Chanting for the Living

By Jeff Wilson | He/Him/His | Toronto Buddhist Church

When you teach Buddhism, both at the university and the temple level, you get asked a lot of questions. And over the years, some questions reoccur over and over again. For example, a classic query that I’ve heard many times is:

“In Jodo Shinshu, why do we recite sutras on a parent or grandparent’s death date? Is it for a better reincarnation for them?”

I bet that this is a question many of us have had at some point, and some of us probably still have it.  Generally speaking, the most attended service each month at Jodo Shinshu temples is Shotsuki Hoyo, when a memorial is held for everyone who passed away in that month during previous years. So why do we recite sutras on someone’s memorial date?  Is it indeed so they will have a better rebirth?

As a matter of fact, reciting sutras for grandparents and other loved ones on the anniversary of their death is a common practice in Buddhism. Jodo Shinshu is not unique in this. However, there is a difference in interpretation in Jodo Shinshu versus other lineages. 

The primary point of chanting sutras for most Buddhists is to generate merit (i.e. "good karma") in order to donate it to the deceased so that they will have a better rebirth. This is a way of paying off the debt that we owe to those who took care of us, as well as a way of showing compassion toward other beings.  These, of course, are admirable desires, no matter what form of Buddhism you practice, and I respect those who chant sutras for this reason.

However, in Jodo Shinshu this chanting to help our dead parents or ancestors is not considered necessary. Amida Buddha takes care of all beings, whether or not someone has chanted for them. There is no one who is ever left out of the buddha’s care and compassion. 

Therefore, sutra chanting is not necessary for us to perform in order to help or save anyone. 

Instead, in the Shin Buddhist tradition, sutra chanting is a ritual that provokes us to remember and appreciate those who have gone before us, and a ritual that allows us to express our feelings of love, sadness, and wishing to do something for them.

Of course, this is often part of what is going on for other Buddhists as well.

Rituals in Jodo Shinshu are expressive, not effective: they give vent to our human emotions, they don't magically change the state of the world or afterlife in some direct fashion. There’s no need for that to happen, because the buddha has already taken care of those who passed on before us.  We should never have any anxiety over the fate of those who’ve gone before us.

Often, we don't appreciate someone until we lose them, or at least we don't tell them how much we appreciate them.  Isn’t this the way of things?  Then when they are dead, the opportunity has been lost.  Suddenly, we wish we hadn’t been so foolish, that we hadn’t held back or been embarrassed or angry or whatever reason kept us from expressing our deepest feelings.  

Chanting sutras expresses to the dead the feelings of love and indebtedness that have arisen since they died, and thus the living and the dead draw closer to one another. The ties that were severed by death are re-knit.  This is what chanting sutras is for.  

Another way to look at this is that in ordinary Buddhism, the role of the monk is to take care of the dead, on behalf of the living.  In Japan, people pay money to the monks, who then go and hold services for transferring good karma to the dead.  Often, these services take place at the temples on memorial dates without any loved ones present.  

But in Shin Buddhism we don’t take care of the dead, on behalf of the living.  Rather, the role of the minister is to take care of the living, on behalf of the dead.  We are fundamentally oriented toward caring for living beings, as they are the ones who need care, attention, and support.  The dead have already moved on to liberation, and we honour them best by caring for those left behind.  So we offer services as a way to express love and gratitude, to give the living a way to release those feelings that need to be let out. 

We help to retie the bonds of love between the living and the dead, and heal our shared community.

So next time you chant sutras, please do it with a feeling of love and thankfulness.  Thankfulness for the love and care shown by those who’ve supported us in our lives, thankfulness for the buddha who taught us that we don’t need to worry about those who’ve passed on before us, and thankfulness for the tradition handed down for so many centuries that enables us to live without worry or fear in our lives.