You may view previous editions of the bulletin from the listing to the right.
July brings us the cemetery visitations and the Obon/Hatsubon Service. The cemetery visitation schedule has been changed. Please be sure to check the revised schedule to know whether the changes will affect your visit to the cemetery and the scheduled service for your family. The cemetery visit during the Obon season is a wonderful way to recognize and remember those friends and family members who have contributed to the makeup of the lives we have today.
Each of our lives is a culmination from the human realm of endless contributions from others who have touched us. Each of our lives is also a bottomless collection of conditions from the non-human realm of change, seasons, air, water, soil and such that move in cycles of constant flux. To recognize all those elements that move and evolve us to our current condition is to recognize that we are each a part of the dynamic nature of change. To know this is to allow for a shift in identity from the person we clint to and hold so dearly to the person who finds less need for the affirmation of self and the stroking of ego. This is the Buddhist path that reveals the self as not the one we once thought, protected and feared for, but another who is connected, grounded, and uncalculated.
Hatsubon is our annual service in recognition of those we have lost since the previous Hatsubon. This year we will have 19 names on our Hatsubon list. This is a substantial number for a temple our size. We at the temple are very honored to support and assist our families through this very difficult first year of grieving and loss. It is through the sharing of our losses that we are able to move forward. The comfort and strength received is then returned to others in their time of grief and loss. It is in this fashion that compassion moves through human time to touch individual lives as needed....from them to us and then again from us to them. We become the movement of compassion and we reflect the wisdom of the Buddha as it illuminates the human path through life.
Please come to the Obon/Hatsubon Family Service July 10, 11 a.m. and support our families with your presence. We will see you at the Temple.
Gassho,
Rev. Dennis
Marilyn Flanagan, Nobuo Terada, Mitsuru Nakamura, Dixie Iseri, George Mizuta, Maxie Sugai, Harvey Atagi, Kaz Morinaga, Alice Tsukamaki, Midori Koyama, Elmer Yamaguchi, Hiroto Okano, George Iseri, Kiyoko Terada, George Takayuki Okita, Yone Kariya, Joe Inaba, Toshi Terayama, Juji Matsumuara
We will be having our annual cemetery visitations for the Obon Season July 12-14, 2011. Please note the scheduling changes. Please contact Sensei with questions at 208.707.2021.
July 12 - Vale 10 a.m., Emmett 4 p.m., New Plymouth 5 p.m., Payette 6 p.m., Weiser 7 p.m.
July 13 - Nyssa 9 a.m., Parma 9:30 a.m., Wilder 10:30 a.m., Marsing 12:00 p.m., Ontario 7 p.m.
July 14 - LaGrande 9:30 a.m., Baker 11 a.m., Boise 6 p.m., Nampa 7:30 p.m., Hillcrest 8:00 p.m., Caldwell 8:30 p.m.
July 10 at 11:00 a.m.
Reading Rev. Fujimoto's article in last month's bulletin made me think about our temple here in Ontario, Oregon. I have grown up in this temple since the 1950's, and I recall many of the Issei and Nisei temple members that worked so hard to make the temple what it is today. Remembering all the years of planning and constructing the temple that we have today makes me sad when I think that we, the Sansei, have neglected our legacy. Too many of us are too busy, live too far away, "have other things on our plate right now" to attend the temple services, to lend a hand, or to bring others to the temple to hear the Buddha Dharma.
I do not know how many of you reading this article are guilty of this, but I know that I am guilty of taking the temple and the Buddha Dharma for granted. It seems as if the temple has always been here, and it will always be here. But...maybe not.
A basic teaching of Buddhism is impermanence. All things change. It is a fundamental reality of our lives. We are rapidly losing our Nisei Sangha members. They have been such stalwart supporters of the temple and all its activities. Times are changing. It is time for us "younger" members to step up and nurture the treasure in our own back yard.
I want to share a story that came to me in an email. Maybe it will help all of us better understand the hidden treasures that we so often take for granted because we do not really look deep into ourselves and into the world around us.
"A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake.
They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.
