Byodo-In Toro Nagashi

5 Aug 2017

Toro Nagashi is a Japanese tradition of floating candle-lit lanterns downstream to help guide the spirits of ancestors back to the other world after their annual visit to earth for Obon.  Byodo-in in Oahu's Valley of the Temples cemetary is a 2/3 scale replica of the ancient Buddlist temple in Uji, Japan.  Each year they hold an Obon festival followed by a toro nagashi ceremony in which the priest chanted sutras while assistants released lanterns commemorating the dead into the pond in front of the temple.  After he finished chanting , the priest then sang Ave Maria!  And had the crowd sing the Hawaiian Aloha Oe.

Entering the Temple grounds	Bonsai Mock Orange	Koi	Miniature Torii gate
Evening light	How fast it fades...	Nearby trees	Reflections
Tempkle bell	Small lei covered Buddha	Side wing	Byodo-In
Black swan	Black swan	Black swans	Contrasty
Black swans	Black swans	Byodo-In	Norfolk pines
Evening light	Cloud	Clouds	Byodo-In
Byodo-In	Fading light	Waiting for the lantern ceremony to start	Byodo-In and last sunlight
The gathering crowd	Waiting...	The priest gets ready to start	And the assistants
Passing the first lanterns	And floating them...	They keep coming...	*Sounds of priest chanting*
Reflections...	Not done yet...	Floating lanterns	Found a few more
Lanterns memorializing the dead	Temple lit up	Lantern	Reflected light
Floating this way	Reflections	Byodo-In at night	Full moon echoed by festival lanterns in the parking lot

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