A Byrd's Eye View

Always Here, Teaching the People

I have just returned from the memorial service for SGI-USA Study Department Leader Shin Yatomi. Like all Buddhist memorial services, it was extremely encouraging and uplifting. Unlike most other Buddhist memorial services, there were upwards of 1,100 people in attendance.

The ceremony was held at the World Peace Ikeda Auditorium in Santa Monica, California - the 900 -seat auditorium was full to capacity, with latecomers clustered in the aisles. Fire regulations finally caused over 200 people to get escorted across the street to the SGI Plaza where they watched the speeches via video feed.

It reminded me at times of one of those "family reunion funerals" - you know the kind, where you find yourself hugging people you haven't seen in 20 years. According to Danny Nagashima, people had come to this memorial from all over -- Florida, Hawaii, New York, San Francisco and Japan. Messages came in from around the world - one was read from the general director of the SGI in Australia. SGI President Daisaku Ikeda and his wife sent a very warm and personal message from Japan. Today was the closest thing to a state funeral I think the SGI-USA has ever seen. Maybe someone can correct me on that, but I have certainly never seen anything like it in my 23 years of practice.

For those of you readers who are unfamiliar with SGI memorial services, there is a ceremonial portion where each participant offers three pinches of incense in memory of the deceased. People line up in the aisles, all chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, and wait for their turn to offer incense. This portion of the memorial took 40 minutes or so today, and that was with 10 incense burner stations available for making offerings. Yup, there were a lot of people.

After the incense ceremony, there was a charming photo montage shown on a large screen -- eight year old Shin at the beach, smiling ear-to-ear and skinny in his trunks -- that sort of thing, which I always love. There was a wonderful singer, singing about the sunrise, and a flute solo from Nestor Torres that had the whole auditorium completely hushed in rapt attention. It truly was sublime.

I learned a lot of things about Shin Yatomi I had not known before today. For example, I had not known that he was an instructor in the martial art of kendo. One of his young students made a speech about his memories of learning kendo from Shin, and about how he (the student) regretted that he would now never be able to beat Shin in a martial arts battle.

I also learned that Shin had just been married this past April. The memorial program had a lovely photograph of Shin and his bride, Carolyn, on their wedding day just slightly over one month ago. Shin was ill with inoperable lung cancer, and facing a difficult battle, but he looked so happy and proud in his wedding photo with his new wife. When she spoke to the group, she conveyed to us Shin's his spirit of saying "thank you" to everyone, thanking us all on his behalf for our prayers, our support and our friendship. No, Shin, I wanted to say...thank you.

There wasn't a dry eye in the house all throughout the service, as you can imagine. The Byakuren (young women who serve as hostesses and support personnel at SGI activities) roamed the aisles handing out tissues to teary souls who had neglected to pack their own. When the tissues ran out, the Byakuren offered toilet paper. When the toilet paper ran out, they offered paper towels. But the overall spirit of the event wasn't truly sad - it was more like people were crying because they had to let their appreciation for Shin come out somehow, and the tears were what started flowing.

It was very clear from today's event that Shin had touched a lot of lives. For me, I can say that I truly enjoyed the encounters I had with him, both in Los Angeles and at the Florida Nature and Culture Center. He had a remarkable mind, writing in easy, accessible English (not his native language) about subtle and profound topics which would cause university professors to stammer. He wrote with an ease and articulateness which would be startling in a native English speaker, and which was all the more startling in someone from another country. Shin seems to have been a natural communicator, and he loved to communicate about Buddhism. He truly was a joy to converse with, about Buddhism in general, the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren, or the FNCC menu. He was effortlessly encouraging, and seemed to be always on the lookout for something new to learn. I remember several years ago when I called Shin at his SGI-USA office, inviting him to my SGI district as a speaker. He was not available on the night of our meeting because.....he had a French language class at UCLA! That's right! Not content with Japanese, English and kendo, he was studying French!. Some people just don't know when to stop learning...I think Shin Yatomi was one of those.

SGI-USA General Director Danny Nagashima speculated that in 25 years or so, Shin would not only be back, but he would be graduating from Soka University in Aliso Viejo - maybe going on to be a professor. That sounds like a good plan, but wherever he re-manifests, this much is certain: Shin Yatomi will always continue to learn and teach about Buddhism, and he will always be a joy to know. That joyful spirit of teaching will define Shin Yatomi eternally. And isn't that the definition of the eternal Buddha from Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra?..."I am always here in this world, teaching the people..."

You see? It's true. We really can attain Buddhahood in our current form.

Be well and happy,

Byrd in LA

Posted by wahzoh at June 3, 2007 05:45 PM