The first night of the conference was an informal “Meet-and-Greet” dinner at a Japanese restaurant within walking distance of the Lexington Temple. Although we had reservations, the restaurant personnel were so totally unprepared that many of us didn’t get served for over an hour and a half! In normal circumstances, this might have caused a great deal of vexation and caused emotions to flare, but we had such a good time, nobody noticed the time.

 Suzanne Warner, Bishop Shoshi Kanai, JoAnn and Walt Bush.

Anyone with more photos, please send them to me and I’ll post them!

On the second day, we got our first look at the new Temple Butsudan handcrafted by Walt Bush of Indiana. It is made of cherry and is absolutely beautiful. The altar arrangement is very traditional with the Omandala in the background, a statue of the eternal Buddha in front of that, and a small statue of Nichiren Shonin. Candles, incense, flowers, fruit, and water are symbolic offerings representing our connection to the Buddha.

After the Opening Service, Reverend Shinkyo Will Warner Welcomed everyone to the Dhama Conference and introduced our most honored guests, The Venerable Bishop Shoshi Kanai, Reverend Akakoshi, Reverend Ryuoh Michael Faulconer, and Shami Myoki Lynda-Caine Barrett.  

Shami Myoki gave a very informative Dharma Talk entitled “Women in Buddhism”. She spoke of how revolutionary Shakyamuni’s teachings were 2500 years ago when he revealed in the “Lotus Sutra” that even women could become enlightened in this lifetime. Shami Myoki also shared some very personal and insightful experiences with the group.

Reverend Faulconer led the discussion on remote sanghas which was quite spirited and opened many new avenues for consideration. Rev. Faulconer’s advice for everyone, but especially for folks in remote sanghas, is to find a good teacher you can communcate with as ofen as necessary to keep you and your sangha invigorated.

After a wonderful lunch, Bishop Kanai conducted a workshop for making wrist juzu. He gave a most incredible explanation of juzu in general and of the wrist juzu which were originally designed for priests who often perform ritual services in which a full juzu might interfere. The wrist juzu represent full juzu and are actually designed to be half the standard juzu (although that often is not the case because the number of beads varies depending on the size of one’s wrist and the size of the beads). We had fun making the juzu and Bishop Kanai offered to bless them (and our juzu) the next day as part of the installation ceremony.

A short break and we were back to work with a Dharma Talk on the Lotus Sutra in Our Daily Lives presented by Bishop Kanai. This was such an informative talk that Bishop Kanai’s handout is included along with some notes taken by JoAnn and Walt Bush.

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