HIGASHI HONGANJI BUDDHIST TEMPLE | LOS ANGELES BETSUIN Vol. 67 | No. 3 March 2015 NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID Los Angeles, CA Permit No. 24616 HIGASHI HONGANJI BUDDHIST TEMPLE TEMPLE SCHEDULE MARCH 22 10:00am Spring Ohigan Service 22 1:00pm Spring Seminar (English/Japanese) 29 10:00am Sunday Service Discussion Group APRIL 5 10:00am Shotsuki Service 12 10:00am Sunday Service 12 LABTF Hanamatsuri 19 10:00am Hanamatsuri Family Service 26 10:00am Sunday Service Discussion Group 26 10:00am Hanamatsuri Craft Fair MAY 2 NAD Local Retreat (English/Japanese) W ay The spring ohigan sunday, march 22nd, 2015 with guest speaker Rev. Tatsuru Kigoshi Los Angeles Buddhist Temple Federation Hanamatsuri Celebration koyasan temple SUNDAY, april 12th 1:00pm Hanamatsuri Buddha’s Birthday Higashi Betsuin Hanamatsuri Family Service Sunday, april 19th 10:00am hanamatsuri craft fair sunday, april 26th 10am - 3pm accepting vendor applications!
Transcript
HIGASHI HONGANJI BUDDHIST TEMPLE | LOS ANGELES BETSUIN
Vol. 67 | No. 3March 2015
NON-PROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE
PAIDLos Angeles, CAPermit No. 24616
HIGASHI HONGANJI BUDDHIST TEMPLE
TEMPLESCHEDULE
MArcH 22 10:00am Spring Ohigan Service 22 1:00pm Spring Seminar (English/Japanese) 29 10:00am Sunday Service Discussion Group
APrIL 5 10:00am Shotsuki Service 12 10:00am Sunday Service 12 LABTF Hanamatsuri 19 10:00am Hanamatsuri Family Service 26 10:00am Sunday Service Discussion Group 26 10:00am Hanamatsuri Craft Fair
MAy 2 NAD Local Retreat (English/Japanese)
WayThe
springohigan
sunday, march 22nd, 2015
with guest speaker
Rev. TatsuruKigoshi
Los Angeles BuddhistTemple Federation
Hanamatsuri Celebrationkoyasan temple
SUNDAY, april 12th
1:00pm
HanamatsuriBuddha’s Birthday
Higashi BetsuinHanamatsuri
Family ServiceSunday, april 19th
10:00am
hanamatsuri craft fair
sunday, april 26th
10am - 3pm
accepting vendor
applications!
HIGASHI HONGANJI BUDDHIST TEMPLE • LOS ANGELES BETSUIN
Volume 67 | Number 3 | March 2015
Thank you and I’m SorryRev. Paul Imahara
The WayI have had a deep interest in Jodo
Shinshu Buddhism for many years, although such words as Namu Amida Butsu made no sense to me. I was told over and over to just recite the words, and yes I did. But did it make any clear sense as I recite the Nenbutsu? Not re-ally. But I was supposed to recite it so I just did.
In Tannisho chapter 10, Shinran Shōnin said “In the Nenbutsu no self-working is true-working; it is beyond description, explanation, and concep-tion.” What is true-working? Is there something beyond description, explana-tion, and conception? I was so confused, but at the same time I wanted to have a deeper spiritual understanding.
