By practising day and night every day you'll soon pick it up and be able to go a little bit faster. Third, if you are new to this kind of Buddhism, you may think it's impossible to do it, but if you start off slow and follow along in the liturgy book, you'll soon pick it up. It doesn't matter where we were first introduced to the practice, what country we move to and who we practice with, we are able to chant together in unison. and I have chanted with people from Thailand, India, Brazil, France, Australia, Netherlands, etc. I have practised in Japan, Canada and the U.K. Second, it also brings us together as a worldwide organisation. It really seems to resonate and have a rhythm to it in a way that the English doesn't. Personally, I enjoy the sound and feeling of this old Japanese approximation of old Chinese.

If you try and do it with someone else it adds to the difficulty and it's very easy to get out of rhythm unless you go slowly, such as Christians saying The Lord's Prayer in church. The English words don't flow so easily and it's difficult to find a good tempo. I have tried chanting in English but it's actually harder.

Some people query why not do it in English, which is a valid point and I know some Nichiren Buddhist sects do chant in English. Some people think we are chanting in Japanese, but we are actually chanting Kumarajiva's Chinese translation of the Lotus Sutra using a Japanese pronounciation system. One thing that can make Gongyo harder is that the recitation of these chapters is NOT IN ENGLISH!!!

Gongayo china gongyo