Kelowna Buddhist Temple

Transcription

1 Oct. 29, 2010 Kelowna Buddhist Temple The New Dharma Express PO. Box 22092, RPO Capri Centre Kelowna, B.C. V1Y 9N9 phone Special points of interest: Wed. Nov 3, Chow Mein Prep 8am, TSS Meditation, Deadline for Chow Mein Pre-orders 8pm Thurs. Nov 4, Chow Mein Prep 8am, TSS Meditation, Temple Executive Meeting Fri. Nov 5, Chow Mein Prep 8am, Sat. Nov 6, Chow Mein Prep 8am, Annual Chow Mein Sales 2-4pm Sun. Nov 7, Dharma School 10am Wed. Nov 10, TSS Meditation Thurs. Nov 11, Wed. Nov 10, Monthly Memorial Master Fumio Matsuda Mr. Sanpei Matsuo Mr. Kazuo Ohta Mrs. Fusa Ohashi Mr. Tokujiro Tsuji Mr. Akira Ibaraki Mr. Jinnosuke Masumoto Mr. Komakichi Tamaki Mrs. Hide Nakayama Mr. Yoshio Tabata Mr. Jutaro Ueda Mr. Yukio Kurahashi Mr. Roy Tanaka Mrs. Yuki Horiuchi Mr. Tahei Tatebe Mr. George Ueda Mrs. Mary Hokazono Special points of interest: Fri. Nov 12, Sun. Nov 14, Dharma School 10am, Monthly Memorial 2pm Tues. Nov 17, Wed. Nov 18, Clean-up Altar Toban Group #1 Mr. Rick Suzuki Mr. Sumio Tahara M/M Alec Pelletier Ms. Peggy Tanaka Mr. Jack Ueda M/M Morio Koga M/M Yosh Terada Ms. Karen Stewart Mr. Harry Tonn Mrs. Janice Richardson M/M Rob Eikenaar Mr. Albert Tainaka M/M Minoru Mori M/M Morio Tahara Mrs. Joan Tanaka Mrs. Amy Ueda Mrs. Shizue Omae Mr. Terry Hikida Special points of interest: Fri. Nov 19, TSS Meditation Sun. Nov 21, 10am Tues. Nov 24, TSS Meditation Inside this issue: Sensei 2 Editor 3 Calendar 4 BCC 5 Executive 6 Japanese 7 Donations 8 Wed. Nov 25, TSS Meditation Fri. Nov 26, TSS Meditation, Dough Making 6pm Sat. Nov 27, Mein Making 8am Sun. Nov 28, 10am, Sunday Service 2pm

