As well as morning Okyūji, HBS followers also serve the Gohonzon before dinner every evening. Morning Okyūji is to pray for avoiding curses and living peacefully and quietly through the day, while evening Okyūji is to express our thanks to the Gohonzon for the protection at the end of the day.
As you do in the morning, first, dust your Gokaidan (HBS Buddhist altar—dwelling of the Gohonzon) briefly. You do not need to polish it in the evening if you have done it once in the morning. Next, offer an Obuppan, the first bowl of white rice that you boiled for dinner, and then have an Okankin (chanting practice). After finishing the Okankin, you may take away both the Obuppan and Ohatsu-mizu (offered first-drawn water of the day in the morning) and have them.
The Ohatsu-mizu that absorbed the merit of voices of the Odaimoku, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, both in the morning and evening changes into sacred water called Okōzui (or Okosui). It literally means “water offered to the Gohonzon.” Okōzui contains a lot of Kudoku (merits of the Odaiomku), and HBS members often receive a lot of Goriyaku (benefits) by drinking it: complete recovery from last stage cancer, atopic dermatitis, and so on. People who have never had Okōzui can scarcely imagine how wonderful the power of the merits is.
When you got paid, received your report card, or got or bought some food special and delicious, offer it at the Gokaidan in an Ohatsuho*(1) spirit before evening Okankin. The offering represents your gratitude for the constant protection of the Gohonzon, and you will accumulate more Kudoku through the offering.
*(1) Ohatsuho
Honmon Butsuryū Shū places great importance on the spirit of Ohatsuho. Hatsuho generally means ripe rice ears presented to Gods (Shintō and Buddhist deities) before the autumn rice harvest. In HBS’s definition, offerings of food and drinks or money that we bought or gained at the beginning of the month or year are called Ohatsuho. These offerings in an Ohatsuho spirit represent followers’ gratitude for the protection of the Gohonzon.
