‘wa’
harmony

Higashi Hongwanji
Hawaii Betsuin
Bulletin

5

May 2019

Higashi Hongwanji
Mission of Hawaii
At Higashi Hongwanji, we remaintrue to our origins as an open Sangha,
welcoming anyone who wishes tolearn more about the Jodo Shinshu
tradition of Buddhism.
A registered 501(c)3 organization
Head Minister: Kenjun Kawawata
Resident Minister: Steven Toyoshima
Minister: Hidesato Kita
Minister: Koen Kikuchi
President: Kenneth SaikiVice President: Raymond Uyema
Secretary: Marian Tsuji
Treasurer: Karen Wong
1685 Alaneo Street
Honolulu, HI 96817
Tel: (808) 531-9088
Fax: (808) 531-3265
Email: betsuin@hhbt-hi.org
Website: betsuin.hhbt-hi.org
Higashi Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii
Wa is published monthly byHigashi Hongwanji Missionof Hawaii for its members
and friends. Comments,
articles and other items for
publication consideration
are welcomed.
Editor: Ken Saiki

The gravitational pull of the massive collapsed stars is so great,even light is unable to escape. Because of this, it had been
impossible to take a photograph of a black hole, even with ourstrongest telescopes.
On April 10, scientists with the Event Horizon Telescope projectshocked the world by announcing that they had, for the first time,
captured the image of a black hole. Even though the black holebeing focused on is the size of 6.5 billion of our Suns, the extreme
distance and between the Earth and the target made capturing adifficult task.
Katie Bouman, one of the scientists whodeveloped the technology to produce the image,described it as the size of such a faraway object as
being like us trying to see “an orange on themoon.” It was only through years of work by over
two hundred scientists and seven giant radio
telescopes scattered around the world that thisfeat could be completed.
Rev. Steve Toyoshima
Because two of the telescopes were located in
Hawaii, the black hole was given a Hawaiian name. Chosen by Prof. Larry
Kimura of the University of Hawaii at Hilo, the name Powehi is taken from18th-century Hawaiian chants meaning “the adorned fathomless darkcreation.”In this incredible discovery, I can see a parallel with the way that
we view ourselves and how we can live our lives in the Buddhist
teachings. In his “December Fan” diary, the great teacher from our
tradition, Manshi Kiyozawa writes about seeing the world throughMicroscopes and Telescopes.
“You should use a microscope to see the good of others andthe evil of yourself. You will then be impressed with the great sizeof their good and your evil.
A telescope should be applied to others’ evil and your good.
You will be surprised to see how small they are.
It may indeed be true that both the good and the evil in others
and in ourselves are just like things seen through the lenses of thetwo instruments. Our feelings are apt to distort a real assessmentof good and evil, right and wrong, and bring many errors.”(cont’d on p. 2)

On Viewing Black Holes (cont’d from p. 1)
The Three Poisons of Greed, Anger and Ignorance
cloud our judgment in everyday life, which makes
seeing the world clearly as difficult as spotting anorange sitting on the moon’s surface with our nakedeyes. Because of our egos, we see our mistakes andshortcomings as small and those of the people
around us as large, as though we were viewing themwith microscopes and telescopes.
In our minds, if someone’s actions
inconvenience us, it’s a big deal. If we make a
mistake, we make excuses and we think ,“It’s just atiny thing...why even get upset at it?”
Similarly, how often do we take the helpful
actions of those around us for granted, and get“Our feelings are apt todistort a real assessmentof good and evil,right and wrong,and bring many errors.

