Upcoming Goma Projects

Dear Friends of the Goma,

First may I thank you for all of your support over the past 2.5 years. It’s been quite a ride – when I met Sensei in 1997 as a teenager I never imagined I would be doing such a thing. In fact, I really believed that it wouldn’t be possible for a non japanese kid to learn such a ritual let alone introduce it to the public and minister to their needs.

Well here we are 2.5 years into the Goma and it gets better each month owing in large part to your support. Now I cannot imagine not doing the work that I am doing and some of the stories people have shared with me relative to their profound experiences with the Goma are truly magical.

Several people have expressed interest in learning more about the Goma practices and the practices of Shingon and Shinto and so I will schedule a small seminar so that we can explore them in early May. Please stay tuned.

Performing the fire ceremony each month requires considerable expense and hard work and I am so thankful for all the support we have received.

May I share with you some of our recent expenses?

Supplies purchased in Japan this past fall: $6000

Cost to build sculpture of Ofudosama, the chief deity: $3000

Refinishing Ofudosan and building his housing: $2500

500 custom made amulets: $1500

New outdoor heaters: $200

Cost of materials for each Goma: $100

Those are just a snap shot of some of our recent expenses and doesn’t include the cost of building and maintaining the dojo. Currently we average about $100 in donations for each goma so we are covering the cost of the offerings and wood.

We have some major projects coming up this spring and summer to prepare for the very special visit of Reverend Tanaka (my teacher) in September.

1) We will build the traditional Japanese Torii sacred gate at the entrance to the space.

2) We will build the Tamagaki traditional fence around the shrine in the dojo.

3) We will like to build the temizu-ya “hand-water place” used for purification before entering the sacred space.

4) We are looking at estimates to rebuild the viewing deck…to expand it to allow for more guests.

5) Looking off into the future, we would like to purchase the property for use as a full time Temple and space where many different teachers can teach their arts to others…because we are halfway between Boston and NYC, it is the great location for such a center.

I don’t yet have the estimates on these projects but know they won’t be cheap. I feel like it will be easy to do with a little bit of help from the friends and supporters. To that end, if you feel called to assist us with a donation, not only will you generate great karma but we will also have a very special Goma to be offered for the wishes and blessings for each of you who assist.

If you are able to assist us, I would be most grateful. We can accept paypal (gomaceremony@gmail.com
), cash, checks, etc. This summer we will be incorporating as the 501(c)3 non profit organization which will allow donations to be tax deductible but we haven’t done so yet.

Thank you all so much for your help and I look forward to being able to share even more of this wonderful sacred ceremony with you.

Yoroshiku Onegaishimasu!

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