2 Page 2 From Sensei: Breaking Through Difficulties It is good to be back in Kelowna after my visit to Japan. I have now been living in Canada for longer than my homeland. Many things have changed over the years- the scenery, culture, and people. I have missed the Japanese cuisine, and in the past, when I lived in Kyoto, I had a favorite restaurant close to Hongwanji, that specialized in Chinese dishes. I was happy to see that after thirty some years, that it was still there. Modern Japanese culture is very complex. Life in Japan tends to move at such a fast pace and Japanese conformity is clearly noticeable. Coming from Canada, with its multicultural identity, it is quite a contrast to see the differences. During my visit, I also had a chance to visit some old friends and to catch up with their news. They are all doing well, and working in diverse areas. However, I also learned that some had suffered losses, of parents. Some were facing the potential loss of their jobs, due to the economic downturn, some were coping with aging parents, and indeed some had lost their own children from illness or accident. I heard so many stories. However, I found that behind the smiling welcoming faces, everyone was coping with their own difficulties and hardships in their lives as best they could. One particularly heartbreaking experience came from a visit with an old friend who had developed a rare disease which causes the gradual deterioration and paralysis of the body. I remember him as an athletic and creative young man, - a civil engineer, living with his wife and two children. However, now he is confined to a wheel chair, unable walk or to support his body weight. Nothing comes automatically to him any longer. His legs, arms and body are no longer able to move by his own volition. As I talked with him he told me You know, I used to be healthy and strong. I had a very welltuned body. I used to run 5 Km a day. But now I can t even hold my guitar. It s hard for me to speak, I can t even stand up by myself. I need a lot of help just to go to the bathroom. Yet it s strange, in many ways I ve never felt so alive in my whole life, because, ironically, I see that I am not just this body. As my body gets weaker, in some ways I get stronger. Now that I can no longer do all the things I used to do, I see how those things were. I see, in fact, that I was separated from everyone and everything in a way that gave life a kind of dullness, a kind of separation from the intrinsic vitality of things. He further reflected, It seems to me that people s priorities become so distorted. So much time is spent polishing the personality, strengthening the body, honing, and even having pride in, the separateness, the competitiveness. Everyone makes life such serious business. But now I can t involve myself with that anymore. I m not just this body --- but somehow my heart has never been so open, and I have never felt such acceptance for so many people. I just feel warmth and acceptance. Everyone who enters this space, I fully accept and embrace them not out of separateness. We exist in that warmth together. I m touching a place inside of myself that I never knew before, a place I never knew was there. I was so impressed with his words and the gentle look in his eyes. Although limited by his disease, his mind and spirit were strong. Life brings us difficulties, changes, and unexpected challenges. However, in many cases, dealing with these hardships, can bring transformative change just like the process by which a diamond is created from coal after enormous pressures and heat. I am reminded of Shinran Shonin s writings in which he described that the aim of the Pure Land path is to break the bonds of samsaric existence (cycle of birth and death ). He showed us that through the working of Amide s Primal Vow the hold of one s self-attachment is broken through, and in his words the long night of birthand-death is already dispelled to dawn Namo Amida Butsu In Gassho Rev. Yasuhiro Miyakawa

3 Report from the Housing Committee Page 3 It is with regret that we must report that the response to the Senior Housing project has been very low. We received some interest from individuals but the numbers did not reach the amount we needed to proceed. Because of this, the committee has decided to cancel the plans and to look at other alternatives that will help the Kelowna Buddhist Temple raise funds. Looking to the future, it was felt that important projects like the upcoming Chow Mein and Farmers Market may have to come to an end as the congregation ages. This project resolved our financial demands, however other ideas will need to be considered. Thanks to those that did respond with interest. A special thank you to Jeff Hickin who helped the committee create a conceptual design and also for the large amount of time spent on estimating the costs. Thank you also to the committee members for their time and counsel, George Hayashi, Morio Tahara, Brian Yamaoka, Shirley Tanemura, and Isao Terai. In Gassho, Reg Tomiye Message from the Editor Preserving memories has become a passion of mine recently remember the old slide film days, or the video camera s that cast the blinding white light for filming? Well I have hundred s of feet of 8mm film and hundred s of slides of the kids when they were young and of course the old VHS tapes. Equipment to play the slides or movies has either broken down or not available anymore. For those not so familiar with what I m referring to, it is like comparing the old 8 track music days to today s CD s. What happens with this old media is that it will degrade over time, much like me, but getting back to film, I wanted to preserve these memories in a form that would last longer. So, it became a process how to get it onto a CD without costing a fortune and how to get it from CD to a file format which could be edited. I say edited, only because it seems that I loved to take pictures of things that today are really meaningless. The process continues and has been a little frustrating, and you guessed it, not cheap. The slides are very expensive to convert, as they Jodo Shinshu Shogyo have to be processed manually one at a time, super 8 or 8mm film is charged by the foot and VHS tapes are charged by the hour. Then you need the video editing software, again depending on the level of editing required, plus now I find out that there are a myriad of file extensions or formats my head is spinning from all the terminology. So preserving the good and deleting the meaningless or bad forever! This sounds too good to be true, and from a religious standpoint, why most of us have to ask forgiveness for our sins. Unfortunately as Buddhists, if we were good practicing Buddhists, we wouldn t commit sins, so we wouldn t have to ask for forgiveness (express only our thankfulness). However I might have to ask for forgiveness for all the profanity that I directed to my computer of late, and so help me if they change things again (or is change the only constant). Best to do what I can today and not worry to much about the future technological advances. In Gassho, jiro If we deeply realize that the Primal Vow of Amida Tathagata promises to save such worthless people like us, who are absorbed, morning and evening, in our daily engagements, deluded under the influence of our evil karma, and if we single-heartedly entrust ourselves to Amida Buddha s compassionate Vow without any doubt, while having firm assurance of our emancipation since such a single thought of entrusting is sincere, we will certainly be saved by Tathagata. Beyond this, in what state of mind should we say the nembutsu? We should say the nembutsu as long as we live, acknowledging our deep indebtedness to the benevolence of Amida who save us by settling our birth through the endowment of the power of entrusting which we thus receive.

