Los Angeles Koyasan Betsuin : Services

Services and Yearly Buddhist Rituals

§ Please check the Calendar for dates and times when services are held.

§ Contact the Temple for details and information on other services (blessings, funerals, weddings, …)

§ Visitors are welcome to observe the services that are opened (not private)

New Year’s Day

(January)

Visiting a Buddhist Temple or Shinto shrine to offer a prayer on the New Year’s Day is called “Hatsu-mode” in Japanese. The first service of the year, “Shu-sho-e”, is in accordance to Buddhist tradition and Japanese custom. The fire ceremony, “Hatsu-goma” is conducted where members cleanse and destroy any unclean Karmas of the past year.

Hoshi-Matsuri

(February)

“Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi.”

“Hoshi-Matsuri” literally means “Star-Festival”. The heavenly bodies have been inseparably tied to our daily lives. Shingon Esoteric Buddhism has integrated the heavenly bodies into a ritual call “Hoshi-Ku”. Prayers are offered for the following:

Sokusai-ho: Keeping our lives safe and avoiding accidents

Zoyaku-ho: Increasing good fortune and merits to make our living affluent

Enmei-ho: Maintaining good health and attaining longevity

Nirvana Day

(February)

“Everything is changeable and un-lasting. By earnestness work out your liberation “

~~~ Last words of Buddha (February 15, 483 B.C.)

Service is held to commemorate the day that Buddha went on to “Mahaparinirvana”, eternal Nirvana.

Spring/Autumn Ohigan

(March/September)

“Higan” is taken from “Tou-Higan” which means “from this world (Samsara) to reach the shore of the ideal world (Nirvana)”. Service is held to reflect our inner selves, pay our respects to our ancestors and practice the Buddha’s way to Nirvana according to his teachings as observing the Six Paramitas (Giving or Sharing, Self Restraint, Patience, Effort, Meditation, and Wisdom). Each of the paramitas is based on the Buddhist virtue of Compassion and Love for everything in the world.

Hana-Matsuri

(April)

Sweet rain fell to bless the infant Buddha who immediately took seven steps and declared, “In Heaven and on Earth, I am the world’s Most Honored One.”

“Hana-matsuri” means festival of flowers and refers to the birth of Shakyamuni Buddha in Lumbini Garden. Service is held to honor the birth. Sweet tea is poured over a statue of infant Buddha set in a small altar covered with flowers.

Shomie-Ku

(April)

“As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then, may I also remain and dispel the miseries of the world”

~~~ Kobo-Daishi, “Goyuigo” (March 21, 835 A.D.)

“Shomie-Ku” means the ritual (Ku) of recollecting the holy (Sho) image (Mie) of Kobo-Daishi, founder of Japanese Shingon Buddhism. Service is held to commemorate the day that Kobo-Daishi entered eternal Nirvana.

Aoba-Matsuri

(June)

Namu Daishi Henjo Kongo

Service is held to honor the birthday of Kobo-Daishi, June 15 774 A.D. In the month of June, the Japanese landscape is lush and green from the seasonal rain; so, the celebration of his birth became “Aoba-Matsuri”, the Festival of Green Leaves.

O-Bon

(July)

“Lighting the Obon fire (Mukae-Bi), I see,

Brings fond memories to me.

The image of my dad, the face of my mom.”

~~~ Issa (1763-1827)

Obon has been traditionally considered as the memorial day for Buddhists. The word “Obon” means to uproot suffering and pain. On this day we recall in our minds the warm memories of departed relatives and friends, and foster a warm relation between living and passed families. The Japanese believe that the spirits of departed family members revive and return to earth on Obon Day (July 15). The most important meaning of the service is to offer our best wishes to the departed, pray for their eternal peace, and build universal harmony between the living and departed.

The service originated at the time of Buddha in India. From the legend of Moggalana, food and water are offered to the deceased as ways of saving hungry spirits (gaki). The religious acts of offering vegetables and sprinkling water on wooden tablets (kyogi) with the written names of the decease are called “Segaki”.

Hiroshima/Nagasaki

Memorial

(August)

The memorial service is held for the victims of the atomic bombs with prayers for world peace. The service is co-sponsored by the American Society of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atomic Survivors (ASA). The temple has been preserving the Hiroshima Peace Flame brought to Los Angeles since 1984.

Okuribi

(August)

“Okurbi” mean “send-off fire”. The wooden tablets (kyogi) from Obon are set in a fire signifying the moment when the spirits of departed relatives and friends return back to the other world after their yearly visit. Prayers and thoughts to the departed are sent as members watch the fire burn.

Mizuko Jizo Bon

(August)

Jizo statues are washed and decorated with red bibs and hats. Offerings are made to thank them for protecting our children. Special tribute is made to Mizuko Jizo, guardian of unborn, aborted, miscarried, and stillborn babies. A memorial service is held for infants who died either before birth or within the first few years of life.

Shichi-Go-San

(November)

Shichi-Go-San is a traditional rite of passage for girls of three (san) and seven (shichi) years and boys of three (san) and five (go) years old. The tradition is said to have originated in the Heian Period amongst the court nobles and over time passed to the samurai class. By the Edo (1603-1868) period, the rite was adopted amongst the commoner and included the ritual of visiting a shrine or temple to drive out bad spirits and wish for a long healthy life.

At the service, prayers are offered and the fire ritual is conducted. Children are blessed, receive omamori and presented Chitose-ame (“thousand –year” candy). This has also become a “day for pictures”. Children come dressed in kimonos or their Sunday attire.

Bodhi Day

(December)

Service is held to commemorate the day when Siddhartha Gotama experienced enlightenment, “bodhi” and became Buddha, “Awakened One”, and to remember his teaching which he imparted to us as the “Four Noble Truths”:

§ All beings are subject to suffering. No one escapes … suffering is universal.

§ The cause of suffering is ignorance. And ignorance of oneself is the greatest ignorance.

§ Ignorance, the cause of suffering, can be overcome

§ The way to overcome ignorance is the “Eightfold Path”.

Year-End

(December)

For the last service of the year, “Toshi-no se”, the temple bell is rung 108 times. In Buddhist belief, human beings are plagued by 108 earthly desires or passions (bonno). With each ring, a desire is dispelled. Service is held to express gratitude to Lord Buddha and Kobo-Daishi for their protection.

Goma

Kobo-Daishi introduced the “Goma Fire Rite” from China. The ceremony originated in India about five thousand years ago. The fire of the rite, called the “Fire of Great Wisdom” (Dai-chika), leads us to emancipation, removing the darkness of ignorance and bringing the light of enlightenment. By attending the ritual, members destroy their bad Karmas. Like the offering of grains into the fire to fulfill one’s wishes during the ancient Hindu time, prayer sticks (gomagi) are burned.

Morning/Family

(Sunday)

The service provides members the opportunity to renew their pledges and practice the Three Mysteries (San-mitsu). Sermon in English and/or Japanese concludes the service.

*Starting in October, a Family Service will be conducted on the last Sunday of the month. A meditation class will precede the service and a Buddhist study class will be held after.

Memorial

(private)

The Buddhists not only pray for the eternal peace of the passed family members or relatives but understand that through memorial services the departed is ever-living and existing with us.

After the funeral, the most important are the 49th day, 100th day, 1st year, and 2nd year services. It is believed that the decease becomes Buddha and enters para-Nirvana on the 49th day.

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