With the help of Mr. Yoshlaki Nunome, I was able to continue and hold services for the members of the San Francisco (SF) Nichiren Buddhist Church and the Nichiren Sangha Association in Los Angeles. By being able to continue my duty as a Nichiren Shu minister, I was able to uphold one of the vows that I took during my tokudo shiki (ordination ceremony) -to part from the life I had always known in order to follow the path towards saving others from this world of suffering (Saha World). This also meant that I could not suddenly decide to quit and change occupations. Given this mindset, I was always surprised to see people choosing an easier path for themselves or just giving up. For example, as I previously mentioned, I had at one point taught judo to Mrs. Sano’s grandchildren and a few other individuals. One individual placed second in the U.S. Junior Judo Championships and another became the Pan American Judo Champion. Despite these accomplishments, they both decided that it would be difficult to make a living as a judoka and quit judo. While I understood their reasons for making their decisions, given the vow I took, I knew that quitting was not an option for me.
However, I cannot emphasize enough that it was because of Mr. Nunome’s kindness that I was able to continue my journey as an overseas minister in America. I continued to travel to Los Angeles to hold monthly services for the members of the Nichiren Sangha Association. While I had registered Mr. Nunome’s home address as the official address for the SF Nichiren Buddhist Church, it was not realistic to hold services at an apartment. So once again, Mrs. Sano kindly allowed me to hold services at her house. I remember picking up the elderly members in my car and driving them to and from her house. After the service, we would have a potluck and the members would always give me the leftovers to take home with me. Mr. Nunome had to work on Sundays and could not join us for these services, but we would often eat the leftovers together at his apartment.
During one of our meals, Mr. Nunome mentioned to me how his father had once told him that he had considered becoming an overseas minister when he was still a young minister. Upon continuing to listen to his story, I learned that Mr. Nunome’s father, Rev. Chotei Nunome, and Rev. Chikyo Kurahashi, one of the previous head ministers of the SF and Sacramento Nichiren Buddhist Church were actually brother disciples. If you recall, I had been praying for Rev. Kurahashi and was surprised to hear about this connection between Rev. Kurahashi and Rev. Nunome. Mr. Nunome continued to tell me that after Rev. Kurahashi left to go to the U.S. and become an overseas minister, Rev. Nunome seriously considered going to the U.S. himself. However, before he could make a decision, World War II started, and he decided to give up on the idea Shortly thereafter, Rev. Nunome fell ill.
However, there was not enough food or medicine in Japan so Rev. Nunome prepared for death. As a last attempt, he wrote a letter to Rev. Kurahashi asking him ifhe could send him medicine. Rev. Kurahashi quickly sent over the medicine and Rev. Nunome said that he was saved from his illness because of this act of kindness. Rev. Nunome wanted to send Rev. Kurahashi something in return, but was unable to do so before Rev. Kurahashi passed away on November 1, 1957.
When heard this story I realized that Rev. Nunome, Rev.Kurahashi, Mr. Nunome., and I were all connected by cause and condition. I had been praying for Rev. Kurahashi, who had helped Rev. Nunome, whose son eventually helped me. This is slightly difficult to explain, but Mr. Nunome’s kindness and bis efforts in helping me and the SF Nichiren Buddhist Church may be related to how Rev. Nwiome was unable to repay Rev. Kurahashi for saving his life. This leads us back to our title of how our karmic benefits continue to circulate even after we leave this world. While we do good deeds. not expecting anything in return, we will often times receive something in return in some shape or form. This ‘something’ is not always returned to us by the same individual that we help. The same goes for bad deeds as well-we will feel the effect of our actions and doings in the long run. Thus, our actions, deeds, and karmic benefits, all have repercussions, both good and bad.
Ven. Kenjo lgarashi
May/June 2019