Circumambulation or "walking the Way" is a form of veneration with origins in ancient India, where to circumambulate three times was a means of honoring a noble person. In Japanese Buddhist ritual, circumambulation is usually accompanied by recitation of sutras and the scattering of petals.
 

Kannon (Avalokitesvara), the Bodhisattva of Compassion, is invoked in virtually all Japanese Buddhist Convents, irrespective of sect, by recitation of the Kannon Sutra.
 

Sange, or a "scattering of flower petals" is a Buddhist ceremony common to all the major schools of Japanese Buddhism. It signifies paying homage or respect to a Buddha or to one who has attained Buddhahood. Descriptions of scattering flowers on the Buddha are found in such early Indian Buddhist texts as the Nirvana Sutra in which flower petals fall from the sky when the Buddha attains Nirvana. In China, Buddhists adopted the practice of scattering flowers in ritual procession to musical accompaniment. Live flowers are sometimes used, but more commonly the blossoms are made from colored paper, sometimes highly decorated and flecked with gold or silver. During the scattering the monks or nuns dedicate their own lives so that "we and all beings together may attain the wisdom and serenity of the Way of the Buddha." The lotus blossom conveys two strong images. The plant grows in the mud, yet the flower rises immaculately to the surface of the water to bloom. The lotus blossom offered by the worshiper to the divinity signifies the abandonment of one's own limited nature into the Buddha nature.
 

Several of the decorated paper petals used centuries ago in commemorations of Abbess Mugai Nyodai, Emperor Gomizuno'o and others were on display at the exhibition "Days of Discipline and Grace: Treasures from the Imperial Buddhist Convents of Kyoto", held in the C.V. Starr East Asian Library, Columbia University, from November 6 to December 4, 1998.
To order a copy of the exhibition catalog please visit the exhibition web site.

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