Jodo Mission of Hawaii

Bulletin - APRIL 2013

(#1197-0413)

Jodo Mission of Hawaii 1429 Makiki St. Honolulu HI 96814 Address Service Requested

HBC BUDDHA DAY CELEBRATION

April 8th is the birthday of Shakyamuni Buddha. This birthday

celebration is known as "Buddha Day” and is also known as

“Hanamatsuri”. The Hawaii Buddhist Council cordially invites

everyone to the Buddha Day Service.

WHEN: Sunday, April 7, 2013

WHERE: Honpa Hongwanji Mission (1727 Pali Highway)

TIME: 9:00 am Buddha Day Service at Main Temple

10:30 am Entertainment at Social Hall

11:00 am-1:00 pm Games, Activities, Food Both, Bounce House

Admission: Free

Parking is limited: Please car pool if possible. Parking is also available at Hongwanji Mis-

sion School (enter from Iliahi St) and Soto Mission of Hawaii (1708 Nuuanu Ave).

Please join the Hawaii Buddhist Council on April 7th to celebrate Shakyamuni Buddha’s

birthday.

Page 2

Hanamido for Buddha Day Celebration

The Hawaii Buddhist Council Buddha Day celebration will be held on Sunday, April 7

beginning at 9:00 a.m. at Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii.

Pictured on the right is a Hanamido fully decorated with flowers,

with Baby Buddha in the center. This represents the Lumbini Garden

where Baby Buddha was born. Sweet tea or amacha is poured over the

statute of Buddha. The tea symbolizes the gentle rains that fell on the

day Buddha was born.

At the Buddha Day celebration, please be sure to bow in front of

Baby Buddha and pour some amacha over the Baby Buddha statute.

The Hawaii Buddhist Council is comprised of the following Buddhist temples: Higashi

Hongwanji Mission, Honpa Hongwanji Mission, Jodo Mission of Hawaii, Koyasan Shingon Mission,

Nichiren Mission of Hawaii, Soto Mission of Hawaii and Tendai Mission of Hawaii. It is always

nice to get together with fellow Buddhists! Please come and celebrate Buddha’s Birthday!

Sewing Circle

April 13 and 27, 2013

8:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

Any interested person is

welcome to participate.

♫ ♪ Jodo Mission of Hawaii ♫

Children’s Choir “Malama”

Our Children’s Choir meeting in

April to be announced). Any child ages 5 to 8 years old can join.

Children will sing mainly Japanese songs

and Buddhist gathas. Practice will be in Jap-

anese.

Sunday School

We welcome children to join our Sun-

day School. Let’s enjoy studying

Onembutsu by doing various activities.

4/28 @ 10:45 a.m.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

FUJINKAI (women’s association)

No meeting in April * * * * * * * *

Oahu Rengo Fujinkai

April 21 at Haleiwa

YBA

No Meeting

in April

♫ ♪ Ukulele by Stuart Nago ♫

Please come and enjoy uku-

lele music by Stuart Nago

on Sunday, April 28 at

10:00 a.m. after Sunday Ser-

vice. He may also play his

guitar.

Jodo Mission Hanamatsuri

Will be held on Sunday, April 28, at the temple. We

look forward to seeing all of you at the service.

WHEN: Sunday, April 28, 2013

WHERE: Jodo Mission of Hawaii

TIME: 10:00 a.m.

Bits of Knowledge of Buddhism Vol. 26 Think Different (Apr. 2013)

By Rev. Yasushiro Watanabe

A Buddhist walks the road that leads to Enlightenment. We be-lieve in the nature of Buddha in our mind and follow the teaching of Buddha. We

have to think and behave as Buddha and his disciples have done. Now, I’d like to

talk about a promise as an example of Buddha’s thinking. Through this story I hope

we will learn the process of Buddha’s thinking and practice it in our lives.

It is important to keep our promises. Parents or teachers often say to us,

“Keep your word” or “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.” That is our hope. Politi-

cians make campaign pledges. Business people make contracts. The world is full of promises. It is essential for us to keep them for our prosperity.

However, I think there is no promise to keep. In fact, there is no promise to

keep exactly as it is expected. That is Buddha’s way of thinking. We can say “Think Different” in the words of Steve Jobs. For example, let us imagine an appointment

to meet someone. To reach the meeting place on time is easy to say but hard to do.

Many factors can be obstacles to our plans: health, weather, and traffic. Even if we

met the schedule as promised, we might need to fine-tune the time and place. In that sense, the promise is not kept perfectly. It is very lucky to see each other at

the right place on time. That’s why we appreciate people’s effort and luck to fulfill

promises.