”

upset when our own “good” deeds are not praised?
This is our self-centered human nature at work.
Often, it is through difficult or unexpected
experiences that open our eyes to the world aroundus sono mama, just as it is. A loss of a family
member, trouble at work, health issues, manythings can break us from our self-centered viewand force us to confront the nature of our reality.
During these difficult times, we can realize theextent to which we are supported and guided by
the people around us. When we see that we are notalone, when we see how we are connected toothers, this is our Event Horizon Telescope array,revealing the reality that was impossible for us to
see through our own efforts.
It is the reality that calls to us to be humble, andto live in appreciation. To me, this call is what
“Namu Amida Butsu” is all about.
		— Rev. Steve Toyoshima
2

誕生の意義
河和田記輪番
		

先月は花祭りでお釈迦様のご誕生をお祝いいたしました。またこの五月は浄土真宗の宗祖親鸞聖人のお誕生をお祝いし、親鸞聖人誕生会（たんじょうえ）法
要がお勤めされます。また誕生会法要とともに新生児初参り法要も共にお勤めされます。この四月、五月は釈尊また親鸞聖人のご誕生をお祝いするとともに生れた意味を味合うことであります。
宗祖親鸞聖人はどのように釈尊のお誕生の意味をお考えになっていらしたのでしょうか。浄土真宗のお経である仏説無量寿経には『如来はこの上ない慈悲の心で迷いの世界をお哀れみなる。世にお出ましになる
わけは、教えを説き述べて人々を救い、まことの利益を恵みたいとお考えになるからである。』と、釈尊は述べられています。釈尊は３５歳にして真実を覚られ仏陀（覚者）となられた。そして慈悲の心をもって法を説かれる如来となられたのです。如来とは真実、そのままの法の世界からあらわれた方と言う意味です。
なぜ如来となられたかと言えば人々を救い、真の利益を与えたいからだというのです。これが、釈尊が如来となって世に出られる理由だとこのお経に説かれているのです。 私どもを救いたいというのが如来の願いであり、そこに仏、如来がこの世に生まれる意義があるというのです。ですから釈尊の誕生は私どもを苦悩の存在より救う為にお生まれになったのです。
親鸞聖人はこの仏説無量寿経をより深く読まれ、『釈尊がこの世にお出ましになった理由は阿弥陀仏の本願海を説くためであった。』と正信偈の中でいわれています。そしてまた『五劫という永い間思惟された阿弥陀仏の本願はひとえに親鸞一人の為であった。』と深くその慈悲のお心を頂き感謝しておられます。
親鸞聖人がお生まれになった意味は弥陀の本願に出会い、その意味を聞いてゆくことだったのです。阿弥陀仏の本願とは苦悩する人間を救いたいという、私どもにかけられている願いなのです。
						
私どもは一人一人異なった生活を営んでいます。
しかし仏法の前に立つ時私どもは仏の願いと教えを聞き生活をする者となります。そして法の前に頭を下げて、真摯に教えに耳を傾けて生きつつ、謙虚でダイナ
ミックな生活が始まるのです。 仏法を聞き続けることによりこのような生き生きとした生活を送ることが出来る事です。したがって私どもの誕生の意義とは、
お念仏の教えに出会い、謙虚にまた柔軟に、そして力づよくに生きることだと言えましょう。
				
				

合掌
河和田記

3

News on the

Betsuin Wireless

Look for us at the HBC tent at
the Book & Music Festival May 5

Dharma Hawaiians at HBC Buddha Day.
The group played along with several Honpa
Hongwanji musicians on April 7 during theafter-service lunch.
Steven Toyoshima photo

Bon dance practice sessions
scheduled to start in May“The world’s favorite season is theSpring. All things seem possible inMay.” —Edwin Way Teale
ALL things possible? Even learning
to bon dance, after a lifetime of justwatching, and going to temples in
the middle of summer just to eat?
For anyone who has wanted tojoin in the fun people seem to be
having in the lively bon dance circle,
here’s your chance! You get to practicewith other learners in the relative
privacy of Otani Center, instead infront of the throng of onlookers at theactual bon dance.
Temple member Marion Kanemori,leader of the Iwakuni Odori Aiko Kai,
who also happens to be a licensed
nihonbuyo classical Japanese dance
instructor, has agreed to help
budding bon dancers learn the basic
bon dances, as well as new songs on
this year’s playlist. It’s a great chance
to expand your repertoire.
The main goal is to boost yourconfidence level so that you can join
in on any dance, once you watch fora bit. You may even end up being a“dancin’ fool,” itching to elbow yourway in to the inner circle!
You’re all welcome to join in ourbon dance practice sessions every
Wednesday evening in May and June
(except May 29) from 6 to 7 pm.
It’s fun, gentle aerobic exercise, an
opportunity to meet new people andbest of all, it’s free!

