Losing and Winning (September 3)

As summer draws to a close, Rev. Adams will offer Dharma reflections on his recent experience attending a Bay Area Major League Baseball game.

From Shinran Shonin’s True Teaching, Practice and Realization, Chapter on The True Buddha and Land:

May the compassionate light protect me
And keep me from losing the mind aspiring for enlightenment.
I praise the voice of the Buddha’s wisdom and virtue.
May all beings of the ten quarters having ties with the teaching be brought to hear it,
And may those who aspire for birth in the land of happiness
All, everywhere, have their hindrances dispersed as they desire.

Schedule
8:30 a.m. Shoshinge Sofu Chanting (click here for chanting text)
9:00 a.m. Radio Taiso Exercise
9:30 a.m. Dharma Service
10:30 a.m. Shotsuki Hoyo Monthly Memorial Service
10:30 a.m. Dharma Discussion

To join us for this hybrid service via Zoom, CLICK HERE to sign up for “Live Broadcast of Services”.

Thankfully This Life Continues

When I was in my twenties, I found satisfaction in getting things done quickly, so I could move onto my next task.  Now that I am in my forties, I find that I appreciate more the activities that I am able to continue over time.  For example, I took up cycling as a hobby in my late twenties while I was living in Miyazaki, on the island of Kyushu in southern Japan.  Most weekday mornings, I would wake up early so I could spend an hour or so cycling along the coast before work.  On those days my goal was to quickly cycle out to my destination, quickly return home, quickly eat breakfast, quickly shower, and quickly commute to get to work on time.  I was trying to get as much done as possible in a short time, so my attention was naturally focused on my efforts to complete each task as quickly as possible.  In that busy frame of mind, my thoughts turned to what I could accomplish through my own efforts.

When I first I became a parent with small children at home, I found fewer opportunities to go out cycling for fun.  However, these past few years as my children get bigger, we are now able to go for bike rides as a family.  Also, now that I am supervising the Buddhist Church of San Francisco, I often use a combination of bicycle and commuter trains to make my way back and forth to San Francisco for services.  On days when I have some time after service, I’ve taken to biking home from San Francisco to San Mateo.  The first time I managed to bike home from San Francisco, I was grateful that I was able to continue pedaling until I finally arrived at our house.  I find that at this point in my life, I enjoy being able to continue riding at a comfortable, steady pace, more than racing to arrive at my destination.

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True Victory

In a recent address to the Sangha, our temple President began his remarks with the words, “I would like to offer my condolences to Reverend Adams. . .”  Wondering what loss I should be grieving, I momentarily searched my memories of the preceding weeks.  Then he finished his sentence with the words, “. . . for the inhospitable treatment your Minnesota Vikings received from the San Francisco 49ers yesterday afternoon.”  I grew up in Minnesota and the previous day those two professional football teams had faced off for the Division Title.  Having suffered defeat at the hands of the 49ers, the Minnesota Vikings lost their chance to play in the Super Bowl on February 2.  For many families, Super Bowl Sunday is a major social event that rivals the traditional winter holidays as an occasion for gathering friends and loved ones for elaborate feasting and celebration—or drowning your sorrows in bean dip and hot wings if your team happens to be losing.

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Olympic Victory

Growing up in Minnesota, my favorite sport was alpine skiing. As a teenager, I competed in slalom racing on my high school ski team and the great sports hero of my youth was Olympic slalom champion Alberto Tomba. Our team practiced at a local ski hill that somehow managed to rise out of the flat surrounding farmland, gradually increasing in elevation over the years thanks to innumerable dump truck loads of dirt. I never came close to winning a race, but I enjoyed practices because the course of gates was set differently each time, transforming the otherwise unremarkable little hill into a challenging and exciting place to ski.

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