During the time that Rev. Saito was the Rinban at our Betsuin, my dad asked him to conduct a memorial service for my mother at his home in Boyle Heights. Dad picked him up and I was asked to take him back to the Betsuin, and as we pulled in to the parking lot and before he had a chance to open the car door, I asked him a question I had had in me for a long time. I said “Saito Sensei, without using any Buddhist words or phrases, in other words, in plain every day language can you explain to me what Nenbutsu means?” With this he grunted and leaned his head back as if he was looking up into the sky (no I didn’t have a sky-roof in my car). I didn’t know if he was look-ing up at the ceiling of the car or if he just had his eyes closed. In any case he didn’t say a word for a long time and I was getting nervous. Finally he lowered his chin and said slowly and quietly but clearly “Nenbutsu means Arigato and Gomen nasai (I’m sorry).” I remember saying thank you and after he got out of the car my head was spinning. “How could Nenbutsu mean just Arigato and Gomen nasai? It made no sense to me. How could it be so simple! I wanted a deeper spiritual understanding, not just
“thank you and I’m sorry.”In the January 2015 issue of a
monthly newspaper called Dobo Shin-bun published by our Honzan, there was an article about Mr. Toshio Kanamitsu. Born in 1927, he worked for NHK, the prominent broadcasting company in Japan, and became the editor-producer specializing in Buddhism and Religion. He also published many Buddhist books and articles.
Mr. Kanamitsu in his earlier years joined a Buddhist study class led by a well-known teacher Benzaburo Kato. During the series while studying the Amida Sutra, at the end of each class, Kato Sensei said, “I touch upon many subjects to explain the Sutra but the core, the essence of the teachings is just one, and that is Nenbutsu.” But to Mr. Kanamitsu it made no sense at all, so he asked “Kato Sensei, can you explain it to us so it’ll make better sense and be convincing to us who live in this contemporary world?” Kato Sensei responded by saying “I was thinking about the same question when I was young. But I came to realize later that I was so arrogant in my thinking.” This shocked Mr. Kanamitsu, he thought “I am coming to this class with a desire to learn Buddhism. I bowed my head and asked him to please teach me so I can understand. But why am I arrogant, how can I be arrogant!” From then, those words “what is that arrogance in me?” remained in his thoughts for years. In this interview, Mr. Kanamitsu said, “Buddhism teaches us about the world of infi nity and eternity and my attitude to try to understand it being in this fi nite world was arrogant.”
Shinran wrote many poems and the one I like is “Of those who encounter the power of the primal vow, not one passes by in vain; they are fi lled With the treasure ocean of virtues, the defi led waters of their blind passions not sepa-
rated from it.”Mr. Kanamitsu’s world of infi nity
is the world of Amida Buddha; it is the working of the Primal Vow coming to this fi nite world. When we feel the in-spiration from the world of infi nity our lives are energized. I feel comfortable when I think of the world of infi nity, I can relax, I don’t feel the weight of the monkey on my back. My worries seem to disappear. My life can end tomorrow or it can be years later; until that time comes, this energy from the world of infi nity is gently pushing and nudging me to live life the best I can. Does this mean all of my ugly blind passions disappear? Not so. Did it shrink or get much smaller? I don’t think so. But when I realize I am being spun around by my blind pas-sions, I can come off from the spinning wheel. When I come to realize I am in the world of infi nity, in the treasure ocean of virtues, I am not concerned with the defi led waters of my blind passions. But we do live in this fi nite world. When we feel the working, the inspiration com-ing from the world of infi nity, we can say “thank you” and when we come to realize we are in the defi led water of blind passions, we can say “I’m sorry.” To some younger folks, life may be a struggle, to retired and older folks, life may be boring. I am an old man living in a retirement home but I have joy and fulfi llment in life.
Arigato and Gomen nasai,Namu Amida Butsu
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Our Hanamatsuri Family Service will take place on Sunday, April 19, 2015. Please join us as we celebrate the Buddha’s birth with sweet tea offer-ings and reflections on the occasion of Hanamatsuri.
The flowers to decorate our beauti-ful Hanamido will be donated by temple affiliated flower distributors and will be decorated by members of our own Bombu Taiko group.
We encourage you to join us for this festive occasion to celebrate the Bud-dha’s birthday.
Our 2015 Eitaikyo brought out many of our family and friends to join us in remembering our temple members who have passed away. At our Eitaikyo Ser-vice, Bishop Noriaki Ito gave a Dharma Talk in English and Rev. Ryoko Osa spoke in Japanese.