4

If you happen to hear strains of the
melodic chanting of Shoshinge, followedby the singing of Shinshu Shuka, In
Lumbini’s Garden and Ondokusan toukulele accompaniment at the Annual
Book & Music Festival, you’ll know that
others from the Higashi Hongwanjiohana are close at hand.
On Sunday, May 5, our ministers
will be doing double-duty, helping
with book sales at the Hawaii Buddhist
Council tent and chanting, starting at
3 pm. The Dharma Hawaiians ukulele
ensemble will follow at 3:30 pm.
You’ll find the HBC booth tucked
in a row of tents on the Honolulu Hale
Civic Grounds mauka walkway, near
the Kristi Yamaguchi Reading Center.
The festival, which promises fun
for the whole family, runs from 10 am
to 5 pm during the May 4-5 weekend.
Admission and parking at themunicipal parking garage (accessfrom Beretania St.) is free.

handful of survivors retreat into thejungle and begin a guerrilla-style war,using Mount Tapochau as a base due
to its natural defensive position
overlooking every possible approach.
With only 47 soldiers protecting 200
civilians against 45,000 U.S. troops,
Oba—nicknamed “the Fox” by theAmericans due to his cunning
strategy—continues to resist, despite
cessation of hostilities.
Showtime: 6:30 pm, Tues., May 28,
128 min. Directed by Hideyuki
Hirayama. Also stars Mao Inoue,
Toshiaki Karasawa and Takayuki
Yamada. Color, Japanese audio,
English subtitles. Free admission.
Light refreshments, or bring to share!
太平洋の奇跡 – フォックスと呼ばれた男（たいへいようのきせきーフォックスとよばれたおとこ）太平洋戦争において激戦が繰り広げられたサイパン島で、わずか47人の兵で45,000人もの米軍を巧みな戦略で翻弄し、米兵らから畏敬の念を込めて「フォッMay “Memorial Day” tribute film
is a tale of courage and tenacity

Memorial Day is a special day set
aside in May to remember those wholost their lives as a result of war. Our
May “war movies” in the past havefeatured some of our best films,
including Kon Ichikawa’s epic The
Burmese Harp and Fires on the Plain,
the much-acclaimed Letters from Iwo
Jima and the story of the 442nd
Regimental Combat Team, Go For
Broke!, which was even nominated foran Academy Award.
For this Memorial Day, we’ve
selected the 2011 movie, Oba: The
Last Samurai. (The originallyscheduled There Was a Father will beshown in June.) Based on a true story
by U.S. Marine Don Jones, Oba gives
us a frontline view of the brutality ofwar, showing the struggles between
honor and reason through the eyes ofa geography teacher who was a
draftee into the Imperial Army.
During the Battle of Saipan in 1944,
Imperial Japanese Army Captain SakaeŌba (Yutaka Takenouchi) and a

Oba: The Last Samurai

クス」と呼ばれた実在の大場栄・陸軍大尉 (竹野内豊)。タッポーチョ山を拠点とした大場とその部隊が、1945年8月のポツダム宣言受諾以降も、その事実を知らずに戦い続けた実話を日米双方から描.
原作：ドン・ジョーンズ、監督：平山秀
幸 、出演者：唐沢寿明、井上真央、山田孝之、公開 : 2011年、カラー、言語 : 日
本語、字幕 : 英語 、映時間 : 128分、5
月28日(火)午後6:30時、入場無料。

Tanjo-e Service
In celebration of the birth of Shinran Shonin

Hatsumairi Ceremony
Held in conjunction with Tanjo-e Service

Sunday May 19, 2019 10:00 am

English Message : Rev. Steven Toyoshima

親鸞聖人誕生会
新生児初参り法要
２０１9 年５月 19 日 午前１０時
日本語法話：河和田賢淳 輪番

A ceremony for infants and children up to 6 years of age who shallbe presented initially before the Buddha. It signifies the foundation
towards a spiritual life. Please fill out the application form and sendback to the temple office.

