Lethbridge’s Buddhist community, and indeed the community in general are looking forward to the eighth annual Bon Odori Japanese Summer Dance Festival, in the Galt Gardens, July 16.
Featuring traditional Japanese dress and food and live music from the Global Drums and the University of Lethbridge Taiko group and dancing, the festival is a celebration of community and sharing.
Odori means dance, while Bon is an abbreviation of a Sanskrit word Ullambana, meaning upside down suffering.
“Buddhism came to Japan from India through China,” explained Reverend Yasuo Izumi. He noted the festival comes through the sutra or story of one of the Buddha’s disciples who had superpowers and envisioned his mother in the realm of Hungry Ghosts.
“It’s very symbolic. He tried to bring her food and water but it turned into fire,” Izumi said.
“That is the realm of hungry ghosts — you want something but things don’t happen as you want them to. Then you suffer,” he said. He noted Bon Odori is a combination of memorial service for the dead and a celebration of life in their honour.
“He went to the Buddha and told him the story and asked him ‘what should I do?’ His advice was after the monsoon season (in mid July or August) to have a dance and share what you have with all of your Buddhist friends in the spirit of ‘dana’ which is the spirit of sharing and giving. That’s what we must do. The monks would study during the monsoon season. They wouldn’t go out because it was raining,” he said.
So the celebration of Bon Odori is about sharing.
“We’re all in the realm of hungry ghosts today. We all want money, social position and all of these things and we complain when things don’t go as we think they should, and we suffer because of it,” he said.
“It’s about thinking of others and sharing with them in the spirit of oneness. It’s a dance of joy and a gathering of joy. We feel each others suffering. We also feel each other’s happiness as one. That’s the essence of the Buddha — the oneness of all things,” he said.
He is looking forward to the event.
“I want this event to be one of the major events of the summer in the community. I want to see it get bigger and bigger. That’s my dream,” he said. The event drew 700 people last summer.
The event begins at 6:30 p.m. with a brief ceremony at 7 p.m. There is no charge and the entire community is invited.
— by Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor
A version of this story appears in the July 13, 2011 edition of the Lethbridge Sun Times
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Association has just over 25 members, so this is the time when we celebrate all of our heritages and celebrate our diversity,” said Southern Alberta Ethnic Association program co-ordinator Teresa Ternes. She is looking forward to the event which attracts approximately 2,000 people.
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