Our guest speaker for our Fall Ohigan service was Rev. Yuika Hasebe. Rev. Hasebe is currently an Associate Minister at Hawaii Betsuin, but was once a liaison minister at Kailua Hongwanji. Rev. Hasebe shared the importance of reciting the Nembutsu, namo amida butsu.
Watch Rev. Hasebe’s Fall Ohigan Dharma Talk below or view it on our YouTube channel.
Cynthia showed us a preview of our First Sunday activity for October.
Today’s Dharma Message was given by Prudence, who shared a story about a gumyocho, a two-headed bird.
One head was named Karuda and the other Upakaruda. The heads had differing desires, which often caused conflicts between Karuda and Upakaruda.
One day, Karuda feasted until he could eat no more, while Upakaruda slept. When Upakaruda woke, he found he couldn’t enjoy the food since their stomach was stuffed from Karuda’s feasting.
Feeling resentful, Upakaruda ate poisonous fruits, hoping to punish Karuda. As expected, when Karuda woke, the poison kicked in and he died. Of course, because they shared the same body, the poison that killed Karuda soon after killed Upakaruda.
Before dying, Upakaruda realized the interconnectedness of his life and Karuda’s. By harming one, they both suffered.
After the service, we celebrated August and September birthdays. After refreshments, we had our First Sunday activity (postponed from earlier in the month due to our 50th Anniversary celebration), assembling paper plate doves to hang on our Peace Day tree.
On August 10, 1968, Kailua Hongwanji Mission became a full-fledged, independent temple of the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii. Fifty years later, we celebrate accomplishing many of the goals our predecessors had, including replacing the former temple, a repurposed home, with a modern, multi-purpose building that serves the membership and the broader community.
We held a special service on September 9, 2018 to celebrate Kailua Hongwanji Mission's 50th anniversary. We were honored to have in attendance Bishop Eric Matsumoto; Pieper Toyoama, President of Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii; and several past KHM resident ministers and Kyodan presidents. Everyone in attendance also received a special 50th Anniversary program and a logo gift.
After the service, we took a group photo (thanks Josh Chang for squeezing us all in without any hidden faces) and proceeded to a luncheon at Mid-Pacific Country Club.
We held our Obon, Hatsubon, and Remembrance Day service, remembering and honoring those who passed before us. For Hatsubon, the names of the members who passed in the last year were called and family members offered incense. That was followed by our Remembrance Day calling of names of those who passed in July or August of any year.
In his Obon Dharma Message, Rev. Sumikawa spoke of the history of Obon in the Jodo Shinshu tradition. Obon is a festival of memories and joy. We gather in joy, remembering all of our ancestors, without whom each of us would not exist.
If you go back 10 generations, you have 1,024 direct ancestors. Going back 20 generations, that's over 10.2 million direct ancestors. If any one of those individuals were missing, you would not exist.
Kailua Hongwanji's Obon is on Saturday, July 28. There will be no service on July 29 (Bon Dance clean up), no services in August (summer break), and no service on September 2. Our next Family Service will be on Sunday, September 9, 2018.
“The nembutsu is effortless power. Self power is powerless effort.”
Today's Dharma message was provided by Keiji "Kuki" Kukino. Kuki spoke about the nembutsu and illustrated it with a couple of practical examples in his life: learning to swim and his golf swing.
Our 50th Anniversary fans have arrived. These will be available at our Bon Dance on July 28.
Today's Dharma message was by Betty Okamoto. Betty spoke about people suffering tragedies and how we can overcome them by listening to the Dharma.
Our visitors today included Reynold Fujikawa and his daughters, who are visiting from California, along with his brother Carl.
Bob Nishita's Dharma message for today's First Sunday Family Service was about judgement. We often judge others based on how we see things from our point of view. When you point at someone, three fingers are pointing right back at you.
Bob also talked to us about being different. All of us are different and that's a good thing. Can you imagine if all of us were the same? We'd be arguing and agreeing with ourselves!
After celebrating July birthdays and refreshments, today's First Sunday family activity was making shaving cream and glue ice cream cones.
We celebrated July birthdays
Rev. Noriaki Sumi visited us today. Rev. Sumi was Kailua Hongwanji's minister from 1985 to 1987. From left to right: Rev. Kuniyuki, Rev. Sumi, Keiji Kukino, Rev. Sumikawa
Today's Dharma message was by Rev. Bert Sumikawa. He shared his experiences during his annual trip to Berkeley, reinforcing the message of Amida Buddha that things do occur to us in our daily lives that we don't necessarily enjoy, but helps us to know ourselves.
Today was also Remembrance Day for the month of June. Members offered incense as the names of friends and family who passed away in June were called. Remembrance Day is held on the fourth Sunday of the month.
Today's Father's Day Dharma message was by Shirley. She remembered her father and all that he did for her and her siblings growing up on Maui, such using his carpentry skills to build something or picking ogo and hunting for tako.
In today's Dharma Talk, Rev. Bert Sumikawa discussed wisdom and compassion. We need both. Buddhism is not about being nice. It's about being real and seeing things as they really are.
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