|
Back
to: Top | Rimban
George Matsubayashi | Reverend Briones
| Reverend Torimi
BY RIMBAN GEORGE MATSUBAYASHI
JIHO JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 2005
The Year 2005:
The Centennial of the Establishment of Our Temple
Work on the "Hall of Immeasurable Light
and Life" and the Wisteria Chapel Progressing: Roof Tiles About to be
Laid
"100 years...Embraced by Amida, Rejoicing in Gratitude"
Five years ago we conducted a service to
commemorate the 95th year since our temple was established, and at the
same time began planning our temple’s centennial celebration. With the
theme, “100 years…Embraced by Amida, Rejoicing Gratitude,” a committee
was formed to plan all the activities associated with the Dedication
Service for that event.
Our temple’s 99th year is now history and we are about to celebrate our
centennial year. We will be honored to have the Gomonshu-sama of our
Jodo-Shinshu denomination, Koshin Ohtani, and his wife, Ourakata-sama,
Noriko Ohtani, attend our Dedication Service. The Gomonshu himself will
conduct the services. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience to
express gratitude for Amida Buddha’s Primal Vow that makes life worth
living, and something you cannot miss.
The schedule for our Centennial Services will be:
- On August 26th, the Gomonshu-sama and
his party will arrive in Los Angeles.
- During the afternoon of the 27th, a
joint Kikyo-shiki Confirmation Ceremony will be conducted for all
Southern California District Jodo-Shinshu followers. A celebration
banquet will be held that evening.
- During the morning of the 28th, the
Gomonshu-sama will conduct the Centennial Service.
This will be combined with a service to celebrate completion of the
“Hall of Immeasurable Light and Life” and Wisteria Chapel. We will
enjoy in Appreciation Luncheon at noon, and a social gathering will be
held in the evening.
- A Centennial Golf Tournament will be
held on the 29th.
These are the projects on which members
of various committees have been busily engaged in planning for some time
now. We owe each committee member a great debt of thanks.
Construction of the “Hall of Immeasurable
Light and Life” and the Wisteria Chapel is continuing smoothly. The
steel ridgepole for these two structures was raised during the end of
September and supports for the roof tiles are being constructed as I
write this on November 26. These supports will be covered with plywood
on which the roof tiles will be placed.
We have already received some 15,986 pieces of a type of tile called
Sanshu-gawara from Japan. In addition, 1,320 other types of
miscellaneous and ornamental tiles such as ridge tiles, corner-tiles,
and connective-tiles are piled up in the work area next to our temple.
I am told that the final stage of laying
the roof tiles will begin about the middle of December, this year.
According to the architect, the total weight of the tiles is some
200,000 pounds. That’s hundred tons! The workers specially trained to do
so will put each tile in place.
While the tiles are being laid, the
interiors of the “Hall of Immeasurable Light and Life” and Wisteria
Chapel will have their interiors completed, undisturbed by the weather
outside. We will be able to admire the rooftops of both these structures
sparkle over downtown Los Angels from spring of this year. We must,
however, never forget that the hundred tons of tile that comprise the
roof are there only because of the sturdy foundation that supports it,
and which can no longer be seen.
That foundation is like the devout members of our Los Angeles Betsuin
Buddhist Temple who have supported our temple for the long period of a
hundred years. Our members – you, each and every one of you – are the
true foundation of which the “Hall of Immeasurable Light and Life” and
the Wisteria Chapel are only visible manifestations.
Carrying this analogy further, the foundation of our lives – the reason
we are members of the Los Angeles Betsuin Buddhist Temple – is because
of the Primal Vow of Amida Buddha that brings meaning into our lives. It
is because of the strong desire on the part of you members to transmit
this teaching to the next generation, and the generation after that,
that makes this Centennial Celebration so meaningful. Just as our
predecessors made it possible for us to take such great joy in the
Nembutsu, we must assure that those who follow us will also be able to
do so. That’s the sole reason for our Centennial Celebration.
While viewing the beautiful roof tiles of our new structures, I wish you
would reflect on the fact that, just as the roof is supported by a firm
foundation, we are allowed to live fully because of the warm foundation
of the Nembutsu. It is the Nembutsu that constantly supports us – from
above, from below, from in front and from behind – without our
requesting it. That is the sacred indebtedness, the very foundation of
our lives, that I wish you take deeply to heart as you view our new
structures. That’s the feeling intended by our theme, “100
years…Embraced by Amida, Rejoicing in Gratitude.”
