If you come to a service at our temple, you may notice that some of the people at service are wearing or carrying some items that may be unfamiliar to you. This article will introduce 2 of these important items: the O-Nenju and the Montoshikisho.  O-Nenju The Nenju or O-nenju is a circular set of beads worn/carried on the left hand. The length of the O-nenju might be small (worn like a bracelet around the wrist) or larger and carried in the left hand.  In Buddhism, these beads represent our negative and selfish thoughts and feelings that motivate us in ways that hurt...

November brings thoughts of Thanksgiving. What are we grateful for? It’s easy to say family, friends, our home, having food on the table. What happens when we change our view and look at the things we might not consider as something to be grateful for?  For example, we had a fire at our temple in 2022. The fire wiped out our basement and its contents. Smoke damage permeated the main floor rooms, hondo and onaijin. Such an event doesn’t seem like anything to be grateful for. However, as we look around our temple today, we see upgrades andrenovations that have made this temple a...

Written by Rev. Kathy Chatterton.  In the spring, I received news that the Ireicho book was coming to Idaho and I signed up for the opportunity to stamp the names of my maternal grandparents and my parents in the book. I was able to participate in this event in July of this year.  It was important to me to make this connection to family members who are a part of the causes and conditions that made me who I am today. If you’re not familiar with the Ireicho, here is some information from theIreicho website: “Irei: National Monument for the WWII Japanese...

Many of us are feeling stress from the current political situation. This stress includes feelings of frustration, anger and even hatred toward people with political views different from our own.  These frustrations and conflicts are a totally normal part of human life--the result of the 3 poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance.   Over 2000 years ago, Shakyamuni Buddha offered this observation to help people respond to conflicts in their lives:  “Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. By non-hate alone is hatred appeased. This is a law...

May and June are typically graduation season here in America.  We talk about “high school graduations” or “college graduations.” Recently there has been the addition of  middle school and kindergarten graduations.  In a few weeks I will participate in a graduation ceremony for the genetic counseling graduate students that I have been teaching at Boise State University for the last two years.  I have heard the word “graduation” my whole life. But I never stopped to wonder where this word comes from. >     So this year I looked it...

My husband and I have a birdfeeder hung on our garage just outside our back door.  The feeder has a big clear plastic cannister that holds a gallon of birdseed. There are four metal perches for birds to stand on while they peck seeds out through holes at the bottom of the feeder. The birds enjoy our feeder all year, but they especially appreciate it when it snows because the snow makes it hard for them to get to the seeds and bugs that they usually eat.  After a snowstorm I like to stand at our back window and watch all the action as the birds—mostly juncos and...