Good morning everyone!

Thank you very much for attending today’s Sunday Dharma school service. Rev. Bob and Sensei Patti are attending the national BWA Fujinkai conference in Fresno this weekend, so they cannot be here today.

Do you know the weekly magazine-paper called “our neighbor hood” There are many discount coupons in that paper. I read it every week. Sometimes a pet shop advertises in that paper. Last week I found a discount coupon for that shop. The coupon said “buy one fish get one free fish.” So, Michiko and I went to see if they had fish at that pet shop.

In June, I bought a 60 gallon aquarium tank and an outside filter. The 60 gallon tank is 4 times bigger than my car gas tank and over 55 inches wide.

When I was in Japan, I always had an aquarium. But, after I came to this country, I did not have an opportunity to have one. And also I worried about my immigration Visa expirating…Now I have time to have an aquarium and feel confident I will be able to get a Green card. So, now I have an aquarium and I must take care of our fish.

When we went to the pet shop, Michiko screamed. I was surprised and asked her. “What happened?” She said “the saleswoman is wearing a snake!” The saleswoman was cleaning the cage of a snake. That is why she wore the snake around her neck. I asked to the saleswoman “are you ok?” Then she said “the snake, she is very gentle. Do you want to hold it?” So, I said “oh, no… thank you…”

Michiko and I escaped from that saleswoman and went to the fish corner of the shop. Then I asked Michiko “what kinds of fish do you like?” She said “I don’t like aggressive fish. Because I do not want to see the fish hurt other fish” So, I suggested that she buy a Cory cat. It is like a small cat fish. We bought it, and got another one free.

I always ask her everything first. Because I don’t want to get into trouble with her. Now, my tank has many live plants, tetras, gouramies and guppies.

Guppies have long tail fins and they are very colorful. Most of you may know that guppies bear their young live, in other words, they do not lay eggs. So they are easy to breed. I bought only 3 pairs of guppies. But now I have over 25 guppies and still have some breeding guppies too…

Usually, when we find baby fish in the tank, we move them to a breeding cage to save their lives. Because other big fish will eat them. Sometimes big fish open their mouth to only take a breath, but the baby fish are sucked into their big mouths easily. Even if we do not have aggressive fish, small fish may lose their lives.

Sometimes we could not catch the small fish to move into the breeding cage. And next day, those small fish could not be found anymore…

When I see this happen and the baby fish lose their lives, I think about the Golden Chain. It is easy to say and memorize the Golden Chain. But it is very difficult to put into our Daily life. We know our life is so precious. But it is difficult to feel or realize how precious it is.

Could you try to hold your breath until I say OK. If you have high blood pressure or are not well, please do not force yourselves. OK?

OK, please stop breathing and hold your breath from now…………………..

OK. Please breath normally again. Did you feel it was hard?

Did you have any pain in your chest?

We are living now. So, we need to breath. We do not usually realize that Oxygen is very precious and necessary for life. We do not say “thank you air for providing me with oxygen” We just breathe.

Just as we forget a feel gratitude for air, water, food, friends and families. We also forget to appreciate how precious our lives are…

Our life is connected to all other things. In Buddhism, it is called oneness. When we realize the oneness of all things, we begin to appreciate that our life and all life is so very precious. Living a life of oneness is also to live a life of Nembutsu.

Gassho