Question about chanting Daimoku for great lengths of time

[OregonBuddhist]

I’ve heard cases of SGI members chanting Daimoku for hours. Very simply, do other schools of Nichiren chant Daimoku (or Odaimoku) for several hours as well? I ask because I attended a Nichiren Shu service today (which I really enjoyed), and someone commented that it was “a lot” for us to chant Odaimoku 108 times, which amounted to 10 minutes of chanting. I thought to myself that this was nothing; I've read about Tina Turner chanting for three-hours-at-a-time. So, the question, basically, is as follows: Is SGI the only Nichiren school that encourages its followers to chant Daimoku for hours-on-end?

[UniversalWorthy]

This is kind of abitrary , but I guess there are associations. When I practiced with SGI, yes, usually ten minutes never sufficed and it was normal to host two to three-hour tosos. There were others who had 12+ hour tosos. Like everything else in the SGI, it was an extreme....hmmm, how can I say....interpretation of the practice.

For myself, ten or fifteen minutes is just fine for daily practice (x2), however, anything above a half-hour to me seems a bit long.

gassho

[rory]

Well I never came from that background but I did do long chanting of nembutsu thousands...

In my school the optimum is 1/2 hour of Daimoku for the morning and evening service. I'm not there yet as I've been working on my visualization with oral chanting. My mind was just roaming too much & the time was wasted. I then found mental chanting really helps me meditate and receive the Buddha's guidance. It's very powerful, even for a short amount of time.

So quality over quantity any day.
gassho
rory

[OregonBuddhist]

Thanks for the response. I happened to speak to a Nichiren Shu priest about this yesterday. She referred to a time she hosted a two-hour chanting of Odaimoku. So, I suppose it does happen in other schools, other than SGI. I can't imagine 12 hours though, as you said SGI did.

[noisemonkey]

In Nichiren Shoshu we chant one hour Daimoku on the first sunday of every month for Kosen Rufu which all Hokkeko members do worldwide. On other meetings we chant for much longer if we want to. In our group we chanted 10 hours a few times.

[OregonBuddhist]

wow. I could never chant for that long.

[noisemonkey]

It doesn't mean no breaks though, as long as there is someone there chanting all the time we leave the room to get drinks when our throats are sore or food when hungry.

[OregonBuddhist]

Oh. Okay. When I heard "12 hours of chanting," I imagined holding still for 12 hours....

[noisemonkey]

yeah generally for 3 or 4 hours at a time is fine for me. I do have a few friends who did 12 hours straight though

[OregonBuddhist]

How are people able to do that? the most I can chant is 15 minutes.

[noisemonkey]

Strong faith and Ichinen

[rory]

Why chant for so many hours? I used to do thousands of nembutsu the same way.
gassho
rory

[OregonBuddhist]

What does Ichinin mean?

[noisemonkey]

Why chant for so many hours? I used to do thousands of nembutsu the same way.
gassho
rory

for the sake of Kosen Rufu and to raise our life conditions so we can more easily shakubuku. Did you do thousands of nembutsu really quickly? Ichinen means a single moment of mind so the strength of your mind in any given moment is stronger and less inclined to distraction i would say

[rory]

If you mean you chant Daimoku to meet the Eternal Buddha in a single moment of ichinen sanzen where the 9 realms of unenlightened beings meet the world of Enlightenment and hear the words and feel the compassion of Shakyamuni the Eternal Buddha. Then I understand you, this comes from the 'Fathoming the Lifespan' Chapter of the Lotus Sutra.
I did all that nembutsu in the past to rack up good karma points. I understand from the Lotus Sutra, that such is no longer necessary. Just as it is no longer necesaary to enshrine relics of the Buddha.
gassho
Rory

[noisemonkey]

yeah except the eternal Buddha is Nichiren Daishonin rather than Shakyamuni

[rory]

The Buddha of our age was Shakaymuni who was born in Lumbini, Nepal around 560 B.C.E and in the sutras it is stated the next Buddha is Maitreya who is in Tushita Heaven now, so it's impossible that it's Nichiren.
http://dharmaflower.net/_bodhisattva/maitreya.aspx
gassho
rory

[UniversalWorthy]

"yeah except the eternal Buddha is Nichiren Daishonin rather than Shakyamuni"

I respect this as your personal view, but I have to admit I've always found this position completely awkward and offensive. I find it especially awkward that it would be held not by a person here or there, but by whole sects and organizations, to the point of "doubling down" on it and saying that they practice True Buddhism (which is another position, that one's sect actually practices "True" Buddhism, a view which itself reveals a shallow outer armour of non-confidence, childish intolerance of other faiths and, quite frankly, non-buddhist virtues.)

gassho

[noisemonkey]

Nichiren Daishonin states "Priest Chih-tu124 writes in his work Toshun: "Someone questioned
me, saying, 'While the Buddha was in the world, there were many who were
resentful and jealous of him. But now, in the years after his passing,
when we preach the Lotus Sutra, why are there so many who try to make
trouble for us?' I replied, 'It is said that good medicine tastes bitter.
This sutra, which is like good medicine, dispels attachments to the five
vehicles and establishes the one supreme teaching. It reproaches common
mortals and censures sages, denies Mahayana and refutes Hinayana. It
speaks of the heavenly devils as poisonous insects and calls the heretics
evil demons. It censures those who cling to Hinayana beliefs, calling them
mean and impoverished, and it dismisses bodhisattvas as beginners in
learning. For this reason, heavenly devils hate to listen to it, heretics
find their ears offended, persons in the shomon and engaku realms are
dumbfounded, and bodhisattvas flee in terror. That is why all these types
of persons try to make trouble for us. The Buddha was not speaking
nonsense when he predicted that we would face "much hatred and
jealously."'" From Kaimoku Sho (Opening of the Eyes part 1).

I'm not sure where you got the idea about intolerance though, us Nichiren Shoshu believers aren't intolerant at all I'll dig out the stuff about Maitreya for you

[Jikan]

yeah except the eternal Buddha is Nichiren Daishonin rather than Shakyamuni

Did Nichiren himself ever make such a claim on his own behalf? Did anyone he authorized directly make such a claim?

I'm trying to understand where you're coming from here.