Attended the Obon service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church with my wife. In addition to honoring our ancestors, we were there for the eye-opening of a memorial tablet for my wife’s mother, Mary “Michiko Wada” Buchin. Rev. Igarashi purchased the tablet and had it inscribed in Japan during a recent visit. This is the same process I went through for my parent’s memorial tablet.

Following the prayers for ancestors and the eye-opening, Rev. Igarashi gave his annual Obon lecture. (See last year.) And added a little science this time.

Each of us is, he explained, the product of our ancestors and carry our ancestors with us in our DNA. While they may have died, they live on in our bodies. It is out of this connection that we honor our ancestors and pray for their spirits.

I’ve had my DNA analyzed by 23andMe. On the health side I find that I have one of the recessive genes that could have given my son Cystic Fibrosis. I’m glad I didn’t know that before my son was conceived.

On the ancestry side I enjoyed the discovery that my 99.4% European ancestry (74.6% British & Irish; 3.7% French & German; 0.9% Scandinavian) is seasoned with 0.3% Sub-Saharan African (0.1% West African and 0.2% Broadly Sub-Saharan African.) The remaining fraction is 0.2% unassigned and a tantalizing less than 0.1% East Asian & Native American.

Imagine all of those ancestors.