by Mr. Masayoshi Imura New York Dharma Center, USA   Mr. Masayoshi Imura This spiritual journey was delivered during the   Ceremony of...

I was born fifty-five years ago—the moment I opened my eyes, I was already a Rissho Kosei-kai member, and three generations of my family were already actively participating in spreading the Dharma in Hawaii. Looking back, I had a great childhood, attending the Dharma center and visiting the airport to greet guests from Japan and the neighboring Hawaiian islands. However, at the time, I didn’t appreciate my family’s dedication to the Buddha.

Gradually, my attendance increased once again, and in October 2012, I was asked if I wanted to participate in a Prison Outreach Pilot Program that the Dharma Center was launching. I said “Yes.” I’ve been going to the Oklahoma State Reformatory at Granite, Oklahoma, every two weeks for nearly two and a half years. We have developed a strong sangha of ten to twelve core members, with others coming in out of curiosity from time to time.

What is Filial Piety? Do not hate or be in conflict with, and filial impiety is like taking life.

As I mentioned in last month’s installment, for those of us who are alive now, thanks to the relay of passing the baton of life in an unbroken chain of connections that forms part of the history of one great life stretching back to the birth of the universe, thinking about the meaning of being filial to our parents also means looking at the origin of our own lives through the lives of our parents and ancestors and asking what we can do now as we look toward the future.