Before my assignment to Arizona Buddhist Temple, I had two opportunities to visit Arizona. The first visit was for an interview at your temple and the second one was for finding schools for my daughters. We were very much concerned about education for our daughters but we are glad that they are now enjoying new school. During our visitation, Chuck took us to the Japanese Friendship Garden. We just saw the garden from his car and never visited in the garden because of our limited time at that time. But, I recently had an opportunity to visit the garden and participated in the opening ceremony in conjunction with a dedication ceremony of new bench at the garden in memory of the Late Mr. Fred Carpenter who was an active member of Arizona Buddhist Temple. When I visited Fred’s home to conduct the 49^th Day Memorial Service, his friend showed me his garden and bonsai. It was beautiful one. I heard that Fred always volunteered his time and energy to temple garden and also Japanese Friendship Garden. I wish many people visit Japanese Friendship Garden to use his bench with great care and find peace and spirit of Dana in the garden.  

I missed an opportunity to go to moon viewing at the Japanese Friendship Garden with my family. But I viewed full moon from our residence. I cannot describe the harmony of her beauty and greatness. When I was on Kauai, the back of the temple was ocean. My wife and I sometime went to the beach to view moon. The moon was reflecting on the ocean. The shining light from the moon and the waves in the ocean were beautifully contrasted.

Whenever I feel nature, I feel its deep secrets which are beyond all words. However, the nature makes me to realize many things every time.

            “My eyes being hindered by blind passions,

            I cannot perceive the light that grasps me;

            Yet the great compassion, without tiring,

            Illuminates me always.”     (CWS, P.385)

When I look at the moon, this hymn comes to my mind. Shinran Shonin always deeply reflected upon himself and confessed his evil nature. He was always humble and practiced humility throughout his Nembutsu life. Whenever I reflect upon his Nembutsu life, it makes me aware of my imperfectness; how ignorant I am and how much I carry the blind passions!

Even though I think that my mind is clear like blue sky, my mind is always covered by the clouds of various blind passions. When my mind of sky is cleared up, I will be able to see the Truth and reach the state of the Perfect Peace.

The moon viewing made me to reflect on the fact that the moon never fails to shine on all things. In other words, I was reminded of the Buddha’s Great Compassion always shining on me, and Infinite Light reveals my darkness that is within deep in me whenever and wherever I am.

By the way, do you know about the story of a rabbit living in the moon? When I was a child, my grandparents always told the story about a rabbit on full moon. You can find the story in the Jataka Tale. A monkey, a mountain dog, and an otter lived together with rabbit. They made a resolution to practice Dana on the day of full moon. When an old monk begged for food, a monkey brought fruits from trees, a mountain dog brought meats, and an otter brought fishes. The rabbit who only eats grasses decided to offer his body by throwing himself into a fire a monk made. However, the rabbit was not burned. The old monk transformed himself into a wondering monk. Touched by rabbit’s gesture of selfless giving, he drew the rabbit on the moon for all to see. The moon viewing also reminded me of the true meaning of Dana.