A Buddhist doesn’t accept the worldly rule in its original form. People think

Buddhism as nihilistic because Buddhists often deny the idea. However, to reject the

idea is not the end but the start. We have to think about it deeply and differently to

make sure of the truth. And then we restructure the facts and reevaluate the world-ly rule. To have Buddha’s eye, we should practice the way of thinking and try to re-

veal the realities of life.

For another example, we tend to think that death is the end of life. But, ac-cording to the Jodo Shu teaching, death is the start of eternal life in the Pure Land.

It is true that we miss the deceased, but we can live together with our loved one in

a different way. A bad situation is a stepping stone to become better. We can find a

way to success. To do that, we should observe the situation carefully beyond the visible fact, because the fact that we look at now is a kind of virtual reality. I think

that our recognition is always wrong. We have to challenge the genuine truth be-

hind truths. That is the Buddha’s way of thinking.

Let us go back to the story of promises. After all, there is no appointment to

be kept perfectly in this world. However, Amida Buddha’s promise is for sure be-

cause he attains Enlightenment. We believe in the original vow which He has met.

When we call his holy name in the last moment, Amida Buddha comes to us and

takes us to the Pure Land. Also, we hope that death is a fresh start for liberation. Our belief and hope are serious and true. Sayonara, good-bye, or Aloha are not

words of separation but words of wishing to meet again. Please remember that the

Buddha’s thinking makes us embrace our suffering and reveal the way to peace.

Page 3

Honolulu Jodo Shu Fujinkai

Installation of Officers: The officers

for 2013-2015 were installed on Sunday,

February 24, 2013:

President: Sally Hayashi

Vice President: Akiko Nishiyama

Recording Secretary: Doris Soma

Assistant Recording

& Corresponding

Secretary: EdnaAjimura

Treasurer: Yukari Narashiba

Assistant Treasurer: Tomoko Hisamoto Auditors: Yoshiko Kitagawa

Harue Maki

Peggy Miyamoto

Shuji Rev. Yubun Narashiba

Ministers from Japan: Four

ministers from Japan were in Hono-

lulu before returning to Japan.

Front row left is Rev. Chika

Shimizu of Kyoto. Back row left is

Rev. Maras Minoru Tanaka of Hy-

ogo Rev. Yuki Sawada of Kyoto

and Rev. Masayuki Takeda of Wa-

kayama. Missing in photo was Rev.

Yuken Kikuchi their guide who took

this photo.

Sunday School Excursion: Sunday School students went to

visit Teddy Bear World in Wai-

kiki. Looks like the children en-

joyed themselves. It’s not often

they get to go on an excursion!

Fujinkai honored their keiro members

(members over 80 years old) with Sekihan. This

photo of keiro also includes their male keiro

supporters.

They studied in Los Angeles for a week, then traveled to Maui

for two days and two days on Oahu. Pagee 4

Page 5

The Introduction of Buddhism into Japan (7)

From Kamakura through Tokugawa Periods (1192 - 1868)

PURE LAND BUDDHISM

The first budding of the Pure Land concept was already seen at the time of Prince Regent Shotoku (574-622),

having been influenced by the Chinese Pure Land thoughts. This faith passes through the

Nara (710-794) and Heian (794-1192) periods and gradually went wide and deep, taking

root in the minds of the Japanese people. It was however, during the end of the Heian and

the beginning of the Kamakura periods when this faith was formed into independent de-

nominations in Japan.

Even before Honen the founder of the Jodo denomination, there were such priests as

Kuya (903-972) and Ryomin, the founder of the Yuzu-nembutsu denomination, who

taught the teaching of Pure Land Buddhism. It was, however, Honen in whom we can see

a landmark of any historical importance.

The worship of Amitabha (Amida) Buddha, the Lord of the Pure Land, gathering

strength in the Heian period was systematized in Kamakura period by Honen, and worthy

of particular attention as it is the first establishment of an indigenous Japanese Buddhist denomination, though we

could see its forerunning thoughts both in China and Japan.

