Dear Rakusu and Kesa Sewers,
Those of you undertaking Jukai will sew and receive a Rakusu (a small Kesa), which you will place on before sitting Zazen. It is traditional to Chant the Verse of the Kesa (Takkesa Ge) before placing on the Rakusu or full Kesa, at least for the first time each day. (Small trivia: Monks in a monastic sitting do not, with a few exceptions for monks with special roles, place on their Kesa until the end of the first set of Zazen sittings in the morning. Before that, they simple bring the Rakusu or full Kesa, in its covering case, to the Zendo to place by their side until the end of the first round of sitting, when the Takkesa Ge is chanted).
Here is example of placing on the Kesa in sitting posture at the end of first morning Zazen, the Rakusu or Kesa placed respectfully upon the head during chanting. In Asian tradition, to place an object over oneself in such way is to honor it:
As I said, the Kesa is not traditionally placed on in a monastery during the first rounds of sitting in the early morning, after waking but before the Morning Ceremony. It is placed on only at the end of the first group of Zazen sitting in the morning, and is kept in its cover until then, on the right side of the sitter as here:
Here is Master Nishijima and a clear chant with translation. He rises to kneeling or standing in his way. Note that he is wearing the Soto-shu Kesa, not a Nyoho-e Kesa as we typically sew and wear at Treeleaf. Thus the method of tying and wearing is a little different:
Once you complete sewing your Rakusu, and receive it in Jukai, you will be shown how to handle it properly and respectfully. For example, although the Kesa is beyond world concerns, we respectfully remove it before entering the toiler or doing hard labor, so it is is not soiled. Kotei writes this:
For those with health and mobility restrictions, our priest Jinkan offers examples of modified and alternative ways to place on and remove the Kesa for those in bed or chair.Please know that there are some variations possible in how to handle it, as long as you do it with good care and respect. Especially when it comes to if, when and how often you touch your forehead or lips with it, choose what feels good to you and allows a natural flow in your daily ritual.
... [One should] handle it with great care. And this is really important. It represents the Buddhas teachings. Please don’t let it touch the floor, don’t wear it when going to the toilet, store it somewhere safe and don’t stack stuff on top. If you have any questions, please ask them either here or contact me directly.
Can lay folks sew and wear a full Kesa in our Soto Tradition? YES! Once you have sewn a Rakusu, undertaken Jukai, you may then ask for permission to sew a full Kesa. Master Dogen said that lay folks can wear a full Kesa. (Note that many Soto groups that are NOT Nyoho style do not allow non-priests to wear a fully Kesa) In the Nyoho-e tradition of Soto Zen, which Rev. Okumura and his wife, Kodo Sawaki and others undertake (our Treeleaf Sangha does as well), anyone ... priest or lay folks ... who has undertaken Jukai and received the lay Bodhisattva Precepts, may sew a full Kesa in Nyoho-e style (not simply a Rakusu) and may wear the same for Zazen. This was Master Dogen's way. Dogen Zenji wrote, for example, in Kesa Kudoku:
Here is our most common translation of the Verse here at Treeleaf:"Both Lord Brahma and Lord Shakra have now accepted and keep to the kesa, and they are excellent models in the worlds of sensual desire and form. And among humans, the number of excellent examples cannot be calculated. Lay bodhisattvas have all accepted and keep to it. In China, both Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty and Emperor Yang of the Sui dynasty accepted and kept to the kesa. Both Emperor T’ai-tsung and Emperor Su-tsung of the T’ang dynasty wore the kesa, trained and studied amidst the monastic family, and accepted and kept to the Bodhisattva Precepts. Other folks—such as lay disciples and their wives—who have accepted the kesa and taken the Precepts have been excellent models in both the past and the present. ... what is now passed on directly by the Buddhas and Ancestors is that kesas are all backstitched, whether conferred on rulers, ministers of state, lay disciples, or ordinary folk. A good example of this is the Sixth Chinese Ancestor Enō who had already received the genuine Transmission of the Buddha’s kesa while he was still the temple servant known as Lu. "
TAKKESAGE (Robe Verse) chanted 3 times in whatever language
English
Robe of Liberation boundless
Field beyond both form and formless
Wearing the Tathagatas Teachings
Vowing to save(free) all sentient beings
Japanese
Dai sai geda puku
Muso fukuden e
Hi bu nyorai kyo
Kodo sho shu jo
A little trivia: From my days being mentored by a White Plum Teacher, Rev. Doshin Cantor, I learned an alternative wording. I am afraid that it often sneaks out of my lips every now and then, and so may pop up in our Sangha too, here and there. It is fine to recite the version which resonates with you but, when chanting as a group, follow the group (When is Rome, chant as the Romans chant):
Vast is the robe of liberation;
A formless Field of Benefaction;
Wearing the Tathagata's Teachings;
Vowing to save all Sentient Beings.
