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HIGASHI HONGANJI BUDDHIST TEMPLE
NON-PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
Los Angeles, CA
Permit No. 24616
The
Way
Vol. 66 | No. 10
October 2014
HIGASHI HONGANJI LOS ANGELES BETSUIN |Celebrating 110 Years in Los Angeles
TEMPLE
SCHEDULE
OCTOBER
26 10:00am Sunday Service
11:00am Dharma School
Halloween
NOVEMBER
2 10:00am Kaikyo-ki • Shotsuki
Service
8 6:00pm HOONKO Gathering
9 10:00am HOONKO Service
16 10:00am Family Service
23 10:00am Sunday Service
30 10:00am Sunday Service
Discussion Group
DECEMBER
7 10:00am Shotsuki Service
14 10:00am Bodhi Day/Year-end
Family Service
21 10:00am Temple Clean up
HOONKO
November 8 & 9
HOONKO
Gathering
HOONKO
Service
Informal gathering and
discussion in English
Formal service honoring
Shinran Shōnin's memorial
SATURDAY, november 8
sunDAY, november 9
6:00pm
10:00am
Kaikyo-ki
Shotsuki
Memorial
Service
Sunday, november 2
10:00am
DHARMA SCHOOL
Sunday, OCTOBER 26
HALLOWEEN
PARTY
join us for food + fun
after service
please RSVP!
The Way
Volume 66 | Number 10 | October 2014
HIGASHI HONGANJI BUDDHIST TEMPLE • LOS ANGELES BETSUIN
WHAT IS THE TEMPLE FOR?
Rinban Noriaki Ito
The Higashi Honganji North
America District has recently begun
a new educational program called
“Dharma Seeds.” For the next three
years, selected members from each of
our four temples will study together
and hopefully become catalysts at their
temples encouraging others to listen to
the Buddhadharma.
In planning for this program, it
gave me a chance to look back into the
origins of the district educational program. 1991 was the year the original
program was initiated. The inaugural
event was a 2-day retreat that was held
at the West Covina temple where I was
assigned as the resident minister. Our
speaker was the Rev. Michio Miyato, a
wonderfully engaging speaker, perfect
for this initial event. Because the lectures
and discussions dragged on for hours
totally disregarding the time schedule,
one participant referred to it as Buddhist boot camp. It was exhausting and
exhilarating at the same time. For us
ministers too, it was like a wake up call,
questioning our complacency regarding
our efforts to share the teachings with
our members.
Rev. Patti Nakai and I served as
the interpreters and so I remember the
content of Rev. Miyato’s presentation
well. He made us think deeply, he made
us laugh, he made us cry, he made us
question how much we understood
and implemented those teachings in
our everyday life in a very engaging,
self-deprecating way.
His talks that weekend of February 16-17, 1991 are summarized in a
paperback book called Awakening to
the Nembutsu and I would like to share
some of my favorite stories with you in
this article.
Rev. Miyato started by talking about
the Dobo-kai movement in Japan. Back
in 1961, after a measure of normalcy
came about after a collaborative effort to
reconstruct the country after World War
II, reflection of the status quo among the
leadership of the Higashi Honganji led
to the conclusion that there are no true
followers of the Buddha. What arose
from such a dismal assessment was the
Dobo-kai movement, an educational
movement to encourage all members
and ministers of Higashi Honganji
temples to study together.
Rev. Miyato started out by saying
that the primary role of a temple is to
produce true human beings.
From the respected philosopher,
Martin Buber, he quoted, “If the future
world does not restore the relationship
of I-and-Thou, we will cease to exist as
human beings.” In Buddhism, we do
not have a concept of Thou. But Rev.
Miyato explained that we basically
regard people as you and things as it.
We use a fan in the summer to cool the
air. When fall comes, we put away the
fan. The fan doesn’t mind since it’s an
it with no feelings.
But, he says we have the tendency to
treat people as its, discarding them when
they are no longer useful or beneficial
to us. So oftentimes, we relate to other
people not as you, but rather as it, as
things. In theistic religions, Thou is used
to refer to God, to Allah, or Jesus Christ.
It is an expression of utmost respect. Our
challenge then, is to refer to all people,
to all living things as Thou. Sometimes
we don’t even regard others as you. But
Buber, I believe, is encouraging us to go
further…to regard all people with the
attitude of Thou. So this would be the
first step.
In his self-deprecating way, he
shared another example. One day Rev.
