I attended the Komasubara Persecution service at the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church today after which Rev. Kenjo Igarashi explained why he hesitates to perform funeral services for non-church members.

The subject came up recently after a director for a Catholic funeral service asked Rev. Igarashi if he could officiate a “Buddhist service” at their funeral home. He mentioned that they had already secured an altar for the service. I ended up helping to translate the request after the funeral director tried using the church email address when calling didn’t resolve the question.

Apparently, the deceased had most recently been a Shinshu practitioner but had previously been a member of the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church. The director had contacted the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Church in Sacramento but they had a conflict on the day the family requested. He then contacted Rev. Igarashi.

I forwarded the email to Rev. Igarashi and he called me to explain that if a member of the family were to call the church – not the funeral director – and ask that he perform a funeral service, then he would be obligated to perform the service. I passed that information on and heard nothing else until today, when Rev. Igarashi said he had performed the service the day before.

Rev. Igarashi laughed today at the situation he found himself in. Ten years ago, the man had stopped attending the Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church, saying Rev. Igarashi was too mean. The Shinshu priest was nicer, the man said. “It had nothing to do with the religion,” Rev. Igarashi said.

There’s a reason Rev. Igarashi prefers not to perform services for people who do not have faith in the Lotus Sutra. Below is a summary of his explanation in his words. (Not verbatim but accurate.)

I do not want to perform services for non-members because it is very hard. People think that performing a funeral service is just a ceremony, not important. It’s just meaningful for the family, for their satisfaction.

But these services are not just ceremonial. A funeral service is very important because I have to carry off the deceased’s bad karma and erase their bad actions and then I send them to a Buddha’s place.

It is very hard for me. When they ask me already the deceased’s karma comes to me. I am hurt by the very heavy karma and kind of sick. Already this comes to me, and after that I perform a funeral service and clean up the deceased’ bad karma. That’s why funeral services are very important.

If church members have pretty strong faith, then it is easier for me, but if not, it is very hard.

It is my responsibility to send the deceased to a good realm. If I perform a service for somebody who fell into hell, I have to go to hell and save their spirit. This is not just ceremonial. This is serious.