Temple News
AMAZON SMILE & ZENSHUJI
Now you can shop at Amazon and donate to Zenshuji at the same
time! Here is the link to Zenshuji Amazon smile page;
http://smile.amazon.com/ch/95-1782838
Please follow their instruction there on how to do it.
JANUARY & FEBRUARY 2020 EVENTS
JAN: 1st Shusho-E 10 am
2 - 4 Temple closed
14th Board Meeting 7:30 pm
19th Dr. Kato’s Buddhism Lecture in Japanese 11 am
20th Martin Luther King Jr. Day - Temple closed
26th Monthly Service & Memorial 10 am
Annual Temple Members General Meeting 11 am
New Year’s Party 12:30 pm
FEB: 2nd Setsubun-E (Bean-Throwing Ceremony) 11:00 am
11th Directors’ Meeting 7:30 pm
16th Fujinkai Meeting 10 am
Nehan-E & Monthly Service & Memorial 11 am
17th Presidents’ Day - Temple closed
23rd Dr. Kato’s Buddhism Lecture in Japanese 11 am
NEW YEAR’S SERVICE
New Year’s service will be held at 10 am on January 1st. You will be treated with Ozoni (mochi in soup) and celebratory sake after the service. Please join us to celebrate New Year 2020, the year of Tokyo Olympics.
GENERAL MEETING & NEW YEARS PARTY at Lunch
You are cordially invited to the Temple Members’ General Meeting (11:00 am) and New Year’s Party (12:30 pm) on Sunday, January 26, 2020. We have changed the time to lunch time since last year instead of the late afternoon in the past, so people can drive home in day time. We will have elections for the Board members, financial reports from the various organizations, reports of new activities, the budget, and question/answer periods.
We look forward to seeing you there. Please look out for New Year’s Party invitation and Bento lunch order form in the mail in early January.
SETSUBUN - Bean Throwing Ceremony
This service is to celebrate the changing of the Winter Season to the Spring Season. In the homes, a ‘mame-maki’ or bean throwing ceremony is held to drive out the evil spirits. The beans are thrown and meant to pierce the devil’s eyes.
At Zenshuji those born the year of the Chinese Zodiac Animal, which this year is the Rat, will throw the beans while yelling: “Fuku wa uchi; oni was soto” or “Good Luck enter; devil depart”. If one eats these roasted beans equal in number to one’s own age, good luck will follow.
Darumas are sold at the Setsubun Service as a symbol of Good Luck. On the back side a message is written such as Good Family Health, Successful Business, etc. and the Darumas are blessed and taken home. Come early to purchase and have your Daruma message blessed. Also fund-raiser raffles will follow the service. Raffle tickets are $20.00 donation per book or $2.00 donation per ticket, 10 tickets per book.
1st Prize: $500.00
2nd Prize: $400.00
3rd Prize: $300.00
4th Prize: $200.00
5th Prize: $100.00
You are cordially invited to attend the Setsubun Service at
Zenshuji on Sunday, February 2nd at 11:00 am. We scheduled
the service earlier since last year so people can watch the Super
Bowl in the afternoon. We look forward to your attendance and
taking home some of the bags with mame (beans) that will be
thrown at the service.
If you were born in the year of the Rat and would like to be a
bean thrower on stage, wearing Kamishimo (Japanese
traditional costume) or without, please call the temple at
(213)624-8658. See the letter and the flyer on the right.
(You don’t need to fill in a form anymore.)
METRO STREET CLOSURES
Metro has been constructing the regional connector for the subway system around Zenshuji. Here is the street closure information for 2020.
MISO MAKING WORKSHOP
We will hold Miso-making workshop on March 1 from 2 pm.
Please fill out the application on right if you would like to participate.