Now, there is some disagreement on how to recite the Takkesa Ge, not only in English, but in Japanese too! One of our Treeleaf Priests once asked me:
The answer is ...I have a question on pronunciation and spacing.
The video with Nishijima give the romaji slightly different, but also his pronunciation seems more in line with what is on the video and not what is written in our chant book.
Our Chant Book says:
Dai sai geda puku
Muso fukuden e
Hi bu nyorai kyo
Kodo sho shu jo
The video with Nishijima, he doesn't say puku but instead fuku. Also he does Hibu as one word not two. Last Shoshu is closer to one word than two.
The romaji for his chanting would be as follows:
Dai sai geda Fuku
Muso fukuden e
Hibu nyorai kyo
Kodo Shoshu jo
Is this a case of just a slight difference in personal style?
I also tend to like the tempo and simple style with which Nishiima chants, vs. the first video. Is there a preference to which style we try to emulate?
I (or more likely Taigu, our dear friend, as this is also the Blue Mountain version and he came from the Deshimaru Lineage) apparently took the version in our Chant Book directly from the main Deshimaru Lineage page, which is identical ...
Dai sai geda puku
Muso fukuden e
Hi bu nyorai kyo
Kodo sho shu jo
http://www.zen-deshimaru.com/en/zen/...-ge-kesa-sutra
On the other hand, the "Official" English chant book for Soto-shu is the following ...
Dai sai gedap-puku
musō fuku den e
hi bu nyorai kyo
ko do shoshu jo.
https://global.sotozen-net.or.jp/eng.../pdf/04/14.pdf
However, their other "offical" Soto-shu page has the slightly different (third and fourth lines) ...
dai sai gedap-puku
musō fuku den'e
hibu nyorai kyo
kōdo shoshu jo
https://global.sotozen-net.or.jp/eng...r_donning_kesa
Antaiji has the also slightly different ...
DAI SAI GE DAP-PUKU
MU SO FUKU DEN E
HI BU NYO RAI KYO
KO DO SHO SHU JO
Olympia Zen Center (led by an experienced Teacher whom I respect, Eido Frances Carney) has this, different from both, with a split "ge da" (but including "puku"), a split "Mu so", split "fuku den" and more.
Dai sai ge da puku.
Mu sō fuku den e.
Hi bu nyo rai kyō.
Kō do sho shu jō.
San Francisco Zen Center has ...
Dai sai ge da pu ku
musō fuku den e
hi bu nyo rai kyo
kō do shoshu jo.
https://sanfranciscozencenter.blob.c...ort_Verses.pdf
WOW! No two agree!
Okay, well, what to do?
First off, the "p" is a sometime alternative way to voice an "f" in Japanese (it is actually halfway between f and p, kind of a slurred "p"). This is not such a biggie.
But what of the spacing and meshing of syllables? I asked various priest friends in a small survey.
Mystery solved!
Pretty much what I guessed, basically, everybody does it somewhat differently. Recall that the Chinese version has no spaces to indicate the phrasing:
大哉解脱服
無相福田衣
披奉如來教
廣度諸衆生
So, when it was transliterated into Romanji (English letters), everybody also did that differently to match their personal way!
Gesshin Greenwood offered the most comprehensive answer, from her years in Japan:
So what is our version at Treeleaf? I would suggest to follow Kotei's example above.I have chanted this in two monasteries in Japan and some places in the U.S. Each time it is a little different. Those various versions you have listed are not actually different versions per say, in the sense that the Chinese they are based off of is the same in each case. It's just that in trying to transliterate the Chinese into something non-Japanese speakers can read, there will inevitably be some variations. There is no perfect transliteration. Also, people in Japan can speak in different accents, so of course there will be some mild differentiation in how certain consonants are pronounced.
The other issue is that every monastery (in my experience it's monastery or training location, rather than lineage) chants it slightly differently. Not the words, but how long each syllable is stressed- the rhythm and tempo. Kind of like how the star spangled banner can be fast or slow, but always has the same words. ...
Long story short, there's no real "correct" way to chant this. But there are versions that are closer or farther away from how major training monasteries do it. Recently I've been thinking about that line in Animal Farm: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." Sometimes I think it's the same with Zen forms... all ways of chanting are equally correct, but some are more equal than others ;-)
Bows,
Gesshin
When in Rome, chant as the Romans chant; When at Treeleaf, chant as the Leafers chant!
Gassho, Jundo
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Originally Posted by Jundo
