Dear Venice Hongwanji Buddhist Temple,
Here’s to a very successful Mochitsuki event.
When our temple can bring friends and families together, we are spreading the Nembutsu in practice.
Everyone, young and old worked extremely hard. From rice washing, setup, boiling, grinding, pounding, cutting, shaping, brushing, packaging, distributing and tear down: all were done with extreme effort and care. All parts had to be working to produce great product. Especially those that put breakfast and lunch together. They, kept us fueled with energy. Burnt hands and fingers, strained backs, tired arms, wet, dusty…..everyone contributes.
True it is that Mochitsuki remains one of our largest fundraisers, but the event, IS the result! Our best times as a family are spent face to face, working together. As we work together, we exemplify the spirit of namo amida butsu, and those that come and spend time with us are the beneficiaries of the teachings we’ve learned.
Ok, we have to make money, I get that. But let’s not forget the opportunity these events provide for us to host the community into our home (the Temple), and to remind those that don’t come often, why it’s still important.
Thank you everyone for such a tremendous effort!
For those of you that could not get there, come to the Temple and buy more as we have much available for purchase. I am told that the mochi product is of excellent flavor this year.
In Gassho,
Dale Noriyuki
President
VHBT