Honoring the Continuation of Bon Odori and the Teachings of Amida Buddha
Reverend Yukari Torii
Resident Minister, San Fernando Valley Hongwanji Buddhist Temple
Everyone, thank you so much for all your hard work in preparing and running the Obon Festival 2024. I am deeply grateful for your dedication to making this event a success. Even though there was a lot to do, Kuni and I enjoyed spending time with you, whether it was cutting cucumbers or peeling chicken skins. Kuni and I also had a great time experiencing Bon Odori for the first time. Both of us grew up in different areas around Tokyo where this custom didn’t exist, so we deeply admire, and are somewhat jealous of, those among you who have inherited and continue to cherish this culture of Bon Odori and Obon Festival. We are very happy to become part of a community that will pass on this wonderful culture to future generations.
Many of you have fond memories of enjoying the Obon Festival with your grandparents and ancestors from childhood. You may also look forward to reuniting with distant family members or familiar faces you see every year at the festival, even if you don’t know their names, and celebrating everyone’s well-being. We could say that Bon Odori is a way to express this joy physically.
In Japan, the days around August 15th, which is considered the Obon period, often become holidays by custom, even though it’s not required by law. I think it’s similar to how many people take time off around Christmas, even if they’re not Christian. During the Obon holidays, families often get together and visit temples and graves together, but many also take advantage of a rare long holiday to travel.
The religious custom of Obon is said to originate from the story in the “Ullambana Sutra.” According to the “Ullambana Sutra,” Moggallāna, a disciple of Shakyamuni Buddha, gained the ability to see into the afterlife through his advanced practice. He discovered that his deceased mother had fallen into the realm of hungry ghosts, gaki-dō in Japanese, one of the six realms of existence, and she was suffering greatly. The realm of hungry ghosts is a world where food turns into flames before reaching the mouth, leaving the inhabitants perpetually hungry and thirsty. Moggallāna was shocked and saddened to see his sweet, loving mother suffering there. She had fallen into this realm because, during her earthly life, she had neglected others due to her excessive love for her son.
Moggallāna asked Shakyamuni Buddha how he could save his mother. Shakyamuni instructed him to hold a grand ceremony after the monks had finished their rainy season retreat, to honor and give offerings to them with a grateful and respectful heart. When Moggallāna followed these instructions, his mother was released from her suffering in the realm of hungry ghosts.
From a Jodo Shinshu perspective, we can understand this sutra in the following way: One lesson is that true liberation from suffering comes only through the Buddha’s teachings. Moggallāna tried many times to feed his mother using his supernatural powers that he had acquired through hard practice, but her suffering only deepened. It was only when he honored the monks and gave offerings with reverence for the Buddha’s teachings that she was saved. This illustrates the importance of respecting and taking refuge in the Buddha’s teachings.
The salvation of his mother stemmed from her realization of the significance of the Buddha’s teachings through her son’s actions of reverence towards the three treasures: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. From a more Jodo Shinshu view, it can be said that she realized she was within the embrace of the never-forsaking compassion of Amida Buddha. Amida Buddha’s compassion is for those who commit evil acts out of necessity for themselves and their loved ones with causes and conditions, and she entrusted herself to that working of compassion. No matter how many times Moggallāna tried to give food to his mother in the realm of hungry ghosts, it only increased her suffering. This shows that material things cannot truly save people. Only by taking refuge in the Buddha’s teachings and opening our hearts and minds to the truth can we free ourselves from being tormented by our desires.
Another lesson is that Moggallāna’s mother’s descent into the realm of hungry ghosts represents how any of us could find ourselves in similar circumstances. She ended up in that realm because of actions driven by her love for her child, which is not unlike our own lives, driven by desires and attachments.
Despite our efforts to treat everyone equally, in times of crisis, we may find ourselves prioritizing our loved ones over others. Even in smaller matters, we’ve likely all put our loved ones first at the expense of others. For example, imagine your son or grandson is in high school and hopes to attend Caltech after graduation. However, the university has limited spots, and not everyone who applies can get in. Your son submits all the necessary documents like test scores, transcripts, essays, and recommendation letters, and then you, he, and all the family members wait for the acceptance letter. During this time, you probably pray and hope that your son gets accepted, right? When I was applying to college, my grandmother prayed to every Japanese god and Buddha she could think of. This isn’t really in line with Jodo Shinshu teachings, but she wasn’t a Jodo Shinshu follower.
Anyway, if your son gets into Caltech, it means that someone else didn’t. Suppose your neighbor’s son, who is the same age, also wants to go to Caltech. You wouldn’t wish for him to get accepted instead of your own son, would you? Prioritizing your loved ones is a natural human response. The issue of getting into a university might not seem that critical, but there is always the possibility that the desire to prioritize yourself and your loved ones can grow and potentially hurt others.
Since you come to the temple and listen to Dharma messages regularly, you might be more conscious of these things. Do you find yourself remembering these lessons in your daily life? But like me, you might often forget. Even if we remember at first, the moment we face such situations, the thought might leave our minds. When your loving family is directly involved, you’ll naturally wish for their success above others.
But I am here today thanks to those who have cared for me so dearly and sometimes put me first above all others. Without our ancestors, loved ones, and others who have lived and passed before us, we wouldn’t exist. Obon is a time to remember them, reflect on the memories and gratitude we have, appreciate that we live thanks to their lives, and also look at how we are living our own lives. It’s also a time to rejoice and give thanks for encountering Buddhism, the teachings of Amida Buddha, through their guidance. This understanding leads us in Jodo Shinshu to call Obon “Kangi-e” or the “Gathering of Joy.”
Shinran Shonin quotes the words of Master Tao-ch’o(Dōshaku) at the end of his main work, Kyōgyōshinshō.
Passages on the Land of Happiness states: “I have collected true words to aid others in their practice for attaining birth, in order that the process be made continuous, without end and without interruption, by which those who have been born first guide those who come later, and those who are born later join those who were born before. This is so that the boundless ocean of birth-and-death be exhausted.” (CWS, vol. 1, p. 291)
Shinran Shonin spread the teaching of Amida Buddha’s salvation following Tao-ch’o’s heartfelt wish that this teaching continues unbroken, ensuring that countless people living in delusion can all be saved. Looking at this from a broader perspective, our existence is a result of the accumulation of the precious lives before us, and it is through the lives of these people that I have come to exist. Just as the custom of Bon Odori has been handed down through the ages and across the seas, the teachings of Amida Buddha have reached me through a much longer history, thanks to those who were born first. During this Obon period, let us reflect on this fact and wish that the teachings we have received will continue to be passed on without interruption, guiding those who come after us and illuminating the true path for their lives.
Namo Amida Butsu