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Dr. Al Bloom gave me a cartoon hhe had cut out of the newspaper about 20 years ago. The cartoon shows a dour fellow walking along with a placard reading "Jesus is Coming". Walking twenty feet behind him was a cheerful looking fellow with a sign that reads, "Buddha is Here Now!" This may be unfair to Christians, but it does make a valid point. The truth we revere is here now.
We look forward to all our dreams coming true in the next life. Even so, the source of goodness which will transform us into Buddhas is here now. The healing sound of the Nembutsu can ring in the back of your mind right now, "Namu Amida Butsu". The source of comfort and hope we need can be heard now vibrating in the depths of our hears, "Namanda".
We may have to wait a bit to be perfect exemplars of wisdom and compassion. We don't have to wait to be composed and hopeful. The resource for confidence in our lives and trust for the future calls to us here and now, "Namu Amida Butsu". I have been blessed to encounter this teaching (I know we don't always use such as a term as "blessed"), I have been fortunate to be ordained in the Jodo Shinshu tradition and to have studied at IBS and at Chuo Bukkyo Gakuin, where I met my wife. I have been very fortunate to be placed at the Oregon Buddhist Temle in Portland. I have been honored to be the Supervising Minister for the Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple this past year and a half. If there is one message I would like to leave you with it is this, don't wait! Shinjin happens. The source of all of our dreams coming true is calling in the depths of our hearts, "Namu Amida Butsu".
We will meet again often, but not as often as in the past 16 months. We can always meet in the Nembutsu. Please open your mind to this single point of contact with the realm of the sacred, "Namanda". Please ask yourself who and what you do encounter in "Namu Amida Butsu". There is that "infinitely gentle" thing calling in the back of our minds. Who do we encounter and what do we hear when we listen?
Happy New Year everyone! Let's hope for a Healthy 2005!
To start off the new year, a few of our Temple members met at the Temple on New Year's Day for a short service and had the traditional "Ozoni", plus a few New Year festival goodies for a luncheon. Thanks to all of you who attended.
The Temple General Meeting and New Year's get together was held on January 16th. Mike Iseri conducted the meeting and gave us the run down for the year of 2004. Due to early meeting final financial reports were not complete. Pledge report was quite favorable. Thanks to members who remember to pay their pledges. These pledges help to cover almost 50% of our Temple expenses. Mike expressed his thanks to all those who helped during the absence of a minister at our Temple - he stated that he had 33 different chairpersons for Sunday Services. He also gave a brief announcement about our new minister, Rev. Dennis Fujimoto, who is starting at our temple on March 1st. After the service and meeting, we had a New Year's luncheon. Due to foggy weather, attendance was quite low. The temple furnished the rotisserie chicken and rice balls; other salads and desserts were brought in by members. Thanks everyone - we all had a feast!
The ABA held their annual New Years Party on January 22nd - catered by Matsy's. It was a treat for us ladies; we didn't have to cook! Dinner was super! For some entertainment, bingo was held with cash given as our prize. Lucky me, I got one! Some of us diehards stayed on longer to play our favorite pasttime, cards!
We had a special guest speaker, Mas Wada, from the Wapato, WA area on January 23rd. Since the Yakima Buddhist Church does not have a resident minister, Mas presides over as layman minister - he is a special and dedicated person to keep their Temple active. It was his day to perform a Sunday program like he does at their Temple. The only difference we added was our Time to Share, which was done by Sanami Nakano who read a special story about Jamie Hasebe's "Last Hug", which was written by Rev. Marvin Harada from the Orange County Buddhist Temple. George Iseri, chairperson, gave an introduction of Mas Wada, which shared stories dating back many years. Mr. Wada gave a talk on \Okagesama" which touched us all. More informal talk was held afterwards - Ogawa sensei, a Japanese language teacher in Ontario, gave a talk about his students.
Activity Day on Wednesday is still going on with food demonstrations. Diane Gilbert demonstrated Chicken Scampi, Sharon Wada and Teddy Tanaka made Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies, and, as of this writing Diane Gilbert will be making Matsutaki Egg Foo Young, followed by Ann Nagaki with Korean Hot Noodle on Feb. 2nd. Payette-Fruitland will share the month of February with Vale-Nyssa as tobans, March will be shared with Weiser and Caldwell-Nampa ladies and Ontario Country will take April as tobans.
As we were cleaning and straightening aprons to be put in the new cabinet drawer, we notied we are missing a lot of our favorite blue aprons. We had made up 21 with IOBT printed with liquid paint and now only see 6 in the drawer. I know everyone has intention to bring them back, so put it on your list. Thanks!
Thanks to whomever did the snow removal a couple of Sunday's ago - appreciated very much! About 37 members have signed up to go to the NW Buddhist Convention, held in Tacoma. Enjoy! Don't forget Fujinkai meeting immediately after Sunday services on Feb. 6th. Let's give support to our new Co-Chairpresidents!
Again, thanks to all of you that have been saving the pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House! The director of the tabs said that the 5 large boxes of tabs that I turned in weighed 151 pounds!! That totals out to be 211,400 tabs! So, keep saving those tabs.
January 2nd: Chairman and Dharma Talk: Karen Hata
January 9th: Chairman: Lois Saito, Dharma Talk: Rev. Dennis Fujimoto
January 16th: Chairman: Sandy Belknap, Dharma Talk: Rev. Gregory Gibbs.
January 23rd: Chairman and Dharma Talk: Mary Ann Shimojima
January 30th: Chairman and Dharma Talk: Karen Hata
Mark February 13th on your calendars as we will have our Valentines party with a luncheon for teh children and their parents
The Northwest Buddhist Convention will be in Tacoma, Feb. 18-20, so no church on the 20th. Those attending from the Dharma School are Alia Mizuta, Quinn Spencer, and Laurel and Grant Saito. The teachers and advisors attending are: Lois Saito, Sandy Belknap, Mary Ann Shimojima, Sanami Nakano and Mary Nakamura.
Dharma friends of the Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple are wishing Lisa Yamaguchi Tonar a speedy and complete recovery. Our thoughts are always with you. Get well messages may be sent to: Lisa Yamaguchi Tonar, 535 Fairmont Drive, Boulder Creek, CA 95006.
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
10:30 am - Dharma School Service
11:00 am - Adult Service
11:00 am - Dharma School Class
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