初参りは、新しいいのちの誕生を祝う儀式です。６才までのお子さんを受け付け致します。お早めにお寺まで申し込んでください。
Child's Name
Birthday

Age

Sex

M F

Parents' Name
Address
City

State

Zip

Telephone
Higashi Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii
1685 Alaneo St., Honolulu, HI 96817
Telephone (808) 531-9088

5

May Sunday Services
S

unday services are a regularoccurrence among most Buddhist
temples in Hawaii. Additionally, temples
may hold Sunday services for special
occasions, such as Ohigan, Nirvana Day
and shōtsuki memorials.
The month of May is unique at our
Betsuin in that we observe a special
occasion on every Sunday. May is the
only month when we have no “regular
Sunday service” on our schedule.

Betsuin May Sunday services
5/5: Shōtsuki memorial service
Message: Rinban Kawawata
5/12: Mother’s Day family service
Message: Lay speaker
5/19: Tanjō-e/ Hatsumairi service(Shinran Shōnin’s birthday &Child’s “First Visit” service)
Japanese: Rinban Kawawata
English: Rev. Toyoshima
5/26: All Wars memorial service
Message: Rev. Toyoshima

Shōtsuki memorial service
A Sunday is set aside each monthfor a shōtsuki memorial service, when
we remember loved ones we’ve lost
during that month in a past year.
The service brings family members
together to pay tribute to those
who came before us—our parents,
grandparents and others—whom wethank for the wonderful gift of life. If it
weren’t for them, we wouldn’t even exist!
As we listen to the dharma
together, we recall memories of our
loved ones and acknowledge theirinfluence on our lives.

Grafton, West Virginia. Mother’s Day
actually began with a memorial service.
We honor the mothers of the family
and motherhood, and the influence ofmothers in society. Families often will
give mothers a “day off” from cooking
and other household chores. Betsuin
tradition calls for the men to prepare
the after-service refreshments...andclean up afterwards, too.
Shinran Shōnin’s birthday service/

Hatsumairi service

We take the opportunity of
Tanjo-e to reflect on Shinran Shōnin’s
birth and, at the same time, think
about the meaning of our own birth.
We express our respect and thanks
to our founder, who sought the way of
the truth with his entire being and left
the most important teachings for us.
Hatsumairi is a ceremony for infants
and children up to six years of age
presented initially before the Buddha,
signifying the foundation towards a
spiritual life. To help us prepare thekeepsake certificate, submitting theapplication in advance would beappreciated. Participating children will
also receive onenju from our head
temple in Kyoto.

All Wars memorial service
Placing flowers on soldiers’
graves has been a common practicesince ancient times. After World War II,“Decoration Day” for remembering
Civil War and World War I casualties
became known as “Memorial Day.”
Memorial Day is now a federal
holiday observed on the last Monday in
May to remember the people who diedwhile serving in the U.S. armed forces.
On that day, the U.S. flag is raised,
then lowered to half-staff, in memoryof the more than one million men
and women who lost their lives while
in service to their country. At noon
the flag is then raised to full-staff andremains there for the rest of the day
as a tribute to the living.
Once a war starts, it’s not only
soldiers who get killed. Civilians end
up as innocent “collateral damage,”too. At the Betsuin All Wars memorialservice, we remember all people—
military and civilian—who died as aresult of past wars.
All our special services start at
10 am. We hope you’ll be able to takepart on these days of remembrance.
			— Ken SaikiCAN YOU SPOT THE DIFFERENCES?

Mother’s Day family service
The second Sunday in May iscelebrated as Mother’s Day, when we
hold our Mother’s Day family service.
The first Mother’s Day wasobserved in 1908, when Anna Jarvis
held a memorial for her mother at
St. Andrew’s Methodist Church in6

See if you can spot the 10 differences between the two illustrations of Shinran Shonin.
From the Shinshu Anime E-hon series: Shinran-sama, illustrated by Akio Tanaka,
available at the Honzan bookstore and at other resellers such as cdjpan.co.jp.

