On Chanting
From Exposed in the Golden Wind -
An Introduction to Zen and Buddhist Forms

Chanting practice is very important. At first you may not understand the significance of chanting 100%; however, after you have been chanting regularly, you will understand. "Oh, if I just do this chanting one hundred percent it brings me a very wonderful feeling!" It is the same with bowing 108 times. At first students may not like these practices and some have a very strong checking mind. Why do we bow to chant in these funny languages and why do we bow to Buddha? We chant in Chinese, Korean and Sanskrit because we don't understand the meaning of the words and therefore the sounds tend not to evoke thougths tied to the meaning of the words, we can just focus on our voice and the voices of others. Also, we are not bowing to Buddha, we are bowing to ourselves. Our phenomenal self is bowing to our essential nature. Eventually the phenomenal self disappears and we manifest our essential nature. This is true chanting and bowing.

Correct chanting meditation means keeping a not-moving mind, and perceiving your true self. So when you are chanting, you must perceive the sound of your voice: you and the universe have already become one, suffering disappears, then true happiness appears. This is called Nirvana. If you keep Nirvana, your mind is clear like space. Clear like space means clear like a mirror. If the color red appears; then we only reflect red. If the color white appears; then we only reflect white. If someone is happy; I am happy. If someone is sad; I am sad. If someone is hungry; I will give them food. The name for this is Great Love, Great Compassion, the Great Bodhisattva Way. This is chanting meditation, chanting Zen.