When reciting the Hannya Shingyo, I don’t know what teaches more profoundly…
Is it the sound of the sutra being recited, or the sound of the wood being struck ?
The purpose of the Hannya Shingyo is to the Buddha’s teachings what the sound of the Hannya Shingyo is to the text of the sutra.
The sound of the Hannya Shingyo is to the text of the sutra what the sound of the mokugyo is to the sound of the Hannya Shingyo.
The sound of the wood being recited during the Hannya Shingyo is to the sound of the chanted Hannya Shingyo what silence is to the sound of the wood being struck.
©FJ August 2025
Recueils / Participation/
Notes & Silence 
Does that not boil down to: « Why recite and whack a log when you can just maintain silent contemplation? »
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…or why remaining in non action when you can express life meaningfully… And hit the wooden fish.
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What is unmeaningful about non-action? What meaning does a bruised wooden fish have?
Nothing and everything in equal measure?
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In non action, action already resides.
Isn’t the (modern) obsession for meanings is ego-centered…we can’t manufacture meaning.
The wooden fish is the mokugyo.
https://www.stillsitting.com/what-is-a-mokugyo-fish-drum/
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I would suggest every time one invests an object, image or action with symbolism, one manufactures meaning. Maybe not very effectively, but, still, a meaning is created.
And yes, it is ego-centred.
The absence of ego would appear to require absolute identification with all that is. To become one with the ultimate consciousness. To be lost in awareness.
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‘Lost in awareness’
Would make a great.title for a movie.
(Lost In Translation is one of my favourites)
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Maybe an even better title for a life…
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