My family is a Buddhist Rinzai sect.
I suddenly thought
Why do memorial services and funerals have to be monks?
Certainly, we can read sutras on Buddhist altars, but do monks who have gone to ascetic practices have tremendous power?
It doesn't mean anything like giving an offering, and I was wondering if it had some kind of power, so I have a question.
I read your consultation. That's a very straightforward and good question.
Please cherish that sense of doubt and don't cheat from now on.
Now, this answer assumes that there are differences of opinion between denominations and individuals.
> I wonder if the monk who went to ascetic training has great power?
It's not there.
There is a cliché that a mentor gives guidance at a funeral, but I wonder what it is. Where and how are they going to be sent?
Note, in the Jodo Shinshu sect, there is no idea that monks send them somewhere by mysterious power.
There is also a mentor at the funeral of the Jodo Shinshu sect, but it means a leadership position in enforcing memorial services and ceremonies, and at the same time, it may also be interpreted as “someone who takes the lead and is led” in terms of receiving teachings.
That's right. Monks are also the ones to be led. It is only the Buddha who guides. It also does not lead to death, but to people who are living now. Through the death of someone close to them, the people who attend it encounter Buddhism and are guided, aren't they?
We learn from Buddhism how to live this life towards death, which is a body that should die ourselves.
The monk is studying Buddhism. A place called a funeral is a place where Buddhism can be easily conveyed. “Death” is such a big thing.
Therefore, as people who live while listening to and learning Buddhism on a regular basis, monks talk about what they have heard and confirmed, and come into contact with Buddhism together with everyone who attends.
That is important, but even so, we are still concerned about the destination of the deceased close to us.
No one can confirm what happened after death, but Buddhism and religion respond through stories to those of us who cannot bear anxiety or fear.
For example, in the Jodo Shinshu sect, there is a teaching and story that “Amitabha Buddha causes deceased people to pass away in the Pure Land of Paradise after death.”
If those of us who listen to those teachings and stories “now” are saved by it, those teachings and stories will become religious facts for that person, and they will also be an important foundation for entrusting after death.
Monks don't have power, though. The Buddha has power. It's a power that tries to awaken us to the truth.
Please enjoy a variety of Buddha relationships, and let's receive salvation “now” and “after death” from the power of the Buddha.
What is the role of a monk
It's about interceding the Buddha's teachings.
Sutras recitation and rituals
It is a method of conveying the Buddha's teachings.
Through a monk who works in such a role
That's because the power of the Buddha is being conveyed
You might feel that monks also have power.
Even if monks have powers
These are all gifts from the Buddha.
He is a monk of the Rinzai sect.
I'm in the middle of training.
When I was a freshman, whether I was walking, sitting, or reading sutras, I was like, “That's not true!” I was scolded.
It was when I went back to my parents' temple to help while living every day like that. I was once told by a parishioner, “It changed when I went to ascetic training.” I don't know what changed. However, for people who know before and after the training, it looked completely different before and after the training.
Whether this should be called power is true of Osho's answer earlier. You don't get any special powers through ascetic practice.
When I recite sutras or perform funerals, I try to “deliver sutras.” Every denomination has “lines” such as nembutsu, motifs, sutras, zazen... During training, “No!” I feel that the reason they were scolded was that they told me, “If you do that, you won't reach the Buddha's teachings.”
If you are not a monk who performs a “act” and can deliver it, you probably won't be able to hold a memorial service or funeral.
appending
The instructions are not clichés, they are all original.
This is because the teachings of Buddhism are teachings devotion (deep respect and support) to the “three treasures” of Buddhist monks (Buddha, Buddhist teachings, monks who practice and convey the teachings of Buddhism). The idea that you don't need a monk deviates from the basic Buddhist teachings which are devolved to the Three Treasures of Buddhist monks. Therefore, a “memorial service” or “funeral” without a monk is not a Buddhist ceremony.
It's not about power, I ask monks for memorial services and funerals because their actions and teachings support my heart.
Thank you so much for the good questions. I also want to straighten my collar.
Ryo-sama
This is Kawaguchi Hidetoshi. This is my humble answer to the question.
Not limited to monks, those who practice Buddhism develop the two powers of wisdom and good fortune for enlightenment as they walk.
In particular, it gradually becomes a place where people gain the same compatibility (32 phases and 80 types of goodwill) and power similar to those of the Buddha from the ten places of joy in the 52nd place of the Bodhisattva Line.
The merits of wisdom as a Bodhisattva and the power of good fortune are still different from ordinary people, and they can be appropriate.
Of course, when it comes to how many monks are more than happy places, there are some things that are quite difficult...
Also, even for monks who haven't progressed that much with the Bodhisattva procession, there are times when they borrow the Buddha's blessing and use that power to make merit and make offerings.
For example, principal yoga (the practice of becoming one with the Buddha) in Esoteric Buddhism is one of them. However, the principal form of yoga also requires certain qualification requirements in order to perform it.
Kawaguchi Hidetoshi Gassho