Dharma Talks

Good morning, everyone!

I am glad to see you again this morning.

As you remember, we are going to have our fifth annual Bon Dance this Saturday, the 24th, here at Betsuin. It is just around the corner. I know you are looking forward to it. Our president Keith Nagai, committee chair Sandra Taga and other members are working very hard for it. Let me again express my deep gratitude to them.

A unique point of our Bon Dance is that we have the dance without a service on the same day. That is because we have just started it 4 years ago. The annual Bon Dance schedule is already fixed. As a new comer, we are limited to having our Bon Dance before or after the schedule. We chose to have our Bon Dance at the end of the schedule which means the last Saturday of August, since we required the help of many people. The Puunene Nichiren Mission in Maui started its Bon Dance about 25 years ago. Although it was about 25 years ago, the other temples on Maui had started way before the Puunene Mission. They decide to have it in the middle of June, changing their Bon service schedule. They hold the Shin Bon Service with their Bon Dance in June, while maintaining their main Bon Service in July. So, the Bon Dance season in Maui starts with the Nichiren Shu.

Our temple holds the Shin Bon Service with a Toro Nagashi at night on Saturday in the middle of July with a Bon Service on the following day. Our Bon Dance is held on the following month. As you see, each temple tries their best to propagate the teaching depending on their situation.

What the Puunene Mission has, but Betsuin doesn't have is a joint event of service and dance. The added feature of our temple is that we have a Toro Nagashi. Not many temples conduct a Toronagashi despite having a pond in its precinct. The Valley of the Temples in Kaneohe has a beautiful pond. However, it is a columbarium, not a regular temple. This betsuin is the only temple in Hawaii which has a wonderful pond and is able to do a Toronagashi in its site. How lucky we are!

By the way, I talked about Obon before. I hope you remember it. Let me talk about the Bon Dance today. Why do we dance during the Bon period? As you remember, Bon period is a time that our deceased family comes back to this world from another world. We offer a cucumber horse, eggplant cow and other food, toba and special prayers at the Bon Service. The service is a main event of Bon. In addition to the service, they started to dance religious dances during Bon. This became the present Bon Dance. The reasons why they danced was to entertain the deceased family visiting this world, to prove that we have enough to live and dance, to show that we are enjoying our lives and to express our gratitude for them through dance. The main point is that we dance to show our appreciation. Some people say that they do not want to dance. They may be too shy to express their gratitude. Dancing is not for yourself. It is for your deceased family. I hope nobody is too shy this year. It is like a child's smile which is treasure for its parents. Your smile is a great gift for your parents. I hope you enjoy the Bon Dance for your father, mother, grandfather, grandmother and others.

As I tell you every time, this Saturday is not only Bon Dance Day, but also Gassho Day. I hope you do Gassho when you express your appreciation like saying “Thank you” or “Mahalo” Since a Bon Dance is the Buddhist event, please express your gratitude in a Buddhist way.