Miyato received a letter from a temple
member saying that he has decided to cut
his ties with the temple and to join another religious group. His first response
was, this is terrible. But that thought
didn’t arise because of any guilt Sensei
felt that he had failed to adequately serve
the needs of the member. What he said
was, “…what I was thinking was not so
much of his spiritual needs but of the
donations that I would be losing because
his family had supported my temple for
many generations.” He realized that he
was treating this member as an object, a
source of income for the temple, rather
than as a human being.
He quoted from the eminent Shin
Buddhist teacher, Rev. Ryōjin Soga,
who said, “the most precious jewel the
Japanese people received from Buddhism was the eye by which we see
inside ourselves.”
Another story to illustrate this idea
of how self-centered we tend to be
(Please see TEMPLE, page 3)
Celebrating
110
Years in Los Angeles
For our 110th year in Los Angeles, we are raising funds to put toward several anniversary projects to
add to the betterment of our temple.
These projects include new flooring
and fresh paint for several areas of
the temple as well as upgrades to
audiovisual equipment to enhance
our services.
We welcome any contributions
to our 110th Anniversary Fund.
Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to many
more years of serving our members
and friends.
HIGASHI
HONGANJI
LOS ANGELES
BETSUIN
Page 2
The Way
Betsuin News
E-Mail
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HOONKO
Gathering & Service
Autumn Ohigan
Service & Seminar
Higashi’s
Tanabata Kazari
HOONKO is the memorial service
for Shinran Shōnin, the founder of our
Jodo Shinshu denomination. The literal
meaning of HOONKO is “a gathering to
repay a debt of gratitude.” It is, therefore,
an occasion to express our appreciation
for having been given this opportunity
to encounter the Buddha’s teaching. According to Higashi Honganji tradition,
the memorial date of Shinran Shōnin
is November 28, 1262. This year, our
HOONKO services will be on the weekend of November 8th and 9th. Overseas
District Abbot Chōyū Ōtani will come
again to officiate at our HOONKO on
behalf of Abbot Chōken Ōtani.
This year, we will have our
HOONKO Gathering, an English-speaking discussion on Saturday, November
8th at 6:00pm with speaker Rev. Peter
Hata. On Sunday morning at 10:00am,
speakers for our HOONKO Service will
be Rev. Peter Hata in English and Rev.
Tomoyuki Hasegawa in Japanese. We
hope that you can join us for this special
annual observance.
The Autumn Ohigan Service was
held on September 21st, with a Dharma
Talk by Rev. Tomoyuki Horibe, head
minister of Rinshō temple in Takaoka
City, Toyama prefecture and chair of
Eastern Japan Earthquake/Tsunami
Restoration Support Group. Thank
you to Rev. Horibe for his enlightening
words for this special service.
Thank you to Mr. Shin Ito for
chairing service and Toban 1 and other
members for a delicious chicken and
vegetarian curry lunch with a variety of
salads and lots of dessert. We appreciate your support of this year’s Autumn
Ohigan Service.
Following the service and otoki, we
had our Autumn Seminar in the social
hall. Rev. Tomoyuki Horibe spoke on
the topic “Lessons from Fukushima:
Sharing Stories of Challenge and Hope.”
He shared his experiences during relief
efforts in both the tsunami-devastated
areas of Japan and in Fukushima where
radiation continues to be a threat to
those who live there. Thank you to Rev.
Horibe for an afternoon of eye-opening
and contemplative discussion.
During the
weekend of August 9-10, Nisei
Week celebrated
the 6th Annual
Tanabata Festival. Businesses,
organizations,
and community
groups were
encouraged to
participate by
submitting a
Tanabata kazari. This year on behalf of
Higashi Honganji’s 110th Anniversary,
we submitted a purple, lavender, and
white kazari whose streamers flew in
the wind alongside 168 other kazaris
adjacent to the Japanese American National Museum. Many thanks go to all of
the Sangha members who participated
in this year’s creation. It was truly a
group effort. Hopefully we will start a
little earlier next year! And for a limited
time the kazari will hang in the foyer of
the temple. So come and see it!
Kathy Ikeda
Dharma Gathering
About 25 members of our Higashi
sangha met at Mark Nakatani’s home on
Saturday, August 30th to enjoy a meal
and a discussion of what compassion
is and of the difficulties of being truly
compassionate. Although it was a very
warm day, several people helped Mark
with the barbecue and everyone enjoyed
the delicious potluck food. There are
plans for another gathering so stay tuned
and plan to join us next time.
