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Hondō: A place with no glass screens, no outside communication, a place of peace, tranquility and to be associated only with bringing calm and clarity into your life.
It can be anyplace you choose but it requires your full attention, no distractions but the Buddha Dharma in the hondō. Yes, there are noises from the outside, yes, there are people talking, fire trucks sirens blaring, but these are all external to your doing.
Bringing a cell phone and checking for texts is your
doing. Do not come to the hondō then; stay outside with all the external distractions. Only enter the hondō if you are prepared to hear the Buddha Dharma and the Buddha Dharma only.
This may be the only place that, once a month, you have time just for your emotional and mental well-being that will lead to your physical well-being also. Hondō is not a place; it is a state of mind you enter when you enter the hondō. Leave everything else outside the door.
More about a hondō and rituals of respect…
It is customary to follow certain customs; customs intended to help separate us from what we are leaving outside the door in order to hear the Buddha Dharma more fully once we cross inside the threshold. These are customs associated with respect for not only the Buddha Dharma, our Sangha, but also for ourselves.
When entering the hondō of a temple, we stop at the entrance and perform a slight bow from the waist. Why? Just think baseball pitchers and what they do to mentally prepare for the next pitch. This minor physical reminder prepares us. And, we know that once we are inside the hondō there will be a safe place, to let go of everything and give yourself over 100% to hearing the Buddha Dharma.
When leaving the hondō of a temple, we stop at the exit, turn around and face the inside of the hondō, and again a slight bow from the waist. Then we take one step backwards outside the threshold and only then turn our back to leave.
Are there other rituals? Of course there are. But the most important is to know that because of Shinran Shonin, over 800 years ago, the Buddha Dharma and the 18th Vow of Amida Buddha was intended for all people, people like you and me.
What happens if we don’t bow at the threshold of the hondō as we enter or leave? Nothing happens. The loss will only be mine or yours as we neglect to remind ourselves as to why we are here. Shinran’s reading of the sutras dating from Shakyamuni Buddha shows Buddhism does not belong to those with the trappings of rank or special robes. It is for us, the bonbus
of the world. We are embraced and are told to “come as you are,” and that is what we do.
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