4 Page 4 November 2010 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Chow Mein Prep 8am,, Deadline for Chow Mein Pre-orders 8pm 4 Chow Mein Prep 8am,, Temple Executive Meeting 5 Chow Mein Prep 8am, 6 Chow Mein Prep 8am, Annual Chow Mein Sales 2-4pm 7 10am , am, Monthly Memorial 2pm , Japanese Cuisine (Kimpira gobo (burdock), Matsutake (pine mushroom) rice 19, am ,, Dough Making 6pm 27 Mein Making 8am 28 10am, Sunday Service 2pm ANNUAL CHOW MEIN SALES Nov. 6th, 2-4pm pre-order pick-up Deadline for Pre-orders Nov. 3 at 8pm Call or

5 Page 5 JSBTC Update: A monthly update from the national headquarters of the Shin Buddhist Temples of Canada Fentiman Place, Richmond, B.C., V7E 6M6 Ph: fax: Web: livingdharmacentre.ca The year 2010 started with the expectation of the change in this office to Rev. Shigenori Makino. However with his sudden change of mind just before our annual AGM, JSBTC as well as Ministerial Association were in turmoil. As a result I was requested to stay for another year. At the same time, the General Headquarters in our mother temple Hongwanji showed great concern to our situation, especially considering the coming 2015 World Buddhist Women s Convention in Toronto. And as you have been aware, Hongwanji has decided the plan to send the full-time Bishop to Canada in the spring of 2011 at their expense. In the mean time Ministerial Association had its meeting last month to support the plan as a first priority rather than the shared position. However, last week my office was informed that the General Headquarters plan was cancelled due to the decline of the person who was expected to come to Canada as full-time Bishop. As the outgoing Bishop, I have seen enough of roller coaster this year and all I can say is we have a big challenge ahead of us. Highlights since the last meeting in April. May WJSCC in Hawaii 14 Pacific Buddhist Academy graduation Family Retreat at Manning Park in BC Eastern District s 750th Memorial of Shinran Shonin in Toronto June Manitoba District s 750th Memorial of Shinran Shonin in Winnipeg July-August Obon Season; Steveston, Fraser Valley, Vancouver, Nikkei Heritage Centre, Nanaimo and Victoria August 12 Rogers Pass Snow Slide 100th Anniversary Service in Vancouver September 11 Clean-up Crew at HQ Exterior Conference on Drug and Violence at Steveston Buddhist Temple hosted by Global Clergy Association in Canada 19 Terry Fox Run at Garry Point Park in Richmond MA Meeting in Steveston BC Buddhist Convention/750 th Memorial of Shinran Shonin with Shinmon-sama and Shin Urakata-sama October 4-12 Visit to TBC Rev. James Martin participated in the BCA MA Seminar at Las Vegas in August. Ingo (posthumous honorable title) issued to Mr. Itsuji Hamade and Mrs. Kiyoko Hamade, Steveston Buddhist Temple, and Mr. Tom Allen, Toronto Buddhist Temple Certificate of Recognition requested by BC Federation; Jack Hatanaka, Min Mori, Kelowna, Mari Cameron, Vernon, Roy Inouye, Kamloops, Cy Saimoto, Yoshio Yagi, Vancouver Rev. Michael Hayashi, Prof. Jeff Wilson Mr. Cy Saimoto, former JSBTC (BCC) president, passed away on October14, 2010

