Purpose of Rites
Services and ceremonies in Shinnyo-en provide an important opportunity to be empowered through shared experiences. Rites, for example, are means of engaging all of the senses in a transformative way and gives form to one’s hopes, aspirations, and prayers.
Significance, symbolism
Rite of Fire (Homa)
Fire symbolises wisdom, burning away delusions and igniting the light of hope and courage within us. Homa is a fire ritual that empowers positive changes and aspiration for spiritual awakening.
Significance, symbolism
Rite of Water (Merit Transfer)
Water symbolises compassion, extending lovingkindness and healing to nourish all lives. It is offered in merit transfer rite to transfer the merit of positive acts to those in the past, present, and future.
Shinso Ito, Head of Shinnyo-en, integrated the homa and merit transfer rites to create the Shinnyo Saisho Ceremony. This ritual brings together two inherently opposing elements of fire and water as one, to awaken the inner light in us, encouraging reflection, healing, and hope for all beings.
Services
Monthly Services
Monthly Homa
Homa is a fire ritual that empowers positive changes and aspiration for spiritual awakening. Held on 28th of every month (may vary)
Monthly Merit Transfer
Service to transfer the merit of positive acts to those in the past, present, and future. Held on 4th or 24th of every month (may vary)
Feast of the Dharma Protectors
Service to express gratitude to positive spiritual forces that encourage and safeguard the efforts of those aspiring on a path to buddhahood. Held on 8th of every month (may vary)
Feast of Compassion
This service honours the Eleven-faced Kannon Bodhisattva (Guan Yin), one of the Three Wheel Bodies enshrined at Shinnyo-en, encouraging us to turn the dharma wheel and make as our own, the aspiration that Kannon represents: the realization of happiness and fulfillment for all beings. Held on 11th of every month (may vary)
Feast of Eternal Bliss
This service marks the day of Buddha Shakyamuni’s entry into final nirvana. It reflects the Buddha’s final teaching – Mahaparinirvana sutra that a tathagata or awakened being is ever-present and timeless. This sutra reveals the hidden buddha nature of everyone. By reaffirming the determination to take a step towards actual practice, the joyous path of Permanence, Bliss, Self & Purity will open up. Held on 15th of every month
Remembrance Services
This service is held in honour of and in gratitude to those who have laid the foundation for the Shinnyo teachings. Held on 19th of every month
Services
Annual Services
Annual Training
JAN & FEB
Every year, Shinnyo-en members take part in Annual Training, a time to reflect, recharge, refocus and set spiritual goals for the year ahead. (Held in Jan & Feb)
Feast of Enlightenment
8 DEC
Day to honour Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment
Feast of Nirvana
15 FEB
Day to honour Shakyamuni Buddha’s passing
Feast of the Buddha’s Birth
8 APR
Day to honour Shakyamuni Buddha’s birth
New Year’s Service
1 JAN
Each year begins with the New Year’s Service, where the community gathers to take the first steps toward a fresh start together. In the early hours of New Year’s Day, Her Holiness Shinso Ito conducts the year’s first homa (fire ritual), inspiring us to live the year ahead in harmonious and joyful ways.
First Merit Transfer Service of the Year
4 JAN
Prayers are extended in remembrance and in gratitude to those who came before us.
Setsubun
Setsubun is a traditional observance falling on the day before the beginning of spring in the lunar-solar calendar. It is celebrated with bean-throwing to ward off misfortune for the coming year.
Spring/Autumn Higan
Higan means to reach the other shore of enlightenment. At Shinnyo-en, services are held twice a year where we offer merit transfer, according to Shinnyo Esoteric Buddhism, to all spirits without exception including our ancestors, victims of natural and man-made disasters.
Shinnyo Lantern Floating
A ritual of remembrance and peace, where each lantern carries prayers of healing, love and hope. This ceremony is held at various locations around the world and have been attended and enjoyed by thousands.
Saito Homa
The saito homa is an outdoor esoteric fire ritual originating from mountain ascetic practices. It is a service that aims to burn away delusions and purify the mind, bringing about transformation and peace.
Ullambana
15 JUL
At Shinnyo-en, a ceremony is held on the 15th of July during which Her Holiness conducts a ritual described in the Ullambana Sutra, offering prayers for the repose and comfort of the departed.
Water Consolatory
16 AUG
Every year on August 16, a service to transfer merit to the departed is conducted at the Shinnyo-en temple, on the shores of Lake Kawaguchi, Yamanashi Prefecture, overlooking Mount Fuji.
Star Ritual
The Star Ritual, performed according to Shinnyo Esotericism. It focuses on the stars that govern individual destinies, including the Annual Star, the Life-governing Star, and the Fortune Star. At the service, chants will be recited for these celestial bodies, invoking blessings for the removal of misfortune and the arrival of good fortune in the coming year.
Year-end Homa
On this day, homa fires are kindled before the Mahavairochana Achala image in the inner sanctum of Shinnyo-en’s head temple. This image is said to have been sculpted by Unkei, a renowned Buddhist sculptor who had lived in the 12th-13th century.
Prayers & Blessings
The fundamental intention of prayer requests in Shinnyo-en is to strive for the benefit and welfare of others, along with the wish to bring out our buddha nature through spiritual practice. Individuals can apply various prayer requests and blessings at the temple:
Prayer requests
- Homa (For health, family well-being, personal success, purification, harmony in the world, end to conflicts & calamities and others)
- Merit Transfer ( Offering merits for the repose and comfort of the departed loved ones, ancestors, vicitms of disasters and others)
Rites & Blessings
- Baby blessing
- Car purification
- House purification
- Memorial chanting
- Special prayers
- Wake chanting
- Wedding blessing