PRESIDENT'S NOTES
Bishop Yamaoka of the BCA called one day late last
year with an "offer" that might be impossible to refuse. He
indicated that there is a young minister who is currently looking for a
quiet, growing Temple where he can have the time to study the Dharma and
develop his ministry. He wouldn't tell me the name since this is still
very preliminary and only in the feeling stage. The Bishop impressed on
me that this opportunity is extremely rare and we won't have a similar
opportunity again. He asked whether we would be able to afford this
chance at this time, since we would need to be able to offer some
financial compensation to the minister.
The Board of Directors unanimously approved extending
an offer which complies with the BCA standardized salary package. This
decision represents a financial risk, since the temple income has fallen
since Rev. Takemoto left in August 1994. There are numerous ways to
raise the necessary funds, but the concern is a longer term one of
having a sustained income which will meet the mortgage and minister
salary needs. A Temple without a minister doesn't make any sense, so
this is the most sensible course. This isn't a done deal, however, for
we need to exchange offers, set up interviews, etc. But this is very
exciting and fulfills most of the ministerial committee's "wish
list" for a new minister.
As press time approaches, the ministerial committee met with the
prospective minister over dinner, and a letter to the membership was
prepared and sent out. Responses have been extremely favorable with
concern on how we're going to pay for it foremost on everyone's list.
The Board will be holding a special meeting to discuss any action on
2/23. Bishop Yamaoka called for a status on 2/21. As this drama unfolds,
we'll have more to report back.
Sumi no hi ya
yowai no heru mo
ano tori
This charcoal fire:
Our years decline
In just this same way.
Issa
....Issa sits.... over the glowing embers of charcoal in the brazier.
Imperceptibly but irrevocably the red hue is paling, heat is dying low,
the ashes increasing. Issa draws his thin garments closer round him and
huddles over the fire that is sinking. Life too declines unnoticed but
inevitably. That is its nature, as it is also the nature of fire....
(Haiku, Volume 4, R.H. Blyth)
....Therefore, since the transiency of human beings is of this world
where both the old and the young alike are impermanent, we should all
make haste to place securely within our hearts the prime importantce of
the life to come in a permanent world and recite the Nembutsu with deep
and total reliance upon Amida Buddha.
(Gobunsho, Rennyo Shonin)
From the West Los Angeles Buddhist Church Bulletin, January 1996
