Services
The following service schedule applies during the regular school year, early September through mid-June. For our Summer schedule, see below.
Fall/Winter/Spring Service Schedule
Dharma School Service
Sundays, 9:30 AM - 10:00 AM
This service is oriented toward the children and their parents. Incense offering, chanting, singing, and a brief sermon (Dharma talk) are part of the service. The children are then dismissed to attend Dharma School.
Adult Service
Sundays, 10:10 AM - 11:00 AM
A more in depth Dharma talk distinguishes this service, which is meant for any and all interested people. Here is the typical program for this service.
Japanese Language Service
Sundays, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Similar to the Adult Service, this entire service is conducted in Japanese. Open to everyone.
Summer Service Schedule
The following schedule applies during the Summer months, mid-June until early September. For our Fall through Spring schedule, see above.
Family Service
Sundays, 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM
During the summer, the Dharma School, Adult, and Japanese Language Services are suspended and a single, family Sunday Service is offered.
As of June 20, 2010 we have switched to our family service schedule. As in the past, this service will begin at 10:00am each Sunday. However, instead of having the service and then breaking up for English and Japanese dharma talks, we will have the Japanese dharma talk at 9:30am, then the joint service with the English message being given after the service. This may seem odd to some of you, but the custom of having a dharma talk with the service is more of an American or, at least, a more modern phenomena. The service and dharma talks are different ways of encountering the teachings. The Christian model was seemingly adopted by our churches and temples and this is fine, but that does not mean that we cannot further adjust to fit our needs today.
In doing it this way, we will not have to make one group or the other move out of the hondo into another room. This also means that if one of the ministers cannot be here for some reason, we will not have to worry about how to handle the situation. Another advantage of this is that those who can understand both Japanese and English do not have to choose one or the other to attend. They can listen to both if they should so desire.