Traveled to San Jose to attend the Hanamatsuri service at Myokakuji Betsuin. The flower festival celebrating the birth of Sakyamuni is one of my favorite services and this year, as coincidence would have it, I was able to see two different versions of the tradition.

Recited during the ceremony:

The Coming of the Buddha
(From Chapter II Expedients)

The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to open [the gate to] the insight of the Buddha, and to cause them to purify themselves. They appear in the worlds in order to show the insight of the Buddha to all living beings. They appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to obtain the insight of the Buddha. They appear in the worlds in order to cause all living beings to enter the Way to the insight of the Buddha. Sariputra! This is the one great purpose for which the Buddhas appear in the worlds.

Last week in Sacramento

Today was Hanamatsuri, the flower festival service honoring the birth of Sakyamuni Buddha. The beautiful flower arrangement covering the statue of the baby Sakyamuni was done by Ven. Kenjo Igarashi using flowers grown on the grounds of the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church.

According to tradition, when Sakyamuni was born he immediately walked seven steps and declared, “I alone am honored in heaven and on earth” as he pointed up with one hand and down with the other to indicate he would unite heaven and earth.

Rev. Igarashi’s sermon covered why it is important to make good causes, using the tale of a selfish junior priest as a lesson in the cause and effect consequences of being greedy.

Following the service, everyone was invited for “refreshments” – sushi rice, pasta salad (I’m sure there is a Japanese term for that dish but I don’t know it), barbecue chicken and three different dessert cakes.

Making the gathering even more enjoyable was the welcome provided to two guests who were attending services for the first time.

The latter part of the seventh fascicle of the Commentary on the Great Sun Buddha Sutra, which both Grand Masters Kobo and Dengyo saw, reads: “It is needless to say that reciting sutras earnestly in the Tendai Sect is namely the perfect and sudden way of breathing meditation.”

Hasshu Imoku-sho, Writings of Nichiren Shonin, Doctrine 2

Each of Sakyamuni’s countless sutras is a river flowing into the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the all encompassing ocean of the Buddha’s teaching. Each chant of Namu-Myoho-Renge-Kyo recites not only the Lotus Sutra but all of the Buddha’s sutras.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, Namu Myoho Renge Kyo, Namu Myoho Renge Kyo – the perfect and sudden way of breathing meditation.

Today’s Daily Dharma contains this advice:

The thoughts we have are mostly words, and the words are about the things we want. Words can help us make sense of the world around us, especially the words the Buddha uses to teach us. But words can also confuse us when we mistake our expectations for the reality of the world. When the Buddha calls us to become Bodhisattvas, to realize that our happiness is linked to that of all beings, his words open a part of our mind with which we are not familiar. He asks us to set aside the habits we have learned from this world of conflict and see his world in a new way.

As someone who made a career of words and the arrangement of words to communicate ideas, such a reminder of the power of the Buddha’s words is particularly compelling.

This advice from the Daily Dharma echoes the English translation of the Verses for Opening the Sutra that I recite each day:

The most excellent teaching of the Great Vehicle is very difficult to understand. I shall be able to approach enlightenment when I see, hear or touch this sutra. Expounded is the Buddha’s truth. Expounding is the Buddha’s essence. The letters composing this sutra are the Buddha’s manifestation.

One word wraps all of my thoughts in the same way the Odaimoku encompasses the ocean of the Buddha’s teaching. That word in my mind is “faith.”

Today was the Spring Ohigan ceremony. Church members were encouraged to write the names of deceased ancestors on a slip of paper and give it to the priest. During the service, the priest said a prayer for each of the ancestors, citing their names individually.

From Wikipedia:

Ohigan is a Buddhist holiday exclusively celebrated in Japan during both the Spring and Autumnal Equinox. It is observed by nearly every Buddhist sect in Japan. The tradition extends from mild weather that occurs during the time of equinoxes, though the origin of the holiday dates from Emperor Shōmu in the 8th century. People who normally worked in the fields had more leisure time to evaluate their own practices, and to make a renewed effort to follow Buddhism. Today, special services are usually observed in Japanese Buddhist temples, and Japanese temples abroad, based on the particular Buddhist tradition or sect.

The etymology of Ohigan means “the other or that shore of Sanzu River”, which is a common euphemism used in Buddhist literature to refer to Enlightenment. One crosses from this shore of ignorance and suffering to the other shore of Enlightenment and peace.

At the end of the service, Ven. Kenjo Igarashi explained that Ohigan, beyond the prayers for ancestors, is a reminder of the Six Paramitas that Nichiren’s followers practice. He then explained the six. Rather than attempt to paraphrase what he said I’m going to reprint an explanation from Rev. Ryuei McCormick‘s book Lotus Seeds:

The awakened qualities which we develop through our practice are known as the Six Perfections (in Sanskrit, paramitas). The Six Perfections enable us to do the work of a bodhisattva. They are generosity, discipline, patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom.

