PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

The Temple

            During special services when I give words of appreciation to the Sangha, I often make the mistake of saying, “On behalf of the Temple, I would like to thank you.”  I sometimes personify the Temple as if it is its own entity. But truly you, the Sangha, are the Temple. Whether you are a new member of the Temple or have been a member for years, you are the Temple. But the Temple isn’t one person, it isn’t the Board of Directors, and it isn’t the Dharma School. The Temple is us…all of us. We all have a hand in the direction the Temple will go. This realization alone is very important for our future. It is important that we all take ownership in our temple and help guide it because when we all work together, we as a temple grow stronger.

            I remember when I was a young boy watching “That’s Incredible,” the ABC show that showcased unbelievable things. I recall watching an episode in which a man lies across a bed of hundreds of nails all pointing up toward his back. These nails by themselves would pierce wood easily and skin even easier. But incredibly the man lies down across the nails with no injury to himself.

            I’m sure many of you have seen this feat. This feat though has a scientific reason why it works. You see, the man’s weight is distributed over the hundreds of nails making the pressure at each nail harmless.

            This is how I see us the Temple.  We the temple members are the nails and the man on the nails is “the future.” As long as we all work together, our temple’s future will be unharmed. But if we don’t work in unity, our future can be endangered. Whether we are young or old, strong or weak, busy or idle, rich or poor, it doesn’t matter as long as we all work together, moving in the same direction. When we work together as a Temple, I know will have an incredible future.

In Gassho,

Ken Muraoka