At the end of the Heian and beginning of the Kamakura periods, it was indeed necessary for the commoners to

have a religion which would give them peace of mind amidst the continuing civil wars, caused by conflicts

among Samurai warriors, as well as various natural disasters. Tendai and Shingon, the two esoteric type of Bud-

dhist denominations founded in the Heian period, had great popularity among the aristocrats. It was, however,

very difficult for the commoners to follow these teachings to acquire the tranquil mind, since their doctrines were

too complicated and profound. Even the Pure Land (Jodo) adherents at that time strictly observed many precepts

of the religious life by practicing good deeds and chanting the sacred phrase of Na-mu-a-mi-da-butsu

(Nembutsu). That is to say, Nembutsu recitation in the from of Na-mu- a-mi-da-butsu was a kind of a religious

practicing and, therefore, they had believed that it was though their own efforts to be able to recite the name of

Amitabha Buddha. On the contrary, what Honen was seeking was a simple teaching and practice which was ap-

plicable to all people. According to him, the recitation of Nembutsu is the best method of attaining birth in the

Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha because it is supported by the power of Amitabha’s Original Vow. Honen cast

aside all other practices and disciplines and selected only the Nembutsu, which he regarded as the best and easiest

way for attaining birth in the Pure Land

This teaching of Honen was inherited by one of his disciples, Shinran, the founder of

the Jodo-shin denomination, and became further simplified. Jodo-shin or simply Shin de-

nomination, which is followed today by the majority of the Buddhist population of Japan,

is traced back to its founder, Shinran. Strangely enough, however, according to his own

words, he had no intention of founding a denomination. He first met this Pure Land

teaching through Honen, and became his disciple for life. He kept up a perpetual recita-

tion of the Nembutsu until his death-bed. Shinran himself simply tried to follow what his

master Honen taught. Nevertheless, we can find a great difference between them, judging

from lives they spent and word they spoke, which will be mentioned in the next chapter.

After the death of Shinran in 1262, at the age of ninety, Jodo-Shin denomination be-

came independent of Jodo denominations of Honen. In its twelfth generation, the

Hongwan-ji Temple, whose abbot had been the descendants of Shinran was divided into two branches: Higashi

(East) Hongwan-ji and Nishi (West) Hongwan-ji school, because of difference in the problem of succession. To-

day their teaching and faith are the same, with the only difference begin in historical tradition. It may be note-

worthy that these two Jodo-shin school, the Higashi and Nishi Hongwan-ji, are the only Buddhist denominations

which have descendants of the founder as their abbots, since Shinran was the only person among founded of all

Japanese Buddhist denominations and school who had his own off-sprigs.

From Understanding Japanese Buddhism

Published by The Japan Buddhist Federation

Honen

Shinran

Obituaries

The Jodo Mission of Hawaii extends

its sincere condolences to the family

members and loved ones of the following

members who have recently left this

world for the Pure Land.

Takeo Yoneda 91

Momoyo Yoshida 95

Margaret Tamaye Tomita 93

Jodo Mission Office Hours:

Monday to Saturday

8am—5pm

Sunday & Holidays

8am—3pm

Phone: 949-3995

Website: www.jodo.us

Rev. Yubun Narashiba Head Minister

Rev. Kanjun Nakano Resident Minister

Rev. Dwight

Nakamura Retired Minister

Page 6

What is “Perpetual Memorial

Service?” (Eitaikyo)

This record of a perpetual memorial service and is called Eitaikyo in Japanese. When the date of death occurs for a person listed on this record, the ministers pray for that individual during the morn-ing service. The prayers will continue each year for as long as Jodo Mission exists. Anyone can be included in it. You may put your own name on the list, too. This also helps when it is difficult to have memorial services. We also wel-come you to attend the morning service at 8:30am.

How to apply

Stop by the office, and fill out the application form. Each name costs $200. After the application is accepted, the name will be listed on the record.

Rev. Yasuhiro

Watanabe Resident Minister

Apology for March Eitaikyo List: We

apologize for incorrectly spelling the deceased

person’s name in March Bulletin:

3/7: Suematsu Namba

NOKOTSUDO (Columbarium)

VASES

Before the O-Bon season arrives,

we plan to clean the Nokotsudo (or Col-

umbarium) which has many, many vases.

Saturday, June 15th is our target date.

If you have personal vases, artificial

plants and flowers, would you please

take them home. We realize that you

may bring a special vase for your use and

then when you come the next time, you

cannot find it and so you bring another

one.

We do not want to break your spe-

cial vase and that may happen when the

Nokotudo people are cleaning the vases

or if there are too many vases on the

shelf.

