2008 NONA Retreat
The 2008 NONA retreat was sponsored by the Myoken Temple of Houston Texas. The week was filled with practice, study and friendship.
Margaret Austin Center, Chappell Hill, Texas
Rev. Hirai (NBIC), Rev. Faulconer (New England) Rev. Caine-Barrett (Houston) and Rev. Kumakura (New York) were the instructors for the 2008 retreat. (Shown front row from the left) Several members of the retreat were not available for the group picture.
The Main hall would see practice in the form of Morning Service, Hokke Senbo, Segaki Service* and Shodaigyo practice.
The dining hall and kitchen were together at the facility. Beside meals the dining hall would also see Chanting practice, Shakyo (Sutra copying) practice and preparations for the Segaki service*.
Members of the retreat would practice Suigyo (water purification) practice in the morning before going to morning service. The members would take turns with clean up in the different areas of the center including the dorms, main hall, dining room and kitchen. Tai chi and walking chanting practice were done to keep everyone limber. Even though the schedule was full there was plenty of time for getting to know other members and making long time friends. The retreat had members from Houston, New England, Seattle, Arizona and California.
* Segaki Service - Is a Buddhist ceremony held for the hungry ghosts. The story of Mokuren who is one of the Buddha's main disciples tells of the Segaki service. Mokuren was blessed with supernatural sight. He had the ability to see into other worlds. His mother had recently passed away and as Mokuren sat contemplating he thought of his mother. He wondered if she had been reborn into this world. So he search the world using his sight to no avail. He then searched the heavens but still could not find his mother. In desperation he started to search the hell realms. To his startling dismay he found her in the realm of hungry ghosts. He immediately tried to reach for her but the further he reached the further away she became. He saw that she was hungry and thirsty and tried to give her food and water. As she reached for the food it exploded in fire causing her more pain and suffering. He did not know what to do. Finally he decided to go to the Buddha. He explained the situation and asked for guidance. The Buddha explained that she had greed in her life so she ended up in the hell of hungry ghosts. Mokuren was upset and asked what he must do to free her from suffering. The Buddha explained why his attempts had failed. He had been selfish. Their are many in the realm of hungry ghosts and he only tried to save her. What he must do is prepare a service with offerings of food and water then gather a group of monks to offer the Dharma, food and other offerings to all spirits in the realm of hungry ghosts. Mokuren did as the Buddha instructed and all the beings in the realm including his mother were saved. We perform the Segaki service to free our ancestors and all that suffer as hungry ghosts (the realm of greed). In the photo above (bottom right) members prepare toba (paper representations of stupa) with their ancestors names for the Segaki service.