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In the Japanese Buddhist tradition, Obon is a national memorial. Obon is a time to be united with others, both living and deceased. There are beings other than humans who share our life and make our life possible. Obon is a time to be united with them also. We are united with many others, whether we like it or not. You may make a statement like "I hate my mom," or "I hate the person I work with everyday." Whether we like them or not, we are all united in oneness in the spirit of love and compassion. Isn't that beautiful? To me, Obon is very romantic, for we are all united together.
In traditional Japan, at Obon time, people welcome spirits back into their lives by burning fires in front of their houses. The spirits then stay three days. I say these Obon spirits are thoughtful guests for they do not stay too long. If you had a guest who stayed two or three weeks, you might think, "I wish they would leave sooner. I don't want to cook breakfast every morning!" This is why I think the Obon spirits are very thoughtful.
Also in Japan, Korea and China, people make small boats, write the names of ancestors on the boats and sail these ancestors down a river thinking, "I'll revisit with you a year from now." I think this is a beautiful tradition. It gives us the impact of unity of all beings. We have a chance to express our gratefulness and apologies, even confessions, to these beings. In our modern life, we tend to ignore traditions like this. But traditions like this create warm hearts and heart-to-heart communication. Obon originally meant to make upside down to make free from suffering so we can gain enlightenment, so we can gain awareness.
At this Obon time, I want to share some of the awareness of Marjorie Ota. The Columbus Sangha meets in her house. Mrs. Ota welcomes anyone to the service in her home; white people, black people, as well as Japanese Americans. She does not live in a fancy house, yet she says, "welcome, welcome." I was in Columbus on Friday evening at Mr. and Mrs. Ota's house. Mr. Ota was hospitalized and was going to die. We were at the hospital up until 3:00 a.m. I stayed at their home and came back to Cleveland on Sunday morning. Around 7:00 a.m., Marjorie said, "Sensei, breakfast is ready." In this crisis situation, she was able to cook breakfast for me. Having coffee together, she shared this moment in her life, her wisdom. She said, "Wow, Sensei. I've come through all kinds of difficulties in my life because I always learn from my experiences. I was put in a camp because of racial discrimination. And yet Buddhist teaching says, the past is the past, we learn from the past. The future is yet to come. It is a mystery! We are here at the present time. What am I doing? What am I learning? These are my questions." Then she paused, and simply said, "the whole thing is your choice, isn't it?" I was sipping coffee and I said, "yes, yes indeed." Marjorie doesn't talk much, she talks with whole feeling. We can make our lives miserable, we can make our lives enjoyable. How we respond to what happens to us is our choice.
Marjorie took some dishes off the table. She said, "it's very funny, isn't it? It is very simple, but we make it complicated." "Yes, that's right." Her sharing is much better than my Dharma Talk. Then she said, "I surely miss my husband. We just celebrated our fiftieth anniversary." How we respond to happenings in our life is our choice. The whole thing is in our hands. Shakyamuni Buddha simply stated, "everything arises from chi, which means heart and mind." Everything arises from minds. Of course, we can use our minds to blame the President, the government, the country, other people, society, our parents, our husband or wife, we can blame, blame, and blame. We are born into the life of human being in such a limited time. Marjorie didn't say all these words, she just said, "Sensei, it is sad to make this life miserable. The whole thing is our choice."
Obon Service. It's a time to reflect and welcome the loved to our hearts on occasion of Obon. Our temple is going to observe Obon service on Sunday, July 12 at 11:00 a.m. Everyone is cordially invited to celebrate this important Buddhist service.
Well, it looks like we're heading for the last half-year of 2003. Can't believe how time goes by. Already in teh works we're looking at our annual Obon Japan Night festivities. Our chairpersons, Marc Suyematsu & Bob Mizuta had several meetings with the committee chairpersons. Lots of thought has been put into these meetings so you will see some changes to lessen some of the work. We hope our changes will work out for the better.
As you know our "Senior Members" have reached the point where they have a lot of aches, pain, and stress; to the point that the bodies can't take it anymore, so we're relying on a lot of help from our so called "Younger Members." If you have freinds or relatives who don't mind helping, we would appreciate their help, too. It takes a lot of hands to make this Japan Night Festival a success. If you have any kind of donations, such as green beans, zucchini's, carrots, early potato's & rice, etc., we would appreciate them. Also, we are asking for $10.00 from each family for chicken donations; please give the donations to Ruth Harada or Mae Nakano.
Our Fathers Day Picnic was held indoors at the Temple Basement. The change was made for several reasons; weather, food handling, transporting the food, restrooms, etc. It was a little different; I don't think anyone missed the wind blowing the paper plates & tablecloth, heat, and trying to find the best shade for the day. Thanks to the Ontario Town members with the Toban duties. Our famous Barbecue Chicken Lunch was served with lots of side dishes that was brought in from our members. We had a nice turnout - lots of raffle prizes were given. Bingo was placed and enjoyed by all. Some of the card players enjoyed the rest of the afternoon by trying their luck at winning.
Just a reminder that the Malheur County Fair is around the corner. That means it is "Happy Bowl" time. We will be serving the Chamber of Commerce lunch on Juy 28th and Tuesday evening for the crowd that bringing in their projects. The fair will officially open on Wednesday, July 30th, and end on August 2nd. We will need a lot of ladies and gents to help with the hand cutting of the vegetables and meats. This is a joint project for the Dharma School and Fujinkai. If you have extra veggies such as Japanese cucumbers, carrots, zucchini and green peppers, we could use them.
Next Fujinkai meeting is scheduled for July 6th at 1:00 P.M.
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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