Today was the monthly Kaji Kito purification service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church.

Ven. Kenjo Igarashi discussed his sadness at the passing of an old friend as the thread running through his sermon.

When Rev. Igarashi graduated from college in Japan he and his friend Taikyo Nakamura were assigned to the Los Angeles Nichiren Shu temple as assistant priests to complete their training. Nakamura struggled with the demands of the work. Rev. Igarashi laughed and said he struggled too. In the 1970s, when Rev. Igarashi was assigned a position in San Francisco, Nakamura was sent to Portland. But Nakamura’s struggles continued and his conflicts with the Portland temple’s members finally caused him to leave the priesthood and return to secular life. The two former friends eventually lost contact with each other. They had not spoken for more than 20 years when Rev. Igarashi learned that Taikyo Nakumura had died. (Here’s the Oregonian obituary.)

To continue the thread of his lesson, Rev. Igarashi recalled the Japanese children’s story, The Spider’s Thread.

I like the Wikipedia version:

Shakyamuni is meandering around Paradise one morning, when he stops at a lotus-filled pond. Between the lilies, he can see, through the crystal-clear waters, the depths of Hell. His eyes come to rest on one sinner in particular, by the name of Kandata. Kandata was a cold-hearted criminal, but had one good deed to his name: while walking through the forest one day, he decided not to kill a spider he was about to crush with his foot. Moved by this single act of compassion, the Buddha takes the silvery thread of a spider in Paradise and lowers it down into Hell.

Down in Hell, the myriad sinners are struggling in the Pool of Blood, in total darkness save for the light glinting off the Mountain of Spikes, and in total silence save for the sighs of the damned. Kandata, looking up by chance at the sky above the pool, sees the spider’s thread descending towards him and grabs hold with all the might of a seasoned criminal. The climb from Hell to Paradise is not a short one, however, and Kandata quickly tires. Dangling from the middle of the rope, he glances downward, and sees how far he has come. Realizing that he may actually escape from Hell, he is overcome by joy and laughs giddily. His elation is short-lived, however, as he realizes that others have started climbing the thread behind him, stretching down into the murky depths below. Fearing that the thread will break from the weight of the others, he shouts that the spider’s thread is his and his alone. It is at this moment that the thread breaks, and he and all the other sinners are cast back down into the Pool of Blood.

Shakyamuni witnesses this, knowing all but still with a slightly sad air. In the end, Kandata condemned himself by being concerned only with his own salvation and not that of others. But Paradise continues on as it has, and it is nearly noontime there. Thus the Buddha continues his meanderings.

(Here’s a somewhat expanded version of the story.)

Rev. Igarashi bound the day’s lesson together with the “rope of the Daimoku.” The Daimoku, he explained, is a rope lowered to us in the suffering world by Nichiren. By climbing up the rope of Daimoku we can pull ourselves out of the suffering world.

“Don’t let go of the Daimoku,” Rev. Igarashi repeated several times.