Good morning everyone.

Yesterday, I drove to Monterey with Michiko. In January we went to the Monterey Aquarium for a date. But this time, I had to speak at both the Monterey Buddhist temple and the Salinas Buddhist temple. There are many 3^rd and 4^th generation Japanese American members at the Monterey Buddhist temple. So, we had a service in English in Monterey. But there are still many Japanese speakers at the Salinas Buddhist temple. So, we had a service in Japanese in Salinas. At 7:30 pm, we also had a memorial service at the Salinas Buddhist temple. So, last night I left Salinas at 10 pm. At midnight, we arrived back home. It took 3 hours. So, today, I feel a little sleepy.

About 2 weeks ago, at the end of October, I enjoyed my third American Halloween night. As I announced, I was making Sponge Bob. But it was only a Sponge Bob cap. That Halloween night, Michiko and I visited Rev. Bob’s home. Sensei Patti cooked dinner for us. She cooked mashed potatoes just for me... Some of you know I love potatoes more than rice. When I first came to the United States, I cooked rice once a week but I cooked potatoes every other day.

Anyway, when I was eating the mashed potatoes, a small piece of the potato flew into my left eye. When I felt something fly into my eye, it was too late to blink and avoid it. My left eye felt itchy and I rubbed it. My eye watered and I was squinting.

Then, Rev. Bob told me “you had better wash out your eye” and he gave me two eye washes. Michiko and I went to the Bath room to wash out my eye.

When we were going to the bathroom, some people came to Rev. Bob’s home. I asked Rev. Bob “who is here for trick or treat?” Rev. Bob said “some of our Dharma school students are here. Kazuo Koyama is wearing a great Sponge Bob costume. ” And I said “Really? I wanted to see!” But Michiko said “you should wash your eye first.”

Finally, my left eye was cleared. And we returned to the dining room. Sensei Patti moaned “Wuuu…Rev. Kaz… your left eye has turned red”. I said “Oh, really?” and I checked my eye in the mirror…

My left eye was bloodshot. It was like a Dracula’s eye… So, when the kid came to Rev. Bob’s home, I did not want to show them my real bloodshot eye. It was not a trick eye.

For a while, I continued to eat dinner without left eye sight. Because if I opened my left eye, Sensei Patti saw my red eye and moaned.

About 10 minutes later my eye cleared and the red color disappeared. So, I restarted to give candies to our visitors. I was very surprised that one group came by bus. That one group had 23 kids. Last year we had about 120 visitors. But this year over 150 visitors came to Rev. Bob’s home for a trick or treat.

Everyone had a different costume. One young person came wearingnno costume and just regular clothes and a school jacket. Rev. Bob asked “What is your costume?” The young person answered “I am disguised as a school student.” Rev. Bob and I had a bitter smile…

One of our Dharma school students, Kyle Adachi was dressed like a Viking. He wore Armor, had a shield, helmet and had a sword. Every year he wears something very special for Halloween.

Maybe some people feel “it is silly to give candy to kids” or some people do not care about Halloween. Halloween is not a part of our Buddhist culture. But it is certainly a part of American cultures.

Next month, our church sports committee has a Mochitsuki fundraiser. So, if you are interested to make mochi, please come and help. Mochitsuki is a part of Japanese culture. But in Japan today most Japanese people do not make mochi. They just buy mochi at the grossary store. And I think most Japanese people do not even know how to make mochi…

If people are not interested in their culture, it is easy to lose their culture and their tradition. Also if people are not interested in Buddhism, it is easy for them to lose the meaningful Buddhist teachings. It may be difficult to keep something going. But it is very easy to lose something…or just let go. Let us try hard to keep our meaningful traditions alive.

Gassho