Rissho Kosei-kai

Rev.Hatakeyama’ｓ message for October 2020

Rev.Hatakeyama message for September 2020

Dear Friends of the Dharma, In my neighborhood there is a beautiful tree called the Golden Shower Tree. It literally shower down golden petals in the breeze, as well as having a very lovely, spicy aroma. The picture on our Homepage shows this tree, and it made me recall words from Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra, “showering madarava flowers on the Buddha and the great assembly.” It seems wherever I go these days I am thinking of the Lotus…

Dear Friends of the Dharma: Please note we will be joining RKNY every Sunday online from April through May. I look forward to seeing as many of you as can make it, and I will keep you posted on Facebook with the ID# for signing in with Zoom each week. Go to Rissho Kosei-kai of Fort Myers on Facebook for that information. I wish all of you to be safe, be healthy, and be at ease right now. Remember, I…

Dear Friends of the Dharma, What a great sangha we have! The team that showed up for the UU Memorial Service did an outstanding job. My heartfelt thanks go out to you. This month we begin by celebrating the 82nd Anniversary of Rissho Kosei-kai. We will be having a FaceTime connection on March 1st with RKNY Church. And we close the month by again volunteering at Abundant Grace Fellowship to feed the homeless. I hope many of you can participate…

Dear Friends of the Dharma, It was wonderful to share the experience of reciting the new translated Lotus Sutra with some of you recently. It is always a bit difficult to read a new version of a book we love, since we tend to become attached to our old favorites. But it is good for us to challenge ourselves with something new, and i think the modern version is quite wonderful. I deeply felt the constant repetition that this sutra…

Dear Friends of the Dharma, Happy New Year! I hope this year brings us all peace, happiness, and good health. Thank you again to those who helped in any way with the Feeding the Homeless event at the end of December. It was fantastic! Our next time will be in March. As this is a new year, President Niwano not only has his monthly Guidance for us, but also a New Year’s Message. We also begin our chanting of the…

Dear Friends of the Dharma, Hoping everyone enjoyed a lovely Day of Thanksgiving! This is one of my favorite holidays, as it focuses on sharing and gratitude. Now begins the busy days as we approach the end of this decade, I hope you can find time in the net few weeks to meditate a bit, take some time to reflect upon the past ten years, and think about what you want in 2020 and beyond. Let us all try to…

Dear Friends of the Dharma, The October Interfaith Lunch/Learn event was very informative and of course the food was delicious. I hope some of you can try to make it to some of the other events they have like this. As this is the month we celebrate Thanksgiving, let us keep the virtue of Gratitude foremost in our hearts and minds. Let me take this moment to thank all of you for being a part of my life, and I…

Dear Friends of the Dharma, Many thanks to Vilma, Bena, Bella, Ian, Jacob, and Junior for cooking and serving such delicious Mexican food at Abundant Grace Fellowship’s feeding the homeless activity. It is such a wonderful day! Looking forward to seeing more of you in October, I hope. Peace, health, and joy to all of you, dear ones.