6 Page 6 Coming Events for the JSBTC October Alberta District s 750th Memorial of Shinran Shonin in Calgary May th Memorial Service of Shinran Shoninin Kyoto attended by Overseas Districts such as BCA, Hawaii, Brasil and Canada May World Buddhist Women s Convention in Kyoto July 30-August 7 Hongwanji Youth Tour ( Rev. T. Aoki ) Ministers Retirement Fund Homework for the coming WJSCC in May 2011 in Kyoto What are the very urgent actions we must take in our Jodo Shinshu Mission? From the Temple Executive As the weather cools we find ourselves coming into the busiest part of the year. Temple fundraising activities like the Farmers Market, Pie Making, and Fall Chow Mein and Bake Sale, are just around the corner. Hopefully you have had rest during the warm summer days, and feel a little refreshed and ready to help at these activities. The success of these events is essential to financially sustain the Temple for the enjoyment of all. Hopefully everyone, and the younger membership and the young adult children especially, will continue their strong support, and even more will also come to assist. Thank you all for your support in making the events to date successful. All can pat themselves on the back for a job well done. An important matter is becoming increasingly apparent however. Participation has often been good early on project days, but usually only a small number are left at the end of the day to complete the tasks at hand. Sometimes it is our older members Just Rambling two, the other to who are left to spend extremely long days, labouring diligently on these projects. I feel all should be made aware of this so we can avoid this going forward. As people leave, fewer and fewer remain, and only those left are there to see the problem going on. At our mein noodle making event, people like Shiz Hayashi and Em Nishi were apologizing to those remaining for having to go home. Shiz was told to go home because of an injured wrist, and Em was too exhausted to continue after 13 long hours toiling at various jobs. I do not want to offend anyone (many older) who spent long hours by not mentioning them, but there is not time here to list them all, and likely most of us know whom they are. I sincerely hope that awareness will avoid this issue for the upcoming events, or those in future as well. Compassion is sometimes too close for us to see. We often look too far ahead to see only distant ideals, rather than seeing the simple but more important things, that are at our fingertips. In Gassho Respectfully submitted, Tim Ever wondered how to do that? For me it is a constant, and with today s technology, all you need is the internet. Most of the time I do what is called a You Tube search. Basically it is a web site that anyone can post a video on about whatever interest them and what I use the site for is How To. Now I know that several of our senior members are not comfortable with computers, but for this reason alone, I think it might be something you should get your grandkids to show you how to turn on and really show you just how easy it is. Still not convinced that this feature would make your life easier than more complicated well every forget something (not your key s), some trivia you should know, but as time goes by, has slipped from your memory? Well again the internet is an amazing fountain of knowledge, notice I said fountain of knowledge, not fountain of youth. To claim back the years that life has taken you will need something more than the internet possibly a miracle. How come as a Buddhist we don t believe in miracles? Well technically it is associated more with the Christian Faith, but the term is used by Jodo Shinshu Followers, in the context of the miracle of Shin faith is that when ordinary-minded people are confirmed in their faith... all the merits Amida has accumulated during his infinite