The founder of our
Jodo-Shinshu teaching, the Venerable Master Shinran, understood the
Primal Vow as Amida Buddha’s deepest desire for each of us. The
Venerable Master Shinran spent his entire life of 90 years trying to
awaken us to this fact. He said, “There is nothing new or exotic in what
I teach. All there is to (my teaching) is personally relying on Amida
Buddha’s Dharma, and also letting other know about it.”
This sacred desire for us by Amida Buddha is his true mind and heart of
wisdom and compassion, which vowed to lead us to his Land of
Enlightenment, where we also will become a Buddha. That’s the Vow he
established for each of us individually. The “Name” (myogo) by
which he called out to us – the language that he used—was “Namo Amida
Butsu.”
In his “Hymn of True Faith” (Shoshin-ge), the Venerable Master
Shinran wrote:
“My eyes are obstructed by
base passions
And I cannot see the light;
Still, Amida’s great compassion
Untiringly continues shining on me.”
That’s how the Venerable
Master extolled the fact that, whether we are aware of it or not, we are
always within the protective embrace of Namo Amida Butsu. The mind and
heart of Amida Buddha that takes us in like that, is what we refer to as
shinjin. Being embraced by Amida Buddha’s limitless wisdom and
compassion is the happiness of immeasurable life that causes
us to call his name of Nomo Amida Butsu. How unworthy we are of Amida
Buddha’s concern! That’s the feeling we wished to express with theme,
“…Embraced by Amida, Rejoicing in Gratitude.”
The Venerable Master Shinran, the founder of our Jodo-Shinshu,
confronted many difficulties during his long life of 90 years, among
them, losing both parents at an early age. He was allowed to live
bravely and fully, even joyously, because he lived within the warm
embrace of the Nembutsu. Truly, his was a life of gratitude for his
indebtedness to the Dharma.
In “Illustrated Life of the Venerable Master Shinran of the Hongwanji” (Hongwanji
Shonin Shinran Den-e), Master Kakunyo, the Third Spiritual Leader of
the Hongwanji wrote about the Venerable Master’s last moments in the
following way:
“Toward the latter part of mid-winter during the second year of Kocho
(1262),
the Venerable Master Shinran showed symptoms of a slight indisposition.
After that, his words never referred to earthly things. Rather, they
dealt only
With how deeply grateful he was and repeating the name of Amida Buddha…
On the twenty-eighth day of the same month (January 16th of the
following year
in the solar calendar), at noon, when at last his recitation of the name
of Amida
Buddha was heard no more, he had passed on to the Pure Land of Amida
Buddha”.
These are the words I always heard during services for the Venerable
Master Shinran held every year on January 16th. I heard them as a child
being raised in Japan, and I still clearly remember the coldness of the
hondo main worship hall in which I had to sit in the strict
seiza position with my legs folded under my hips on the tatami
mat. But I remember even more vividly the tears that always accompanied
the reading of these words, which loses a great deal when translated
into the prosaic English language.
What rose from the Venerable Master’s mind and heart until his last
moments – what emerged from his mouth – was gratitude for his
indebtedness to the Buddha, and that was what caused him to recite the
Nembutsu in praise of the Buddha’s virtue. Borrowing Master Kakunyo’s
words, when the reading came to this passage, my childish mind was
filled with thoughts of the Venerable Master Shinran’s virtuous voice
reciting the Nembutsu. The sound of that virtuous voice seemed to
reverberate to the very depths of my being.
Last year was the 743rd since the
Venerable Master Shinran passed on to the Pure Land, and this year will
be the 744th time we will conduct a service (formally referred to as the
Goshoki Ho-onko Service) in his memory. That 744th service will
be held at our Los Angeles Betsuin Buddhist Temple on January 16h, I
invite you to attend with your family and friends. You will be able to
express your gratitude for the Venerable Master Shinran’s birth, for his
teaching that expresses such joy at being in the embrace of Amid
Buddha’s Primal Vow and positively living a Nembutsu life. Truly, we are
firmly supported by the Nembutsu from above, from below, from the front
and from behind. That’s what will allow us to face the next hundred
years of our temple’s existence with joy and gratitude.
