At the Sportsman Lodge in Studio City, the annual Southern District Conference, "Now in the Present Moment," took place yesterday.
About 400 participate, which also combines District meetings for the Buddhist Women's Assocations and the Dharma School Teachers League.
The keynote speaker in English was Rev. Kuyo Kubose of the Buddhist Temple of Chicago. His father too was the minister at the same temple and also was at the Higashi Hongwanji in Los Angeles.
Rev. Kubose believes in the ease of gassho and that it could be done anywhere and anytime. Why not do in the bathroom each morning to start off your day right? Or everytime you shake someone's hand. Some people get self-conscisous about doing nembutsu in public, so why not wring your hands as a form of nembutsu. You may be thinking, "namo amida butsu," but you may be saying out loud, "awright, its time to eat."
Also, if you see football players make a cross with the hands after scoring a touchdown? Why not do the shape of the dharma wheel instead? (a circle with two xs inside.)
In the afternoon, there was a panel of interesting speaker talking about their moments when their lives changed.
The first woman is an 8-year survivor from a brain tumor that was removed successfully. Although she must return for tests every three months, she has a positive attitude about the whole thing.
The second woman lost her husband when he as 31 and a year after giving birth to twin boys, who are now full-grown. She did not expect to raise the boys herself, but she had to overcome that and now participates in many temple activity.
The third speaker survived the World Trade Center September 11, 2001. He was on the 55th floor, and he may not have been the good student in Sunday School classes, he did his best to get out of the building in time and the ordeal days later to return to his family in Los Angeles.
In each, the person did not plan for this critical point to take place. However, they have learned to live the moment each day of their lives. You don't need a critical point to take place to start living in the now.
In recapping the conference, even when you say you are living in the NOW, that moment had already past. You use everything you have learned to live in the NOW, but you don't have to dwell on the past or dwell on the future.
Today, I was listening to a report on an Olympic athlete who will probably be going on to the Beijing Olympics this year. She had stopped training as a weightlifter to raise a family. One of her children is autistic, and she almost could not cope with it. She is of the Mormon tradition and went to her Bishop to say that she had chosen to take of her son. The Bishop, instead, told her that she is the right person to do it, otherwise, she would not have had this child.
She takes the approach in returning to competitive weightlifting. As she competes, it is that moment that counts. It is now what is important.
Every Sunday, we see kids leave the temple to go to their basketball and baseball games. If they remember that it is NOW that is important, I think they have learned a valuable Buddhist lesson.
Namu Amida Buddha
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