In our Founders’ Day service, we remember the past members of Windward Buddhist Temple (Kailua Hongwanji Mission) and their efforts that helped make WBT what it is today. Today was also our monthly Remembrance Day service, where we remembered family and friends who passed away during the month of February in any year.
Rev. Sol Kalu
Rev. Sol Kalu, Associate Minister at Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin, was our guest speaker for today’s Nirvana Day Service. Nirvana Day commemorates the death of the Buddha and his achievement of Parinirvana, or complete Nirvana.
Watch Rev. Kalu’s educational and informative Dharma Talk about the Buddha’s final days prior to achieving Nirvana below or on our YouTube channel.
We also held our first pet memorial service at Windward Buddhist Temple. At the beginning of the service, Rev. Sumikawa and Rev. Kalu chanted the Sanbujo. Families were called up individually to offer incense as the names of their departed pets were called.
Today’s Dana Day service focused on the principle of dana, or “selfless giving.” Jean Fukumoto, the Windward coordinator for Project Dana, shared an update of the organization. Project Dana was founded in 1989 by the late Shimeji Kanazawa out of Moiliili Hongwanji. Today, it is a multi-faith coalition of 32 churches and temples across Hawaii with over 800 volunteers providing thousands of hours of services and support to the elderly. For more information, or to learn how to participate in Project Dana, please visit their website at www.projectdana.org.
We hold Dharma School on the second Sunday of the month during the school year. Today’s session continued the discussion of interdependence by investigating the interconnectedness found in nature in our local ecosystem.
Today’s Dharma Talk was presented by Dr. Mike Jaffe. Mike, who also presented at the first Windward Interfaith Service last Tuesday, shared his knowledge of Jewish ethnicity, nationhood, and religion, which are all strongly interrelated, and interwove it with parallels in Buddhism, specifically Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.
After today’s service, we celebrated our February birthdays. Our intergenerational activity for February had a Valentine’s Day theme and the crafts were enjoyed (and modeled) by all.
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