He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone
Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left. Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!
It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it. We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person."
This story talks about people and the hidden treasure inside. We dismiss our own worth as Buddhists. We have not attended temple in a long time so we do not know what is going on. We have not read any books about Buddhism so we do not know enough to attend services. We might feel uncomfortable because it has been so long since we have stepped inside the temple so maybe we should not go. There are numerous ways that we fail to see how important each of us is. The story also applies to institutions and ideas that we take for granted. The temple and the Buddha Dharma that it represents may seen unimportant. Maybe it appears old-fashioned or too difficult to understand. But if you will look past your own notions, you may discover a treasure that is beyond any that you could imagine.
Please consider Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple as the treasure that it is. Actively support Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple. Attend service at the temple. Step outside your comfort zone. Set a priority to do this. Listen to the Buddha Dharma with an open heart and mind. IOBT needs its Sangha.
August 1st, we open only during the noon hour to feed the members of the Chamber of Commerce. The fair officially opens on August 2nd. We need all the help we can get. If you can work in the booth, let Elynn Mizuta know as she schedules workers in the booth and if you can cook, let Roy Hasebe know as he schedules the cooks. If you want a workers pass (if you work more than 2 days) it is $10.00 for the entire time. Karen Hata will be purchasing the workers passes, so let her know if you want to purchase a pass. Daily entrance fees are $5.00 and $6.00.
You may notice an effort to be a little more eco-friendly around the temple. An effort is being made to make a smaller ecological footprint, if we can. We would like to avoid using styrofoam products when practical, and we hope to be more active recyclers. Along this line, you will notice a new dumpster cart in the alley for recycling ONLY. It is labeled RECYCLE and it is blue. The trash dumpster is green. So, please put recyclable items in the blue dumpster cart. This includes paper (including paper plates, cups, etc.), magazines, cans, plastic bottles (where the neck is smaller than the body), but NOT glass. Also, cardboard can still be put beside the dumpster (cardboard being so bulky, it fills up the dumpster too much). For those of you that don't have recycling pickup at home, or if you have to pay for recycling pickup, you are welcome to put your recyclables in the Temple recycling cart. Happy recycling!
We are testing a new program for credit card acceptance for temple pledges. If you would like to pay your pledge by credit card, please contact Mike Iseri (541.889.8691, or mikeiseri@fmtc.com). If you would like to pay your pledge in installments, we can also do that! Whether you want to make one lump sum, pay quarterly, pay monthly, etc., we will do our best to accommodate the payment schedule you prefer.
It is our hope to make paying your pledges as simple and flexible as possible. As always, thank you for your support of IOBT!
Monday, June 27th, Dharma School students, parents and grandparents and former Dharma School students (Alia, Mimi and Grant) will have an outing to Caldwell Family YMCA, located in Caldwell, from 3:00 - 8:30 p.m. Teachers and Sensei and Sharmon will coordinate food and activities for everyone. Activities will be swimming, climbing wall, sharing time, DS group toban and group activities. We will have a service, too. Dharma School students are encouraged to invite and bring a friend. We will leave around 1:00 p.m. from the temple.
We want to encourage the students/parents to attend temple during the summer, too. Thank you to all who have been bringing food item donations for the Food Pantry. We appreciate your generosity!
Karen Hata, Delores Wood, Mary Nakamura, Kazuko Kuramoto, Jimmy Hondo, Kiku Hondo, Suzie Nishihara, and Hideo and Ruth Harada
Designated Memorial Service Years for 2011. To schedule a family memorial service, please contact Reverend Fujimoto. 1 Year = 2010, 3 year = 2009, 7 year = 2005, 13 year = 1999, 17 year = 1995, 25 year = 1987, 33 year = 1979 and 50 year = 1962.
Idaho Oregon Buddhist Temple
286 SE 4th Directions
PO Box 397 (mailing address)
Ontario, Oregon 97914
541-889-8562 (office)
541-889-8662 (fax)
10:00 am - IOBT Choir Practice
10:30 am - Adult Study
11:00 am - Family Service
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