7 行事案内 11 月 3 日 ( 水 ) 午前 8 時 チャウメン準備 午前 9 時半 千部経三昧 午後 8 時 チャウメン予約締切り 4 日 ( 木 ) 午前 8 時 チャウメン準備 午前 9 時半 千部経三昧 午後 7 時 仏教会役員会 5 日 ( 金 ) 午前 8 時 チャウメン準備 午前 9 時半 千部経三昧 6 日 ( 土 ) 午前 8 時 チャウメン準備 午後 2 時ー 4 時チャウメンセール 7 日 ( 日 ) 午前 10 時 日曜学校 10 日 ( 水 ) 午前 9 時半 千部経三昧 11 日 ( 木 ) 午前 9 時半 千部経三昧 12 日 ( 金 ) 午前 9 時半 千部経三昧 14 日 ( 日 ) 午前 10 時 日曜学校 午後 2 時 11 月祥月法要 17 日 ( 水 ) 午前 9 時半 千部経三昧 18 日 ( 木 ) 午前 9 時半 千部経三昧 午後 7 時 料理教室 きんぴら牛蒡 松茸ご飯 19 日 ( 金 ) 午前 9 時半 千部経三昧 21 日 ( 日 ) 午前 10 時 日曜学校 24 日 ( 水 ) 午前 9 時半 千部経三昧 25 日 ( 木 ) 午前 9 時半 千部経三昧 26 日 ( 金 ) 午前 9 時半 千部経三昧 28 日 ( 日 ) 午前 10 時 日曜学校 午後 2 時 日曜法要 # 味覚の秋です チャウメンセールに是非ご協力下さい 今年は松茸が豊作とか 料理教室では松茸ご飯の講習があります 12 月の教室はお休みですが 1 月には又始めます Page 7 Just Rambling continued lives of self-training are given freely to the devotee. Not quite the miracle you were hoping for, I understand, but nevertheless, my point about the internet any question you may think of, it usually has the answers. I hope you find the courage to take the plunge into the formless world of the web, remember the 1972 commercial asking the question: "I'm not gonna try it you try it! Let's get Mikey he hates everything." - "He likes it!" Gassho, jiro Jeff Chiba Stearns will have his Kelowna Premiere of his latest and first feature documentary, One Big Hapa Family in Kelowna. Two nights Tuesday Nov. 9th and Wednesday Nov. 10th at - KLO Okanagan College Lecture Theatre KLR Road - Student Services Building Tickets $10 available at the door only. The film was shot in Kelowna and looks at the high intermarriage rate in the Japanese Canadian community and how this affects the next generations of mixed Japanese-Canadians. More film info and to watch a trailer at: com

8 With Gratitude the Temple and all of its Affiliated Organizations Acknowledge Your Generous Contribution and Apologies for any Errors or Omissions. Comments from Treasurer: As quickly as the sands of time run through one s fingers, another month has gone by and unfortunately I have no donations to report. Luckily fund raising projects like Apple Pie Making and the Fall Chow Mein Sales are just around the corner, as we continue, as everyone to receive monthly bills. Hopefully you will consider donating your valuable time in support of these projects and thus help us meet our financial obligations. In Gassho, jiro Mein Making Project for Temple Members only; Several members have asked we make a small amount of mein noodles for the holiday season, Friday November 26th at 6pm has been set to make dough and again November 27th at 8am to make mein. Please place your orders with Alan at by November 13 we promise not to overwork any of the volunteers. Your support will be greatly appreciated In Gassho Please visit the website below for information about the 750 th Shinran Shonin Memorial and 14 th World Women s Conference in Kyoto Japan next year May (there are optional tours to Hokkaido or Shikoku). Posters are up at the Temple, pick-up a pamphlet or just ask Sensei for information, should be a once in a life time experience. Will see you in Kyoto! Electronic Sign work under the grateful guidance of Howard Tattersall, of Keldon Electric. Thanks to everyone that showed up to help dig and pour concrete and a special Thank you to Alan Yamaoka who dug the hole for the sign base, and Shirley Tanemura for researching and co-ordinate much of this project. The old Kelowna Buddhist Temple wood sign gave us many years of silent service, but the new electronic sign will triple our exposure and give us a way to advertise our events and projects. As of this date, power hasn t been hooked up, but it looks amazing check it out! In Gasssho The JSBTC (Formerly BCC) Women s Federation is launching a Gift Card Shop and Support Campaign to major retailers (for a complete list, contact Tomoye Yamaoka, or Barb Yamaoka) - a portion of the Gift Card will go to support the 2015 Women s Convention and the 750th Anniversary (2011) of the passing of our Founder, Shinran Shonin. Obviously these cards will make a great Birthday, Anniversary or Christmas Gift, they will be made available over the next few months, however, don t delay, get your Gift Cards today. In Gassho