🌸 OBON
Niagara Zen, Qigong & Meditation Centre: The week of August 11th, 2025
“We learn that life is not linear but ongoing—cycles of which we are all a part. It’s senseless to believe we can recapture life as it once was. It can never be. Life is dynamic, and change is inevitable. But it helps to know that even though we may lose a loved one, the love they shared with us is immortal and will live in our hearts forever. Love never dies.”
— Dr. Leo Buscaglia
Dear friends,
In memory of our community’s beloved ones who have passed.
We are preparing for our 2025 Obon Remembrance Ceremony Week. In the East this is a special time where families visit gravesites, clean the stones, offer flowers, a favourite food or drink, and invite temples to offer prayers. In this spirit, we too honour and give thanks for those loved ones in our heats that have passed in form.
🌿 How you can take part:
We warmly invite you to send the name or photo of a loved one who has passed. Their name will be placed on our altar, where we will chant and offer prayers in their memory. During our classes you are welcome to bring a photo or simply write their name on a card and give it to Sunim to place in the meditation hall.
At home, during Obon week, you may wish to further create a small remembrance:
🌸 Place their photo nearby.
🌸 Set out a glass of their favourite drink, a plate of their favourite dish, or simply light a candle or arrange fresh flowers near their photo.
🌸 Take a quiet moment to offer a prayer of deep gratitude for the love and lessons they brought to your life. Take time that morning to reflect on them with love. Their life carries on through you. As my teacher said, if you want them to live on, take their best qualites and bring them forwrad in your own life.
This is a special time dedicated to those who have passed—a time to keep their memory vivid in our hearts. If you have children, please consider sharing this simple, beautiful ceremony with them so that gratitude and remembrance continue through the generations.
The names we receive will be written onto delicate origami birds (with thanks to Sintaa) as symbols of love and dedication.
Obon reminds us to keep loved ones alive in our hearts, to tend gravesites, refresh flowers, and give thanks. In the East—especially in Japan—Obon is among the busiest and most cherished holidays. And now, this day of remembrance continues to grow in the West, as we too seek to honour and stay connected to those who came before.
💫 If you would like to include the name of a loved one in our community ceremony, please email me directly with name.
With joined palms and heartfelt blessings, Grateful for each of you and this beautiful community.
See you soon.
Sunim
Niagara Zen, Qigong & Meditation Centre
innerpeaceqigong@icloud.com