The Mountain States District Conference, held on Nov. 3-5, honored Rev. Jerry Hirano’s 30th anniversary as Resident Minister of the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple.
The Salt Lake City, Utah, conference, also included guest speakers Bishop Rev. Marvin Harada and Rev. Nariaki Hayashi of Tri-State/Denver Buddhist Temple. There were workshops on Naikan meditation and “kintsugi,” the Japanese art of repairing ceramics with lacquer and gold and leaving a gold seam where the cracks were. The workshops were arranged by Rev. Dr. Carmela Hirano-Javellana.
The highlight of the conference was the banquet to honor Rev. Hirano. The conference and dinner each drew an estimated crowd of 125 people.
Before returning to his home temple in 1993 — Salt Lake — Rev. Hirano served six years at the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin.
Rev. Hirano is currently the Resident Minister of the Salt Lake temple, and Supervising Minister for the Ogden and Honeyville, Utah, temples, as well as the Idaho-Oregon Buddhist (IOBT) Temple. He is also the BCA Center for Buddhist Education (CBE) director.
There were letters of congratulations from Rev. Hirano’s good friends, Institute of Buddhist Studies (IBS) President Rev. Dr. David Matsumoto and Rev. Jay Shinseki, the Resident Minister of the Monterey Peninsula and Watsonville Buddhist temples.
Words of congratulations were from Rev. Harada and Mrs. Gail Ida of Tri-State/Denver Buddhist Temple, one of Rev. Hirano’s oldest friends.
They met 51 years earlier at a Mountain States District Conference and have been good friends ever since.
On Sunday, Nov. 5, the closing service was held for the Mountain States District’s Joint Celebration service celebrating the 850th birthday of Jodo Shinshu founder Shinran Shonin and the 800th anniversary of Jodo Shinshu teaching.
Rev. Harada was the speaker for the special service and held a Kieshiki (affirmation service) ceremony for 26 people.