Happy Thanksgiving ! A great day to polish our altars.

Pikachu 

at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - right on my TV

My kids loved to play with Pokemon when they were young. Pokemon bring me back such wonderful memories of sitting on the floor and playing with my boys.  Pika was always my favorite, but at one point I knew almost all the Pokemon names. Pika just makes me laugh. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you wherever you live. 

I am so grateful for all of you and your messages to me. I'm grateful for sharing this incredible lifetime with you. I am so grateful to be alive at the same time as President Ikeda. I'm grateful for this practice. And so grateful for my healthy family. 

I wish you all a marvelous day today. 

The holiday comes from when the pilgrims celebrated an abundant harvest. We take the time to be with our families and appreciate each other and good food and drink. Many families have the customary turkey and stuffing dinner. 

It's a day to be together. 

I like to take time on the holidays to clean my altar. 

Our Buddhist altar is really important because 

it represents our lives. 

When we have a Gohonzon 

we have a "Home within a home."

Today I took everything off my altar and cleaned it really thoroughly. I used a hair dryer to melt off some residual candle wax I found on the wood. I shined the wood with wood cleaner and dusted everything else. I keep my altar very clean, but some days I just like to go the extra mile and polish it up. I've always believed that the way I care for my altar is reflected in the way my environment treats me. A dusty or cluttered altar isn't good, it's neglected. We don't want to neglect our lives. Our altars should be free and clear and uncluttered. If there are things that don't belong, now is a great time to remove them. The only objects that should be on our altars are: fruit, water, greens of some kind or flowers, bell and candles and incense if you use them. 

Have a great day ~