A Way of Seeing - Obon

     The weather is starting to heat up as June gloom starts to end and the full heat of summer arrives.  With the heat, of course, come the Obon services, dances and, usually, bazaars, all over Southern California as well as points north.  This year, 2002, will find me in Central California talking about the Buddha Dharma, instead of helping to make wonton and sell produce.

     In terms of heat, it will be like jumping from the frying pan into the fire!  I don’t know which I dislike more, Central Cal’s summer heat or its winter tule fog [Microsoft Word says there is no such word as tule, which should come as a surprise to those interned at Tule Lake; the American Heritage Dictionary says there is, but doesn’t indicate its usage with fog.  Is there another word for this type of fog?]  A couple times when I was a whole lot younger, I drove home at night from CC, after speaking at temples there.  The first time, I had my wife and younger son with me, but I drove recklessly anyway.  What I did was follow the taillights of a semi, figuring that the driver had Highway 99 memorized.  I was going about 30 mph and he was going about 65 mph through fog that I couldn’t see through beyond about 35 feet.  If he had made a sudden stop or gone off the road, my family and I wouldn’t be here now!  Needless to say, you should not try this at home.

     In Japan, Obon is like a national holiday.  It is normally celebrated in August, and most people still go back to their home towns to observe memorial services for their late loved ones and to clean the family plot.  However, like Memorial Day here, it is more and more being used simply for recreation.  While there is nothing wrong with that, it is to be hoped that we continue to use Obon as a time to reflect on our lives, especially with reference to our late loved ones.  Remember, we all die at least twice; once, when we die physically, and the last time, when we are forgotten.  Before we die the first time, it behooves us to realize our true selves, without the façades that we hide our true selves behind, even, and perhaps especially, from ourselves.

        Think about it.

Gassho,

Donkon Shaku Jaan

Rev. John Doami