Memorial Day Service At Montrose Cemetery

June Roshi and I attended a Memorial Day Service at Montrose Cemetery today, honoring Japanese-American veterans who have fought and died in many wars defending freedom in America. The history and treatment of Japanese American citizens during WWII is a disgraceful one, we should never forget. Approximately 120,000 individuals of Japanese ancestry, the majority of whom were American citizens, were forcibly removed from their homes.

After the war, many Japanese Americans moved to Chicago looking for better jobs, but they faced a great deal of discrimination. It was difficult for them to find burial plots in many cemeteries in the city. The Montrose Cemetery accepted them, and several large areas of the cemetery are now reserved for Japanese Americans.

As I sat through the service today, I was thinking about my own teacher, Taizan Maezumi Roshi, and the many sacrifices he made to help bring the Dharma to our shores. When I was studying at the Zen Center of Los Angeles in the early 70’s, on New Year’s day we would always go to the grave site of Nyogen Senzaki and do a service at there. He was one of the early pioneers of the Dharma in the west. On his grave stone are the following words:

“Friends in Dharma, be satisfied with your own heads. Do not put on any false heads above your own. Then minute after minute watch your steps closely. Always keep your head cold and your feet warm. These are my last words to you.”

in gratitude,

Roshi Robert Joshin Althouse