These Six Perfections are a restatement of the Eightfold Path.

The real difference between the Six Perfections and the Eightfold Path is the addition of generosity and patience, although these are implied by right intentions. By including these two perfections as separate items, it makes explicit the fact that we are not really following the Eightfold Path unless we are generous and patient with others. In this way, the Six Perfections underscore the compassionate dimension that is integral to Mahayana Buddhism.

Kanjin Cederman Shonin chief priest of Enkyo-ji in Seattle joined Ryusho Jeffus and others from Myosho-ji, Wonderful Voice Buddhist Temple, in Charlotte, NC, as a guest speaker. Kanjin Cederman shared some of his thoughts about ‘Organic Buddhism’ and how it is in accord with the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. He also shared a little about his life as well as his training as a Buddhist including his time before Nichiren Shu.

Attended the Kaji Kito service today at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church.

In Nichiren Shu (and other Buddhist sects) family altars include Memorial Tablets with the names of ancestors and their date of death inscribed. I’ve wanted one with the names of my parents since I learned of the tradition but didn’t know how to go about getting one. Today I finally asked the priest, Ven. Kenjo Igarashi.

No problem, he said. He has a friend in Japan who can get one for me. He’s going to Japan in May and can bring it back, he added. All he needs is the names and the dates my parents died.

Too cool, I thought. “How much will it cost?” I asked.

He wouldn’t answer. I tried rephrasing the question. He wouldn’t say. He just kept repeating that he has a friend in Japan and he can pick it up in May when he is in Japan and bring it back.

I got the same treatment when I became a member of the church and Ven. Igarashi performed the eye-opening ceremony for my altar statuary and gave me a Gohonzon. Price, donation, expectation – nothing was mentioned. I knew from reading the newsletter what people were donating as annual dues, so I gave that. The same is true for the memorial service that will be held next weekend. Something is given in recognition of the priest’s prayers for specific ancestors but never requested.

It all reminds me of Chapter 25 in the Lotus Sutra, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva.

[Sakyamuni says]

“Endless-Intent! This World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva does these meritorious deeds. He takes various shapes, walks about many worlds, and saves the living beings [of those worlds]. Make offerings to World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva with all your hearts! This World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva-mahasattva gives fearlessness [to those who are] in fearful emergencies. Therefore, he is called the ‘Giver of Fearlessness’ in this Saha-World.”

The Endless-Intent Bodhisattva said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One! Now I will make an offering to World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva.” From around his neck, he took a necklace of many gems worth hundreds of thousands of ryo of gold, and offered it [to the Bodhisattva], saying, “Man of Virtue! Receive this necklace of wonderful treasures! I offer this to you according to the Dharma!”

World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva did not consent to receive it. Endless-Intent said to World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva again, “Man of Virtue! Receive this necklace out of your compassion towards us!”

Thereupon the Buddha said to World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva:

“Receive it out of your compassion towards this Endless-Intent Bodhisattva, towards the four kinds of devotees, and towards the other living beings including gods, dragons, yaksas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kimnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings!”

Thereupon World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva received the necklace out of his compassion towards the four kinds of devotees, and towards the other living beings including gods, dragons, men and nonhuman beings. He divided [the necklace] into two parts, and offered one part of it to Sakyamuni Buddha and the other to the stupa of Many-Treasures Buddha.

Next week I’ll give Ven. Igarashi the names of my parents and the dates of their death and check that I hope covers his expense plus provides a suitable contribution.

In Nichiren’s writings he spoke often about his good fortune to be born in the Latter Day of the Law when Namu Myoho Renge Kyo would be propagated. Imagine what he might have thought about being alive in the even later Latter Day of the Law when it is possible for people to share Nichiren’s teachings instantly around the world.

Not that it doesn’t have its drawbacks. Last week I wanted to attend services at Myosho-ji, Wonderful Voice Temple, Charlotte, NC, using the temple’s GoToMeeting account. Unfortunately, the audio went out shortly after the service started and so I logged off and just performed my regular morning service.

My first choice Sunday is to attend services at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church, where I am a new member. When there are no services, I split my Sundays between Myokakuji Betsuin, the San Jose Nichiren Shu temple, and online with Ryusho at Myosho-ji, Wonderful Voice Temple, Charlotte, NC.

Today was a wonderful example of the potential of streaming services. By the end of the service we had people from Indiana, Sacramento, New York City and El Salvador joining Ryusho and the guests at the temple.