1 Anzaemon Kajioka The Kajioka & Morita Family Yae Ogata Mistuko Arakawa Shimoyo Karamatsu Seiichi Kimura George Kaname Sakuda

2 Ryosaku Maeda The Maeda Family Shuzaburo Kunihiro The Kunihiro Family Masao Kamihara James Isamu Tomita

3 Kinjuro Ajimura The Ajimura Family Katsuichi Takeda The Takeda Family Takeo Kuniyuki Katsusaburo Yamamoto Kikue Kubota

4 Masayo Kusunoki The Kusunoki Family Shinichi Amakawa The Amakawa Family Hitomi Miyaura

5 Tsune Isobe The Isobe Family Mamoru Najita Isematsu Takenaka Kazumitsu Kaya

7 Yasu Hirohama The Hirohama & Kawasugi Family Kikujiro Uchiumi Naomi Fuse Johnson Fay Johnson Yumi Yokoyama Isaburo Terada Toru Yamane

8 Tadaichi Aoki The Aoki Family Kojiro Okamoto The Okamoto & Nakamoto Family Shigekichi Yoshizaki The Yoshizaki Family Naotaka Hayashi Misue Imamoto Yoshio Takara Masamitsu Nakano

9 Shizuko Hironaka The Hironaka & Ishimoto Family Fumie Iwasaki Tokio Nishikawa

10 Tomi Arakawa Matsuji Yamamoto

11 Tsunekichi Matsuno The Matsuno Family Sadako Yokoyama The Yokoyama & Morita Family Teru Sakuda The Sakuda Family Sada Harada

The Kohatsu Family Yoshiko Hara

12 Naka Nakamura Toshiko Umemoto 13 Yasuko Daitoku The Daitoku & Fujimoto Family Kayo Doi Tsuyo Uchiumi Zentoku Uyehara Yasu Iguchi Masashi Yamane

14 Heiji Yasumoto The Yasumoto Family Yoshi Okamura (2) Kiyoto Kawaoka

15 Toso Kamisato The Kamisato Family The Aoki Family Mikayo Higashimura Toshiro Kawabe The Kawabe Family Masakane Himuro Kenji Hayashi Toshiko Sumida Nishimoto William Hatsuichi Kishimoto

16 Bunsuke Isobe The Isobe Family Ryu Tsurusaki The Tsurusaki & Inada Family Masatoshi Umemoto Patsy Hisako Himuro Mitsuyoshi Gushikuma

17 Kenichi Namba The Namba Family Tsuneharu Imaguchi

18 Toyokichi Iguchi The Iguchi & Sasaki Family Eki Mineishi The Mineishi Family Yojiro Watanabe

19 Jun Kunihiro The Kunihiro Family Motoo Ueda The Ueda Family Maka Tamanaha The Tamanaha Family Matsutaro Shimizu Isamu Yoshioka Thomas Lai

20 Hiroshi Ohta Mantsu Takara Shozaemon Matsumoto Mildred Yukiko Ito

21 Naomi Takara Genichi Tamura

22 Kyoichi Koyama The Koyama Family Chieko Miyakawa Hiroshi Nakai The Nakai Family

Kazu Saiki Kyoichi Koyama Francis Sadamu Furutani, Jr.

23 Bishop Sensho Fukuda Eiko Gushikuma Shigeichi Aoki Moushi Uyehara Shigeo Tom Muranaka

24 Setsuyo Misawa (2) The Misawa Family The Watanabe Family Yoshio Kunimoto

25 Michizo Imaguchi (2) The Imaguchi Family Yasuko Ueda Tsunegoro Iwamoto Soichi Sakai

26 Kikujiro Yokoyama The Yokoyama & Morita Family Makoto Takahashi Masato Ishida Tokue Uehara

27 Misae Umemoto The Umemoto Family The Ida Family The Matsushima Family Shizue Nose Robert Murakami Haruko Teruya

28 Rokusuke Yanagihara The Yanagihara Family Iwakichi Matsuda The Toichi Funamoto Family Misao Yamane Masa Miyao Okamoto Ume Kawamura

29 Mitsuyo Kamioka The Kamioka & Hanaoka Family Tatsuyo Ohara (2) The Ohara Family Tsuchi Kajioka Heijiro Asai Tsune Uesugi Koji Kamioka Manzuchi Higashi Kazuto Hamada Hatsumi Nakamura Yoshiyo Yanagihara Mitsuyo Kanai Yoshida

30 Tsuru Matsuno Esa Yamane Kume Nakamoto The Nakamoto & Sakagawa Family The Matsuno Family The Yamane Family & Harada Family Shigetaka Imada Miyoko Shindo

EITAIKYO (Perpetual Memorial Service) for April

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