In Gassho.
"Start of the Year During Which We Celebrate Our
Centennial"
Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu!
Happy New Year!
Embraced within Amida Buddha’s
Compassionate Light, I hope this New Year finds you and your family in
the best of health.
I share with you the excitement of the coming of a New Year. This past
year our Los Angeles Betsuin Buddhist Temple was the recipient of both
good wishes and material gifts from all of you Jodo-Shinshu followers
and your families. We members of the temple staff cannot begin to thank
you enough for all you have done.
This is the hundredth year since our
temple was established. As part of our activities to commemorate this
milestone, we will conduct a Centennial Dedication Service and promote
many activities to celebrate completion of our “Hall of Immeasurable
Light and Life” and Wisteria Chapel. I would like to thank all of you
for your great support that has and will make this possible.
Specifically, our Dedication Service will be held on August 28th of this
year. We will be honored by the attendance of the Gomonshu-sama
Spiritual Leader and his wife, Ourakata-sama from our Headquarter Temple
in Kyoto. The Gomonshu-sama will personally conduct the service. This is
a chance of a lifetime, and an occasion that you will never forget. I
eagerly await this event, as I am sure all of you do also.
My deepest wish is that our Centennial Celebration is just the start of
another hundred years of our temple’s existence, and that we are merely
at the beginning of a new phase in the development of our Nembutsu
Sangha organization.
The following is recorded in the work,
“Heard and Recorded during Master Rennyo’s Lifetime”(Rennyo Shonin
Goichidai-ki Kikigaki). A Jodo-Shinshu follower named Dotoku came to
pay New Year’s greetings to the Eighth Spiritual Leader of the Hongwanji,
Master Rennyo (1415-1499 CE) suddenly said, “Dotoku, recite the Nembutsu.”
(Article 1). In another passage from the same work, Master Rennyo is
quoted as telling those who came to wish him well at the end of the
year, “What good are year-end greetings? I wish they thank my by
receiving shinjin instead.” (Article 17).
Master Rennyo’s first words at the beginning of the New Year were about
the Nembutsu, and his words at the end of the year were about shinjin.
That was why during the others times of the year, the wisdom and
compassion of shinjin sustained Master Rennyo, with his days
spent in gratitude for the Dharma. That’s what we should reflect upon at
the start of this New Year.
This is the wonderful year we celebrate the centennial of our temple’s
establishment. I close this brief New Year’s Greeting with the hope that
you maintain the sense of the precious Nembutsu supporting you from
above, from below, from in front and from behind, at the center of your
lives. Konnen mo doozo yoroshiku onegai itashimasu
In Gassho. |
|
| |
Back
to: Top | Rimban
George Matsubayashi | Reverend Briones
| Reverend Torimi
BY REV. KOKEN TORIMI
JIHO JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 2005
Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu
I would like to express my deep appreciation to your support and
kindness for the short time I have been at the Los Angeles Betsuin. I
also wish to send you my sincere greetings at the beginning of the
Betsuin’s Centennial Celebration year.
When I look back upon the history, I
cannot help thinking about our ancestors’ great efforts and difficulties
to build and maintain our temple. Especially, during World War II,
members had suffered from prejudice and daily hardships. From these
difficulties, we are now able to celebrate a 100th year milestone.
So that the efforts of our ancestors
would not be lost in vain, we, as Nembutsu followers, should not
wasteful of our lives. We should listen to our predecessors’ wishes and
aspirations for peace.
Shotoku Taishi, Shinran Shonin’s
spiritual Buddhist mentor, said, “Harmony is the honorable thing.”
Shinran Shonin also stated, “May the world have peace and may Buddhism
spread throughout the world.” So please, let us have peace within
ourselves our families, communities and throughout the world.
During the 100 year history of the
Betsuin, members have, together, shared joys and sadnesses, smiles and
tears. Special services as Ho-onko, Hanamatsuri, family weddings,
funerals, and public events such as the Kohaku, Obon carnival, and
regular activities as the day care center -- these functions have served
to establish the Betsuin as a center of the local community. Let us see
that the Betsuin remains as a vital and thriving temple in the
community.
|
|