That means "Good Morning" in Japanese!
Yes, mommy is on a cultural campaign to visit all the religious temples in Southern California. (She likes to pretend she's a Social Activities Cruise Director for the family. ) Between her and Daddy, every weekend is packed with fun!!! Ever since she finished reading Eat, Pray, Love, she has been on a meditative quest. Secretly, mommy likes to meditate during the hour it takes me to fall asleep at night. Yes, it takes me an hour to get to sleep! That's because I'm meditating too.
In the past couple of months, we have visited the Hindi Temple in Calabasas (pix coming soon!), the Self Realization Fellowship in Malibu (pix coming soon of that too!), and this past weekend, we visited the Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple in Little Tokyo. They were celebrating the Obon Festival and mommy could not pass up an opportunity to see something new with me. On the way there, we listed to Conversational Japanese in the car ... and after 30 minutes, I was yelling out "OHIO!" When we got to Little Tokyo, we were greeted with tons of beautiful lanterns, women dressed in beautiful kimonos, food (I loves me some rice!!!), and games galore. We snagged some dinosours, ping pong balls, and oodles of food.
Here are some fun facts about the Obon Festival:
Obon (お盆
?) or just Bon (盆
?) is a
Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed (deceased)
spirits of one's
ancestors. This Buddhist custom has evolved into a
family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. Also called the Feast of Lanterns, it has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a
dance, known as Bon-Odori.
The festival of Obon lasts for three days; however its starting date varies within different regions of Japan. When the lunar calendar was changed to the
Gregorian calendar at the beginning of the
Meiji era, the localities in Japan reacted differently and this resulted in three different times of Obon. "Shichigatsu Bon" (Bon in July) is based on the solar calendar and is celebrated around
15 July in areas such as
Tokyo,
Yokohama and the
Tohoku region. "Hachigatsu Bon" (Bon in August) is based on the solar calendar, is celebrated around the 15th of August and is the most commonly celebrated time. "Kyu Bon" (Old Bon) is celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, and so differs each year. "Kyu Bon" is celebrated in areas like the northern part of the
Kantō region,
Chūgoku,
Shikoku, and the Southwestern islands. These three days are not listed as public holidays but it is customary that people are given leave.
Obon shares some similarities with the predominantly
Mexican observance of
el Día de los Muertos, such as customs involving family reunion and care of ancestors' grave sites.
Obon is a shortened form of Ullambana (
Japanese: 于蘭盆會 or 盂蘭盆會, urabon'e). It is
Sanskrit for "hanging upside down" and implies great suffering. The Japanese believe they should ameliorate the suffering of the "Urabanna".
Bon Odori originates from the
story of
Mokuren, a disciple of the
Buddha, who used his supernatural powers to look upon his deceased mother. He discovered she had fallen into the Realm of
Hungry Ghosts and was suffering. Greatly disturbed, he went to the
Buddha and asked how he could release his mother from this realm. Buddha instructed him to make offerings to the many Buddhist monks who had just completed their summer retreat, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month. The disciple did this and, thus, saw his mother's release. He also began to see the true nature of her past unselfishness and the many sacrifices that she had made for him. The disciple, happy because of his mother's release and grateful for his mother's kindness, danced with joy. From this dance of joy comes Bon Odori or "Bon Dance", a time in which ancestors and their sacrifices are remembered and appreciated. See also:
Ullambana Sutra.
As Obon occurs in the heat of the summer, participants traditionally wear
yukata, or light cotton
kimonos. Many Obon celebrations include a huge carnival with rides, games, and summer festival food like watermelon
The festival ends with
Toro Nagashi , or the floating of lanterns. Paper lanterns are illuminated and then floated down rivers symbolically signaling the ancestral spirits' return to the world of the dead. This ceremony usually culminates in a fireworks display.
Here are some fun facts about the Temple:
The Nishi Hongwanji Los Angeles Betsuin has been serving Southern California since 1905. It belongs to the Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha, one of the largest denominations of the Pure Land stream of Mahayana Buddhism. As
a Betsuin, our temple is a direct branch of Nishi Hongwanji-ha in Kyoto, Japan. It is also one of 62 temples affiliated with Nishi Hongwanji in the mainland United States.
Like all schools of Buddhism, we emphasize that the source of our problems comes from rational causes and not supernatural sources. The solution to our suffering also comes through wholesome and prudent living amidst the web of causes and conditions which is the Universe. Our ultimate goal is thorough awakening to the profound Oneness of all life. Our path is centered on the relaxed but reverent saying or thinking of the name of Amida Buddha, the Enlightened One of Vast Wisdom-Light and Endless Life.
The saying or thinking of such phrases as "Namo Amida Butsu" ("I rely upon the source of measureless wisdom and unending life") is something we share with hundreds of millions of other Buddhist in hundreds of distinct denominations. The natural, non-anxious, trusting way in which we say or think this utterance is, perhaps, characteristic of our denomination.
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