After service, we headed to Mon-terey Park for our 110th Annual New Year Luncheon and Annual General meeting at the Quiet Cannon. We opened the afternoon with greetings from our Board President, Mr. David Ikeda and Bishop Noriaki Ito. A betsuin report, temple
The annual Los Angeles Buddhist Temple Federation Hanamatsuri Cel-ebration will take place on Sunday, April 12 at 1:00 pm at the Koyasan Buddhist Temple. This year’s theme is “Birth,” and is meant not only to celebrate the birthday of Sakyamuni Buddha but also to reflect upon our birth as human beings as well. With a special emphasis on children, there will be an art contest/exhibition of children’s artwork on the theme, “My Flower.”
A special feature of the afternoon will be a performance of children’s stories by the Grateful Crane Ensemble, following the colorful Hanamatsuri service conducted by the ministers of the seven member temples. One of the plays will be “the Rabbit in the Moon,” an old tale from Buddhist folklore about compassion. We encourage you to bring your children and grandchildren to this year’s celebration.
For more information, please call the temple office (213-626-4200) or the Koyasan Buddhist Temple (213-624-1267). We hope to see you all there.
HanamatsuriCraft Fair
Calling all craft vendors! On Sun-day, April 26th from 10am to 3pm, we will have our Hanamatsuri Craft Fair at the Betsuin! We are looking for vendors who make and sell craft items and would like to be a part of our Craft Fair. For more information, please contact the temple office at 213-626-4200 or email [email protected]. Vendor applications are available online and through the office. The application deadline is March 27th.
MARCHTip of the monthCarry your own thermos for your tea or coffee instead of using a styrofoam cup each
time. Not only will it keep your beverage warm longer,
but it will reduce waste.
GOING GREEN in 2015
Our deepest condolencesto the family and relatives of …
Mrs. Tomoko Nishimura (85)January 19, 2015
Namu Amida Butsu
financial report, and the election of 2015 Board of Directors were presented by Rev. Peter Hata, Craig Harada, and Ted Oyama, respectively.
Bishop Ito and David Ikeda pre-sented Mrs. Mary Imoto with a bouquet of flowers to commemorate her retire-ment and many years of service as a staff member of Higashi Honganji. In addition, presentations were made by Bishop Ito and David Ikeda to temple volunteers to honor their hard work over the course of the past year.
Page 3The Way
(EITAIKYO, con’t. from page 2)
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Submissions for The Way are due the 10th of each month for the following month’s issue. Articles and announcements for our May Issue are due April 10th, 2015. Submissions may be subject to printing restrictions and staff approval. Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you!
SUBMISSION DEADLINE!
WEDDINGANNOUNCEMENTS
Brittany Ishiwata& Joseph Hisey
February 19, 2015
CONGRATULATIONS!!
The Otani Gakuen performed a few songs for us and invited us to sing along to Beautiful Sunday and Sukiyaki. The festive selection of songs made the event feel warm and lively.
Our emcee, Mr. Shin Ito, brought back the Not-So-Newlywed game. Con-testants were Team Hata, Team Ikeda, and Team Ito! Team Ikeda made a slow but steady trek to fi rst place! After the game, there was a slideshow document-ing highlights of 2014 as well as a mini tribute to Mary Imoto.
We want to send a special thank you to Mr. Shin Ito for acting as Master of Ceremonies during the luncheon and the Board of Directors for hosting the luncheon. Thank you to Elaine Harada and Sharilynn Jung for donating the gifts
for members over age 80 in addition to the beautiful wine bottle centerpieces. Thank you to the sheep shearing (cot-ton candy making) crew for making the sheep’s wool (cotton candy) favors and the Ikeda family for the rental of the cotton candy machine. Thank you to Irene Ota, Becky Sato, Elaine Harada, Sharilynn Jung, Janet Ito, the Yama-moto family, Bachan’s Takeout, Nancy Kurihara-Johnson, Gary Kanemoto, Susan Kashiwabara, and Mika Ito for donating raffl e prizes. Thank you to the Lumbini staff and our many members and friends for volunteering to set up and clean up after the luncheon. Without the help of so many generous members and friends we could not have enjoyed such a delightful luncheon.
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