New Life, Obon Service Illuminate Fragile Beauty

She only weighed 1 pound. 

When Adele O’Brian was born 4 months premature, her parents, Guly and Trey O’Brian, knew there would be struggles ahead. 

They persevered, and at the corrected age of 3 months, Adele attended her first service at the Cleveland Buddhist Temple (CBT) for its 81st Obon service in August. 

Obon served as a wonderful return to temple for Guly and Trey as they had to wait until Adele was strong enough to breathe on her own without supplemental oxygen and healthy enough to be in public. 

During those months, Guly helped balance the constant demands of being a new parent by diving deep into her family's genealogy and by writing a 256-page book tracing Adele’s roots. 

Guly undertook the project in recognition of the interdependence of the generations of people who contributed to her life. This sentiment fit beautifully within our Obon service.

It was impossible to miss the emotional contrast between the joy of Adele’s new life with the sadness of those honoring a loved one during our Obon service. 

Several Cleveland Buddhist Temple’s longtime Sangha members lit candles and offered incense in remembrance of those who had passed. 

As Buddhists, we often talk of impermanence and the recognition of one life starting and another ending. On this day, the message was felt by all in attendance. 

The CBT tradition following our Shin Buddhist Service is to share coffee, cake and a short reading with discussion. 

Our reading for the Obon service was “Are You Happy?” by BCA Minister Emeritus Rev. Koshin Ogui, the former Bishop and former Resident Minister of CBT. The reading was an excerpt from “Zen Shin Talks,” compiled and edited by Mary K. Gove.

Rev. Ogui confronts our tendency to split our lives along dualistic lines of happiness and unhappiness. In the article, he asks whether having a child brings complete happiness, suggesting that if we believe that we should ask someone who is raising a teenager. That paragraph brought a chuckle from the Sangha members since Adele’s new family was seated next to the parents of a teenager. 

During the discussion, Trey O’Brian reflected on the idea of happiness, challenging our unspoken expectation that life should only bring positive emotions. 

He explained that he has come to view his life in terms of fulfillment instead of happiness. Fulfillment contains all emotions, both pleasant and unpleasant. That sentiment perfectly captured the essence of Obon — both sadness and joy for the CBT Sangha on this day.