Higashi Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii
1685 Alaneo Street
Honolulu, Hawaii 96817

NON-PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
Honolulu, HI
Permit No. 693

Address Service Requested

In this issue of WA...
• On Viewing Black Holes p. 1
• 誕生の意義 p. 2
• Bon dance practice p. 3
• News on the Betsuin Wireless p. 4
• Dharma Hawaiians at HBC booth p. 4
• May movie: Ōba: The Last Samurai p. 4
• Tanjō-e & Hatsumairi service p. 5
• May Sunday services p. 6
• Spot the difference p. 6
• Acknowledgments p. 7
• May shōtsuki service p. 7
• Temple activities calendar p. 8

Temple Activities Calendar
MAY

JUNE

Wed 6 pm Bon dance practice - Otani Center
Sun 10 am Shōtsuki memorial service (Kawawata)
Sun 12 pm Basic Buddhism discussion in Japanese
仏教入門（お話と座談会）
5/6 Mon 10 am Meditation Sutra class
5/8 Wed 6 pm Bon dance practice - Otani Center
5/9 Thu 7 pm The Larger Sutra study class			 led by Rinban Kawawata in English
5/12 Sun 10 am Mother’s Day family service (lay speaker)
5/13 Mon 12 pm 99 Lunch Bunch chat session
5/14 Tue 3 pm Ukulele class/band practice
5/15 Wed 6 pm Bon dance practice - Otani Center
5/16 Thu 7 pm Tea Time Fukuhara Conference Room
5/19 Sun 10 am Shinran Shonin’s birthday service - 誕生会
			 (E: Rev. Toyoshima/J: Rinban Kawawata)
5/19 Sun 12 pm Betsuin board meeting
5/19 Sun 12 pm Art of Paper Folding - Ōtani Center
5/21 Tue 7 pm O-kō: Dharma discussion at Betsuin
5/22 Wed 6 pm Bon dance practice - Ōtani Center
5/26 Sun 10 am All Wars Memorial service (Toyoshima)
5/28 Tue 10 am Shinran Shōnin memorial service
5/28 Tue 3 pm Ukulele class/band practice
5/28 Tue 6:30 pm Movie night: Ōba: The Last Samurai (2011)
			 太平洋の奇跡 – フォックスと呼ばれた男

6/2 Sun 10 am Shōtsuki memorial service (Kawawata)
6/2 Sun 12 pm Basic Buddhism discussion in Japanese
6/3 Mon 10 am Meditation Sutra class
6/5 Wed 6 pm Bon dance practice - Ōtani Center
6/9 Sun 10 am Betsuin Local Gathering (Sawada)
6/10 Mon 12 pm 99 Lunch Bunch chat session
6/11 Tue 3 pm Ukulele class/band practice
6/12 Wed 6 pm Bon dance practice - Ōtani Center
6/13 Thu 7 pm The Larger Sutra study class-Engllish		
6/16 Sun 10 am Father’s Day family service (lay speaker)
6/16 Sun 12 pm Betsuin board meeting
6/16 Sun 12 pm Art of Paper Folding - Ōtani Center
6/17 Mon 10 am Meditation Sutra class
6/18 Tue 7 pm O-kō: Dharma discussion at Betsuin
6/19 Wed 6 pm Bon dance practice - Ōtani Center
6/20 Thu 7 pm Tea Time Fukuhara Conference Room
6/23 Sun 10 am Sunday service (Kawawata)
6/23 Sun 12 pm Omigaki altar accessories polishing
6/25 Tue 3 pm Ukulele class/band practice
6/25 Tue 6:30 pm Movie night: There Was a Father (1942)
6/26 Wed 6 pm Bon dance practice - Ōtani Center
6/28 Fri 10 am Shinran Shōnin memorial service
6/30 Sun 10 am Service & Ehime Maru Mem. cleaning
			 Kakaako Waterfront Pk picnic (Toyoshima)		

5/1
5/5
5/5

Everyone is welcome to join the morning chanting held at 7 am daily (except on Sundays & the 28th day of the month) in the Betsuin main hall.