LUMBINI
CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER
OPEN ENROLLMENT!
spaces available now
FOR CHILDREN AGES 2 1/2 TO 6 YEARS
TEL: 213-680-2976
FAX: 213-626-6850
EMAIL: missleslie_lumbini@yahoo.com
WEBPAGE: http://LumbiniCDC.org
open year round:
MONDAY through FRIDAY
7:30am to 6:00pm
closed national holidays
The Way
(TEMPLE, con’t. from page 1)
was about the huge hanging bell at his
temple. It hadn’t been too long before
that his temple did not have a bell in
the courtyard. He had always been
envious of the nearby temple that had
one. Finally he persuaded a wealthy
member to donate funds. He said I was
ecstatic…but only for three days. He
realized that now that the temple had
the bell, he had to ring it every morning. After a few days, he and his wife
would do jankenpo (rock, scissors, paper)
to determine who would have to go out
at 5:00 am to ring the bell. The source
of what was to be so much happiness
had turned to be a source of suffering.
And it was because of his self-centered
way of looking at life.
Buddhism, he says, has the power
to change us. As Rev. Soga said, we can
receive from Buddhism the eyes that enable us to see inside of ourselves. When
we say Namu Amida Butsu, some might
think we’re praying for something, or
offering praise to a higher being. But Rev.
Soga also said, “Namu Amida Butsu is
the Buddha living in words.”
For human beings, words are so
very important. Words have the power
to kill as well as the power to heal, to
make us feel alive. Rev. Miyato said
that saying Namu Amida Butsu is not
our conscious effort to say nice words.
Rather, it is our way of hearing the good
words of the Buddhas, hearing words
that can brighten our hearts, words that
can bring peace to our lives.
Among his temple members, there
was a couple that had just celebrated
their 20th anniversary. For the first ten
years of their married life, everything
was wonderful. But from then, life
became a challenge for them. They
had two kids, and also were caring for
his elderly parents. He had to move
to Tokyo to increase his income. Life,
therefore, was extremely difficult for the
wife. Their 20th wedding anniversary
had come and after dinner, they were
toasting the day with glasses of beer.
She, however, was thinking back and
became more and more upset about her
fate in life. She was thinking she had to
express her frustrations to him. But just
as she was about to begin, he suddenly
said to her, “Gee it’s been 20 years. I’m
so sorry you got saddled with such a
terrible husband as me. Thank you for
all you’ve done. Thank you for staying
with me.” As soon as she heard those
words, her anger disappeared. Those
words were the Namu Amida Butsu that
solidified their relationship.
Rev. Miyato said, this is how Buddhism leads us toward becoming decent
human beings. Taking the eyes that
the Buddhadharma gives to us to look
inward, we are guided toward a life in
which we can move forward naturally
with the flow of life. It is in this way
that the temple is able to succeed in
producing true human beings. At the
retreat, Rev. Miyato gave us a phrase we
can remember. He said, “Let us all catch
the cold of the Nenbutsu and pass it on.”
Once we come to a true appreciation of
the Buddhadharma, he implies that we
cannot help but share our enthusiasm.
Upon reflection, I realize that I need to
do a better job of infusing that kind of
spirit here at our temple.
Page 3
West Covina Higashi
Kiku Crafts & Food Fair
WCBT will hold its 6th annual Kiku
Crafts & Food Fair on Sunday, November 2, 2014, from 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM
at the East San Gabriel Valley Japanese
Community Center, 1203 West Puente
Ave, West Covina, California. A selection
of artists will present Asian & Hawaiian
inspired crafts, clothing, jewelry, and
giftware, and an array of foods for a fun
day of holiday shopping and lunching.
Music, raffle prizes, and trivia questions all add to the holåiday atmosphere.
Delicious foods and beverages can
be enjoyed on the premises or to take
home…just the right event to bond with
friends and families.
Free admission and free parking.
This event is sponsored by the West
Covina Buddhist Temple. For a list of
participating vendors and pictures of
some of their work, go to: http://livingdharma.org/CurrentEventsWCBT.html
Contact person: Hisako Koga, 909626-6131
Our deepest condolences
to the family and relatives of …
Ms. Nancy Hatsumi Kikuchi (52)
September 10, 2014
Mr. Hitoshi Matsumoto (89)
September 14, 2014
Mrs. Mary Nobuko Hazeyama (86)
September 16, 2014
Mrs. Chiyo Matsumoto (99)
September 22, 2014
Namu Amida Butsu
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