Good morning everyone.

Thank you for coming to this Sunday Dharma service. Today, Rev. Bob is in Los Angeles Betsuin as a guest speaker.

 Next month, I will put a flyer about my wedding with Michiko in our Sangha Betsuin news letter. Mrs. Reiko Kurahara advised me to put a flyer in the Sangha. So everyone will know.

I asked Mrs. Reiko 2 weeks ago, when I announced our wedding plans. “How shall I prepare the food for everyone that comes? I have invited the whole temple”

She said “Sensei, you should do a head count.”

I asked “a head count?”

She answered “Yes. We cannot know how many people are coming, because you invited everyone. Maybe only 10 people will come… maybe hundreds of people will come.”

I said “Oh, I did not think about that. I should do a head count.” So, we decided to put a flyer in the Sangha. I will make a nice flyer so, when you receive your June Sangha news letter, please look for it.

Did you know I drive 1989 Toyota Cressida?

It is 16 years old but the car…still looks pretty good. When my Cressida was new, I was a 6th grade student. That was long time ago. Many of our Dharma school students were not born yet. When I first came to America, I needed to learn to drive and to have a car. In 2003, I bought the Cressida from Mr. Rodney Kunisaki. I wanted to keep the car least 4 or 5 years.

Unfortunately, not long ago, I had a big accident with my Cressida inside of the Betsuin parking lot. When I tried to get out from a reserved parking lot after a funeral service, a member came out from the Betsuin entrance. She recognized me and said “hello, Rev. Kaz”. And she waved her hand to me. I was backing up my car at the time. But I waved my hand to her.

“Doon!”

I felt shock and my head moved back and forth.

My car was stopped although I did not put on the brake. So, my car hit a tree and stopped! I did not see a tree when I checked the rear-view mirror... There were about 40 people around the Betsuin entrance. Everyone was surprised and some of them laughed. Our Dharma school superintendent, Mr. Richard Kai pointed at my car trunk and laughed. Some church members and I treated the tree. Because some bark felt off the tree when my car hit it.

Finally, I checked my car trunk. There was a pretty big dent on the left side of the car trunk. But my car was running ok.

 Sometimes, I have to drive to other towns to attend meetings and services. I have gone to San Jose, San Francisco, Lodi and many other temples. Some temples are far from Sacramento.

On January 2^nd, I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Do you remember my Sunday story about my trip to Monterey? When I drove on Highway-one, black smoke came out from the engine. I was very surprised and I put on the brakes to slow down. Fortunately, the engine was not on fire. It just burned oil.

Since January to last month, my car’s gas mileage was also going down. The Cressida’s official gas mileage is about 17-20 mile per gallon. But sometimes I got only 10 miles per gallon.

So, I asked Mr. Frank Hirota to check my car. He found the reason for the bad gas mileage. There are 6 cylinders in my engine. But two of them were not working, because engine oil leaked from those 2 cylinders into the Engine cover and spark plugs. So, only 4 cylinders were working.

That is why, the gas mileage was going down. He replaced the two spark plugs for the non-working cylinders.

Now, my Cressida has good acceleration and runs 17-20 miles per gallon. Spark plugs cost about $3. By $3, I could save a lot of gas payments. I know some people take care of their cars more than their health. And some of us do not take care of our cars as well as our health. I must learn to take care of my car and my health.

Last month, I wanted to buy another car. Because my Michiko will come here on June 2^nd and I thought she may need a car. And it worried me to drive a long distance in my Cressida. Also Gas is going up.

I talked about getting another car with Michiko. Finally, on May 4th, I bought a new car. It is a Toyota Corolla. The new car has good gas mileage. It is about 30-40 mile per gallon. Now I’m getting used to driving it. Someday, I hope to visit all of the states by car. It is my dream.

We can replace car parts or buy a new car. But we cannot replace our bodies and we cannot buy our good health even if we buy the best medicine... Sometimes a small health problem can become a serious problem, if we do not take care of it. I realized this with my car problems. Do you take care of your body? Do you worry about your health?

In the time of Shakyamuni Buddha, he tried fasting, this means he practiced not any taking food,

Finally, he quit the fasting as his practice because if he died from hunger, he would be wasting his life. He began to eat food again and realized that if we do not take care of our bodies, it is difficult to seek the truth and seek the Dharma. Some people feel everyday is boring. So, they just waste their time. But, Everyday life is most important. Everyday life is very meaningful. We must try to live everyday with gratitude. Because the time that passes will never come back to us.

Yesterday will never come back to us. Today is today only. We know this truth…

We know this truth… but, sometimes we seem to forget how valuable each day is…

To try to live every day as a full life, we need good health and a fresh mind. So, when we feel not good, as soon as possible we should treat our bodies and try to get well again.

It is difficult to seek the Dharma and live each day fully if all of our cylinders are not working well…

Because… living everyday as a full life…is the Buddhist way.

Gassho