Attended the Oeshiki Service – the Memorial Service for Nichiren Shonin – held at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church.
The entire altar was decorated with pink paper flowers to commemorate that when Nichiren died on October 13, 1282, at the Ikegami Munenaka residence in Ikegami (present-day Tokyo) there was an earthquake and the cherry trees in the garden bloomed out of season.
Ven. Kenjo Igarashi was attired in formal gray robes, including peaked headgear. (Need to learn the name of these.) This is the first service in the 10 months I’ve attended in which he has worn this garment. Another unusual aspect of the service was Ven. Igarashi’s use of English translations for several standard prayers and the Bodhisattva Vows. His Dharma talk focused on the light of the Lotus Sutra that illuminates the darkness. One point he stressed was that this light is not a sharp flash but a soft, soothing light.
Honestly enjoyed this ceremony.
The October issue of Nichiren Shu News, which is published by the Head Office of Nichiren Shu Buddhism and NOPPA, contains a small article by Rev. Ryei McCormick, the assistant priest at the San Jose Nichiren Temple, about his work helping to translate the “Standard Nichiren Shu Ceremonies and Protocols” into English.
He does a wonderful job describing the priest’s role:
The idea is to master the techniques and perform them calmly. This is how we can delight the Buddha and enable those attending the service to joyfully experience the exaltation and intensifiication of their faith. By performing ceremonies with dignity, we can contemplate deeply the principles of Buddhism through performing these practices, by the forms, actions, and utterances of the ceremonies themselves. Ceremonies should never be mere formalities. They are a practice to calm the mind, contemplate the Wonderful Dharma, and lead all beings to Enlightenment.
Formal ceremonies in temples are a major part of the attraction for me to the Nichiren Shu practice.
Read Rev. Ryuei McCormick‘s article, “Thoughts on Translating the Hoyo Shiki: From Form to Principle“