Good morning everyone.

Last Saturday, I drove down to San Fernando with Michi and my brother in-law Kyogo. Rev. Patricia Usuki requested me to be the Japanese Ohigan speaker. Kyogo wanted to visit Hollywood and the Los Angeles area. So, we brought him with us and we dropped him off in North Hollywood at a youth hostel. He stayed in Southern California for 5 days.

Michi and I went to the San Fernando Buddhist Temple. The temple has a formal name. It is the San Fernando Valley Hongwanji Buddhist Temple. It is a very long name. Rev. Patricia Usuki is the resident minister there. She studied Buddhism in Kyoto, Japan and became a minister in 2004.

We left from Sacramento at 6 AM and planed to arrive in San Fernando around noon. I had agreed to give a Buddhist lecture at 2 P.M. on that day. After we left Sacramento, we learned the freeway I – 5, was closed because of snow around Tejon peak, the freeway alert sign said the Grapevine was closed.

So, we started to look for another way to get to San Fernando. The detour might take 3 hours more. I thought that “I would not be able to give the lecture.” We were worried that we might not reach San Fernando.

But fortunately, when we passed Bakersfield, the traffic alert had disappeared. I said “there is no alert for snow. So, we may go through the Tejon peak.”

The top of the mountains were covered by snow, but the freeway road was clear. We passed “Magic Mountain” and finally arrived in San Fernando at noon.

From 2 P.M. I gave a lecture. The theme was “Happiness is to be born as an Evil person”. Maybe it was an unusual theme. But I’m sure that San Fernando members enjoyed my lecture.

The next day, we had the Spring Ohigan service at the San Fernando temple. The English guest speaker was Rev. Carol Himaka from the Enmanji Buddhist Temple in Sebastopol, California.

During the Ohigan service, when we sang the Gatha Ondokusan, the organist came up to the organ and she started to play the introduction of Ondokusan. But, her playing was unusual. Because, she was not playing the right notes. So… it was like this… Rev. Himaka and I looked at each other and she said to me “is the organist ok?” I replied “I don’t know.”

Finally, Rev. Usuki announced “choir members, please come up to the microphone.” And some ladies and children gathered by the organ and started to sing Ondokusan.

After the Ohigan service, we had a luncheon in their social room. Then, Rev. Usuki shared a story about the organist.

The organist, Mrs. Mary was a Dharma school teacher for over 30 years and she also played the organ for their services. But… unfortunately, she suffered a stroke a few years ago. Because of this, she could not play the organ very well anymore. She became forgetful and she could only remember 2 gathas. They are Hotokesama and Namo Amida Butsu.

Our Betsuin has several organists who help by playing for our services. So, we can sing every week. We feel it is “Atarimae”. It is natural to sing gathas every Sunday. But, the San Fernando Temple has only one organist, Mrs. Mary.

The board members of San Fernando considered about her condition. She very much wanted to continue playing the organ. But her fingers could no longer play so well. Some people started to complain about her playing.

Mrs. Mary tried hard to continue playing the organ, because she enjoyed playing from the bottom of her heart “Kokoro kara”. “Kokoro Kara” means from the bottom of our heart. She really wanted to help and to play…

One day, they had a meeting to make funeral arrangements for one of their members. When the family asked about an organist, Rev. Usuki recommended Mrs. Mary. One temple member showed hesitancy. And the family was concerned…

Then Rev. Usuki told them “Mrs. Mary always plays the organ from the bottom of her heart. She always plays “kokoro kara”… although her playing may not be perfect”

The oldest son of the family said immediately “we want to ask her to play for our family. Because she plays the organ from the bottom of her heart”

Later, San Fernando members started to help her playing… some members led the singing of the gathas as a chorus group. Sometimes other members would bring their musical instruments to Sunday service and they would play together with Mrs. Mary’s organ.

Mrs. Mary’s dedication deeply moved the San Fernando members.

This story is much better than my Ohigan talk in San Fernando. So, today I wanted to share it with all of you.

It is easy to say we should replace someone. But I think the San Fernando temple members learned to be more compassionate and realized that instead of criticizing, they should help Mrs. Mary…

Do you feel gratitude for our organists? I certainly appreciate them! That is why I enjoy singing gathas with the organ music at every Sunday service.

We are fortunate to have so many wonderful organists.

Gassho