Koloa Jodo Mission - Buddhist Temple Since 1910
Tonight I will have a New Year's Eve Service at 5:30 p.m. at Koloa Jodo Mission and 11:30 p.m. at Kapaa Jodo Mission.
This service is called Joya-e（除夜会）, which literally means "The Service on the night to remove (something)." The Japanese word "Joya" doesn't say what to remove, but it is usually understood as removing defilement of body and mind of the past year in order to welcome a new year. Also it is known as the night to cast away 108 kinds of wordly desires which are the very souce of our all kinds of sufferings.
The number 108 is said to come from the Buddhist theory....that we do have 6 physical elements, which are eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind. Then each of these six elements has also 6 working functions, which are to see, to hear, to smell, to taste, to feel, and to think. Then each of 36 functions all together is considered to be desire itself, which makes 36 kinds of desires. Plus each 36 desires has 3 aspects of time (past, present, and future) . So 6 elements x 6 functions x 3 aspects of time make 108 as a total.
As a Japanese tradition, we hit/strick a bell 108 times on New Year's Eve, wishing to remove the source of suffering.
Here at Jodoshu temples in Hawaii, we hit a bell by turn for the total of 108 times. For example, if there will be 18 people who attended the service, each of us will hit 6 times. Then if there are 14 people, each will hit 6 times and Sensei will hit extra 12 times.
Sometimes it's easy to calculate and sometimes hard. So this morning, I made a list how many times each participant can hit a bell according to the total numbers of attendance.
Of course, I didn't think Koloa would need a list for more than 20 attendances, but who knows? I'm hoping it could be useful not only for tonight but also for the future.
| Numbers of Attendance | Numbers of Hitting Bell/Person | Extra Hitting |
| 1 | 108 | |
| 2 | 54 | |
| 3 | 36 | |
| 4 | 27 | |
| 5 | 21 | 3 |
| 6 | 28 | |
| 7 | 15 | 3 |
| 8 | 13 | 4 |
| 9 | 12 | |
| 10 | 10 | 8 |
| 11 | 9 | 9 |
| 12 | 9 | |
| 13 | 8 | 4 |
| 14 | 7 | 10 |
| 15 | 7 | 3 |
| 16 | 6 | 12 |
| 17 | 6 | 6 |
| 18 | 6 | |
| 19 | 5 | 13 |
| 20 | 5 | 8 |
| 21 | 5 | 3 |
| 22 | 4 | 20 |
| 23 | 4 | 16 |
| 24 | 4 | 12 |
| 25 | 4 | 8 |
| 26 | 4 | 4 |
| 27 | 4 | |
| 28 | 3 | 24 |
| 29 | 3 | 21 |
| 30 | 3 | 18 |
| 31 | 3 | 15 |
| 32 | 3 | 12 |
| 33 | 3 | 9 |
| 34 | 3 | 6 |
| 35 | 3 | 3 |
| 36 | 3 | |
| 37 | 2 | 34 |
| 38 | 2 | 32 |
| 39 | 2 | 30 |
| 40 | 2 | 28 |
| 41 | 2 | 26 |
| 42 | 2 | 24 |
| 43 | 2 | 22 |
| 44 | 2 | 20 |
| 45 | 2 | 18 |
| 46 | 2 | 16 |
| 47 | 2 | 14 |
| 48 | 2 | 12 |
| 49 | 2 | 10 |
| 50 | 2 | 8 |
| 51 | 2 | 6 |
| 52 | 2 | 4 |
| 53 | 2 | 2 |
| 54 | 2 | |
| 55 | 1 | 53 |
| 56 | 1 | 52 |
| 57 | 1 | 51 |
| 58 | 1 | 50 |
| 59 | 1 | 49 |
| 60 | 1 | 48 |
| 61 | 1 | 47 |
| 62 | 1 | 46 |
| 63 | 1 | 45 |
| 64 | 1 | 44 |
| 65 | 1 | 43 |
| 66 | 1 | 42 |
| 67 | 1 | 41 |
| 68 | 1 | 40 |
| 69 | 1 | 39 |
| 70 | 1 | 38 |
| 71 | 1 | 37 |
| 72 | 1 | 36 |
| 73 | 1 | 35 |
| 74 | 1 | 34 |
| 75 | 1 | 33 |
| 76 | 1 | 32 |
| 77 | 1 | 31 |
| 78 | 1 | 30 |
| 79 | 1 | 29 |
| 80 | 1 | 28 |
| 81 | 1 | 27 |
| 82 | 1 | 26 |
| 83 | 1 | 25 |
| 84 | 1 | 24 |
| 85 | 1 | 23 |
| 86 | 1 | 22 |
| 87 | 1 | 21 |
| 88 | 1 | 20 |
| 89 | 1 | 19 |
| 91 | 1 | 18 |
| 92 | 1 | 17 |
| 93 | 1 | 16 |
| 94 | 1 | 15 |
| 95 | 1 | 14 |
| 96 | 1 | 13 |
| 97 | 1 | 12 |
| 98 | 1 | 11 |
| 99 | 1 | 10 |
| 100 | 1 | 9 |
| 101 | 1 | 8 |
| 102 | 1 | 7 |
| 103 | 1 | 6 |
| 104 | 1 | 5 |
| 105 | 1 | 4 |
| 106 | 1 | 3 |
| 107 | 1 | 2 |
| 108 | 1 |
109 ????
It is my dream to worry about what we should do....if there are more than 108 people came to the service!
I've asked our members and friedns to RSVP in order to get an idea how much I should make Sushi, but actually everybody is welcome! We have also Soba noodles from Nagano, Japan, thanks to Rev. and Mrs. Eishin Nenoi.
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