Buddhists Gather for an All-Nighter In Portland

December 10, 2008

Author: Nancy Haught

Source: The Buddhist Channel/The Oregonian

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=65,7520,0,0,1,0

The Rev. Gregory Gibbs began the first all-night chant at Oregon Buddhist Temple by bowing before a golden Buddha. Then Gibbs turned to his right and walked slowly around the outside aisles of the hondo, or sanctuary. Pausing at the back of the room, he bowed before the central altar again. He and seven others pressed their palms together in gassho, an ancient gesture of unity that became the Christian posture of prayer.

As participants moved about the room, male voices dominated the chant, stressing the first syllable and fading to whispers. The women chanted more softly. Occasionally, a floorboard under the carpet creaked. One by one, other people arrived and joined in the walking meditation. With more voices, the chanting blended into a delicate hum. The walkers moved in an unbroken circle around the sanctuary.

On Saturday night, while most of Portland slept, a small group of Buddhists chanted the vow that each of them repeats throughout their lives: Namo amida Butsu, "I rely on the Buddha of limitless wisdom and endless life." For 11 hours, from 9 p.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Sunday, they repeated the Chinese phrase, sitting, standing and walking inside their unassuming temple on Southeast 34th Avenue, a block off of Powell.

Many Buddhists around the world observe Dec. 8 as Bodhi Day, or Rohatsu. About 2,500 years ago, a young prince known as Sakyamuni, or Siddhartha, awoke after a night of meditation under a bodhi tree. Gazing at the morning star, he realized the oneness of life, an ultimate truth, his followers say, that transformed him into the Buddha, or "awakened one."

The all-night chant was Oregon Buddhist Temple's way of remembering the Buddha and the founder of their own sect, known as Jodo Shinshu. The founder, Shinran Shonin, was born in 1173 in Japan. After years of intense monastic training, Shinran let go of the rigorous life of an intellectual monk and devoted himself to a path that ordinary working people could follow. The practice turns around the nembutsu, or recollection of the Buddha.