Okagesamade Arigato -- Appreciating the Shade during Obon Service

For a week each July, our ministers and members of the community gather at cemeteries around our region to offer short Buddhist services of sutra chanting, incense offering, and a short Dharma message. This year, with the assistance of our temple president, Mike Iseri, we have visited 16 cemeteries between Boise, Idaho and Baker City, Oregon. 

Because it is hot this time of year, we often look for trees to gather under while we hold these services cemetery.  The shade is very much appreciated by all of us, as we stand there together in the heat for the service.  

The trees we stand under and the gratitude that we feel for the shade, as well as the people we honor during Obon season, got me thinking about the phrase "Okagesama de arigato."

"Okagesama de arigato" can be translated to English as “gratitude to everyone and everything.”   Often in Japan, when people greet each other they will ask “Ogenki desu ka?”  which means, “Are you doing well?" Or "Are you healthy?”  and the polite answer is “Okage sama de, arigato” which is a short way of saying, “Because of all things, I am well. And I am grateful.”  Okage (written in Japanese as お 陰) actually means "shadow," or "shade."  So another way that we can translate this is, "I live under the shade of others." This phrase seems especially appropriate as we gather for these Obon cemetery services in the hottest days of the summer—how wonderful to have these old trees with deep roots to protect us from the harsh sunshine!  

Photo:  The large tree provides lots of shade on a hot July day

As we gather in the cemeteries, we are grateful for more than just the trees. The people who came before us, that are buried all around us as we hold our cemetery services, have also provided a different kind of shade, a kind of protection, for those of us who are alive today.  Our ancestors built homes, grew food, ran businesses, invested in their communities, and raised families. They shared stories and insights. They worked hard and offered us and our communities support and compassion.  Where would we be--could we even exist--without them?   Standing in the cemetery gives us a chance to reflect on all that we have received in our lives because of the life and protection of others. Saying the phrase  “Okage sama de, Arigato” out loud reminds us to appreciate all the people and things that make our lives today possible. 

In the next year, if you find yourself feeling sad or lonely, please remember the Buddhist teachings that our lives are interconnected. That we can only exist because of the lives of others.  Our lives are made possible because other people have loved us and cared for us. Even if this care was imperfect--even if sometimes families and communities caused us stress or disappointment--we can put this in perspective by reminding ourselves that we  could not have survived without the care of others.  And, of course, our parents and grandparents were also able to live because others cared for them--we are here because of so many other people and beings who have come before us.  

Photo: Ministers choosing to set up for their services in the shade of the cemetery trees

Remembering that we are protected by those who have gone before us, we can appreciate that we are never really alone. Through the memories of our ancestors--and feelings of gratitude for what others have provided us and our communities--we can continue to experience a sense of connection to these others lives even when they are no longer around.  And I hope that, remembering these connections will also help inspire us to live our own lives in ways that will provide this "陰" or  “shade,” to those around us now and those who come after us.

In Gassho (with palms together), 

Rev. Anne Spencer