A personal detour
by Matt May
Hi all,
There’s no new issue of Practical Tips this week. In its place, I’m going to tell you about another part of my life, and make a personal request.
First, a little history. One Sunday in 2006, I showed up for the weekly service at Seattle Betsuin, a Japanese-American Buddhist temple. It quickly became my spiritual home. For over ten years, I’ve been a minister’s assistant there, and in 2016, my wife Rosalie and I received our ordination at the tradition’s mother temple in Kyoto.
Last week, on New Year’s Eve, someone found an unlocked door, entered the temple and holed up in a basement storage room full of historical artifacts. Minutes later, the room was on fire.
Over a dozen fire department vehicles responded and brought the fire under control. Unfortunately, two days later, the smoldering material reignited, causing a second fire.
Structurally, the main hall and columbarium (containing the remains of many temple members) are intact, but smoke and water damage has spread throughout. Artifacts dating to 1901 are now gone, and the main objects of reverence will need to be shipped back to Japan for restoration.
The temple is now closed, and it will likely be several months before in-person services can return.
There is good news. No one was injured, including the person who started the fire, which appears to have been accidental. Given there were over 300 people in the temple earlier in the day, and several present elsewhere in the building at the time of the fire, it could have been much worse.
Needless to say, my thoughts have been elsewhere, so instead of writing about DEI in tech, this week I’m asking you to consider donating to our fire restoration fund.
I believe in separation of church and state, so I have no great Buddhist lesson to impart here. This is a place that means a lot to me, filled with remarkable people who’ve cared for this place for decades, and deserve to enjoy the space they built, which over the years has served as a community hub as much as a religious organization.
The temple is probably best known for Bon Odori, a festival in July that brings thousands for line dancing, taiko and barbecue chicken. It’s my hope that we can be back in the temple in time to keep this tradition going for the 92nd year.
Thanks for listening. Regular service (both to this list and at the temple) will return soon.