words. In one's speech and one’s diction, one turns the Wheel of the Dharma with a sound that fills the Spiritual Realm, offering service to the Three Treasures. One offers it up for all living beings everywhere to help them enter into the Great Vehicle that is the sphere of the One Reality.
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Footnotes:
1. A Whole Volume: The Lotus Sutra consists of 28 Chapters in Seven Volumes (Fascicles or Scrolls).
2. The Threefold Refuge: Taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, & the Sangha
3. Observes one’s mundane thoughts: Meditates introspectively (See following part on insight meditation).
4. “Even though they have not entered into Samadhi, just because they chant and embrace the Sutra they will see its most wonderful vision”: A quote from The Sutra on the Observation of the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue - This refers to those that forego entry into Samadhi and only chant and embrace the Sutra, but still attain the same realization. Its most wonderful vision: Seeing The Bodhisattva Universal Virtue, the Buddhas Sakyamuni, Abundant Treasures, the Treasure Tower, and all of the Three Treasures.
5. The Chapter on The Practice of Peace and Contentment: The 14th Chapter of The Lotus Sutra teaches of the four means of attaining peace & contentment: Embracing the Sutra in #1 The sphere of activity and deeds of the body #2 the words of the mouth #3 the thoughts of the mind #4 the resolve of the will
6. The Prose and Verse of The Lotus Sutra: (C. Fa-Hua Wen-Chu, J. Hokke Mongu) One of the three major works of Chih-I, which explains the meaning of the text of The Lotus Sutra
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Since July 9, 2001