Experiencing Hoonko at Honzan Is Truly Something to Behold

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a nice holiday season with family and friends! 

In our tradition of Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, we celebrate Hoonko on January 16. This commemorates the passing of our founder, Shinran Shonin. While many temples in the BCA have their own tradition of celebrating this holiday, I highly recommend members visit our mother temple Nishi Hongwanji during their Goshoki Hoonko.  It is truly something to behold.

From 2019-2020, I was privileged to attend our head temple’s ritual and chanting school called, Gonshiki Shidosho. Part of the curriculum of the school is for the students to participate in Goshoki Hoonko every year as support and participants. 

We assist the staff at Hongwanji by setting up the Onaijin in the Goeido (founder’s hall).  This includes switching all of the adornments and putting up the various religious cloths called uchishiki and mizuhiki. We transform the shrine to show how special of a time it is. I was incredibly lucky to be able to touch the many items and be part of this process.  

Next, there’s the weeklong celebration itself, which I can only describe as the most organized chaos you will ever see. From Jan. 9-16 every year, Nishi Hongwanji has at least three services a day and has a full roster of priests giving Dharma talks at Monbo Kaikan every day.  

Each service conducts a special saho (ritual) that is rarely seen in the BCA, and is accompanied by hundreds of priests chanting and performing gagaku (Japanese imperial court music). 

About 1,000 members from all over Japan and abroad attend these services and the Goeido is so cramped, it’s practically standing room only.  Hearing hundreds of priests and members chant together in a harmony of voices is life-changing to say the least. I am blessed that I was able to participate in these services as a student of Gonshiki and will never forget it.

During this time, I was able to assist with the many services in different aspects. Sometimes, I chanted and played gagaku music with the priests in the gejin. Other times, I was able to sit in the altar area as a chanting supporter wearing blue-colored robes. One time, I was even able to sit in the Onaijin itself.  

I went home every night exhausted and having to be ready to wake up the next day to begin a service at 6 a.m. for a whole week. As amazing of an experience as I was, and also acknowledging that these chants and services were not easy to do, I do not think that I was owed this, or that I deserve this more than others.  I am genuinely grateful that I was granted such a meaningful experience by others around me and by organizations like the BCA and its affiliates.  

One may ask, why all the fuss?  Why spend a whole week on services?  Hoonko is to show our deep gratitude to the founder Shinran Shonin.  

When we think about how many followers Jodo Shinshu has in Japan, the head temple of Nishi Hongwanji would need a full week to welcome everyone to the temple and to allow adequate time for members to show their appreciation. While that is a good explanation logistically, we also need to acknowledge the founder himself for the definitive teaching that we rely upon today.

It can be scary to think, but without Shinran Shōnin, many of us may not be here today. Many of our parents, grandparents and even great grandparents met through a Jodo Shinshu temple either in the United States or in Japan. One could argue that we owe our lives to Shinran!  That was intended as a half-joke.  

While it is fortunate that there are so many followers of Jodo Shinshu, we also have to remember why that is the case in the first place. Shinran Shonin, along with other priests of the Pure Land way, helped bring the easy practice of the Nembutsu to a wider audience throughout Japan. Our school of Buddhism was not meant for just the upper class of people, but also the merchants, peasants and even outcasts of society.  

Shinran Shonin preached a message of universal wisdom and compassion freely given to us by Amida Buddha, regardless of our class, race, gender identity and other facets of ourselves. With a message that reaches far and wide, it seems only natural that so many followers of the tradition come back to the head temple to offer thanks for such a wonderful teacher. It is true that Shinran himself may not have wanted such a fancy service or for people to seemingly go through much effort for his memory, it is important that we take the time to acknowledge the importance of the great teachers in our lives.  

When reflecting on the time of Hoonko, I also think of Shinran’s wasan, “Ondokusan.” It’s the hymn that sings of Shinran’s deep feelings of gratitude to his many teachers for receiving this precious teaching. In this, he declares that he will repay this kindness until the breaking of his body and his bones becoming dust. While this may sound extreme, we have to remember that Shinran was a deeply religious person. He not only had a scholar’s mind when it came to the teachings, but felt a deep emotional connection to them as well.

If members of the BCA are able to attend Goshoki Hoonko at the Nishi Hongwanji in Kyoto, I advise them to take in as much of the services as possible. All of the ceremonies are beautiful to listen to and watch, but let us not forget as well as to why we are conducting them in the first place.  Let us all celebrate Shinran Shōnin’s life with a renewed sense of gratitude!  Namo Amida Butsu.