Everything is so green and so fresh right now in Portland, Oregon where Oregon Buddhist Temple is. Leaves of the trees in the temple gardens are bright emerald, bursting with life.
The month of May has many fun and special events and activities. We have Children's Day (Japanese tradition), Hatsumairi (Recognition of new members), Mother's Day, Rennyo Shonin Memorial, and Gotan-e (Shinran Shonin's Birthday).
The OBT educational committee is looking into how we can incorporate some of these special events into our Stay Home days -- such as, how can we appreciate Shinran Shonin's birthday?
But as Mad Hatter of Alice in Wonderland celebrates all the unbirthdays of the year, OBT Sangha can appreciate all the non special days! Yuki Sensei's morning service (every morning at 8am PST on our YouTube channel and Yuki Sensei's Facebook page) is just the perfect reminder to us that we are all connected through Amida's wisdom and compassion. 10 minute of chanting and Dharma message accompanies us as we go through our days. The sutra of the day is always notified at the top of live stream notification -- both on YouTube and Facebook each day.
Sunday Services offer longer Dharma messages. The program of the service is usually shared on Facebook pages and the website.
Please check our Services page for Service Programs and reading materials. For the upcoming Sunday, our reading is "Our Pledge", and our chant is Hanjusan (can be found also on our Services page). There is also a parable, "The Two Rivers and the White Path," by Chinese Pure Land Master Shan-tao, or Zendo in Japanese. This is a very graphic and powerful parable, based on Shan-tao's own spiritual existential experience. Yuki Sensei will be talking about this story this Sunday.
So stay safe, enjoy the season, and see you at the virtual service!
