This is me all dressed up in my new Henro outfit and standing in front of the gate between the store and the temple itself. Once inside the temple grounds, we went to the main hall and did the 9-step rite for the first time.9-Step Rite:
1. Bow at temple gate
2. Wash hands
3. Ring the bell
4. Give Osamefuda
5. Light a candle
6. Light three incense sticks
7. Put 100 yen in the donation box
8. Recite the Heart Sutra
9. Get the stamps and calligraphy in the book.
Strictly speaking number 9 is not part of the Buddhist rite but, since we did it at every temple and it is an accepted part of the Henro Pilgrimage, it certain felt like part of the rite.
I must say that our chanting of the Heart Sutra left a lot to be desired. As you saw previously, the sutra is written in Chinese with the Japanese readings indicated in kana. Ian was reading from a paper where he had written out the transliteration in English letters. We found that there were a number of differences between his paper and my book. Although we got gradually better at chanting, we never could do it as fast and as smoothly as the Japanese. However, with the exception of one lady you will hear about later, the people we talked to said that our chanting in Japanese was a compliment and that they felt that we honored them, Buddhism, and the temple.
This is the main gate into Temple #1. Ian is standing just to the left of the opening. He was arranging his luggage, which was sometimes a problem, but one that we soon mastered from simple repetition.After we had finish the 9-step rite, we returned to the shop and had books stamped.
The man doing this is a monk who lives in the temple and spends at least part of the day writting the calligraphy in people's books.We had now officially started the Pilgrimage, but we had no time to waste because we had to visit seven temples during the day and still return to Temple #6 where we were staying the night.
2 comments:
Charles,
Very impressive! Should Ohenrosan use the same orange notebook each time? I saw a book page coloured orange on a TV program. Actually the orange colour was made of these seals which you can get in each temples. You know, that's quite amazing. How many times has he tried Henro? It showed he's henro addictiion. How about you, Charles?
Mizuki
Actually there are many sizes and styles of books. Ian and I bought small ones that would fit in our bags and did not weigh very much. I saw some books that were huge and very ornate, but they were being carried by people traveling in cars or buses. You can also have the stamps and calligraphy put on a scroll or hanging, or even on the back of your white jacket.
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