This April is the first anniversary of Mary’s father’s death and the third anniversary of her mother’s death. Today, following the annual celebration of the Buddha’s birth at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church, Rev. Igarashi said memorial prayers for Richard and Mary Buchin.

In the photo Mary holds the memorial tablet for her parents that normally resides on our family altar. The tablet was placed on the church altar during the memorial service.

The memorial service normally includes recitation in Japanese of the Yokuryoshu, which includes selections from Chapter 2, Expedients; Chapter 3, A Parable; Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma; and Chapter 11, Beholding the Stupa of Treasures. For this service, I requested that we chant the portion of Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata, normally chanted during the traditional Sunday service.

I requested the change for several reasons. First, I don’t know the Japanese verses or even the English translation of them. More important, both Mary and my son, Richard, know the Jiga-ge. Finally, on the family altar I have a copy of a quote from Nichiren’s Letter to Hōren that reads:

“As you read and recite the ‘jiga-ge’ verse, you produce 510 golden characters. Each of these characters transforms itself to be the sun, which in turn changes to Śākyamuni Buddha, who emits the rays of bright light shining through the earth, the three evil realms (hell, realm of hungry spirits and that of beasts), the Hell of Incessant Suffering, and to all the directions in the north, south, east, and west. They shine upward to the ‘Heaven of neither Thought nor Non-Thought’ at the top of the realm of non-form looking everywhere for the souls of the departed.”

Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Pages 56-57

Rev. Igarashi “decorated” the quote for our altar.