A practice in many Zen monasteries and centers is a daily liturgy service. Practitioners chant major sutras such as the Heart Sutra, chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra (often called the "Avalokiteshvara Sutra"), the Song of the Jewel Mirror Awareness, the Great Compassionate Heart Dharani (Daihishin Dharani), and other minor mantras.
The Butsudan is the altar in a monastery where offerings are made to the images of the Buddha or Bodhisattvas.
The same term is also used in Japanese homes for the altar where one
prays to and communicates with deceased family members. As such,
reciting liturgy in Zen can be seen as a means to connect with the
Bodhisattvas of the past. Liturgy is often used during funerals,
memorials, and other special events as means to invoke the aid of
supernatural powers.[citation needed]
Chanting usually centers on major Bodhisattvas like Avalokiteshvara (see also Guan Yin) and Manjusri. According to Mahayana Buddhism, Bodhisattvas are beings who have taken vows to remain in Samsara
to help all beings achieve liberation from the cycle of birth, death
and rebirth. Since the Zen practitioner's aim is to walk the Bodhisattva
path, chanting can be used as a means to connect with these beings and
realize this ideal within oneself. By repeatedly chanting the
Avalokiteshvara sutra (観世音菩薩普門品 Kanzeon Bosatsu Fumonbon) (chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra[web 17]),
for example, one instills the Bodhisattva's ideals into ones mind. The
ultimate goal is given in the end of the sutra, which states, "In the
morning, be one with Avalokiteshvara; in the evening, be one with Avalokiteshvara". Through the realization of emptiness and the Mahayana notion that all things have Buddha-nature,
one understands that there is no difference between the cosmic
bodhisattva and oneself. The wisdom and compassion of the Bodhisattva
one is chanting to is seen to equal the inner wisdom and compassion of
the practitioner. Thus, the duality between subject and object,
practitioner and Bodhisattva, chanter and sutra is ended.