Helen Abe was understandably tentative, standing in her bare feet before a bed of burning coals.
At age 87 she was about to take a step of faith in a purifying ritual meant to cleanse her of negative karma and invigorate her life. She and husband Michael Abe were among the first of hundreds lined up to brave the heat at the Shingon Shu Hawaii temple, which was celebrating its 100th anniversary at Sheridan Street in Makiki on Sunday.
After about an hour featuring the steady cadence of thumping taiko drums, guttural chanting of sutras and billows of smoke magnifying the incense, anticipation of the early evening ritual was almost palpable.
Six Japanese ascetic priests from Kyoto, Japan, had performed elaborate purification rituals around a fire as it consumed a stack of logs 4 feet high. One wielded a sword "to cut through the clouds of self-delusion and desire" harbored in every person, the Rev. Reyn Tsuru, head of the Shingon temple, explained later.
Prayer sticks carrying the hopes and wishes of those who wrote on them were thrown into the flames. And priests raked coals into a path 6 feet long, flames still licking high on both sides.
All eyes were then riveted on Shinsei Uehara, the head priest in purple robes from Kyoto, the first to stride confidently over the embers. The rest of the priests followed.
Finally, Tsuru exhorted the crowd: "Everyone, get ready for your rebirth!" and invited all present to take the walk; 221 accepted.
Abe, who last took part in the ritual on Shingon’s 90th anniversary, walked over the hot coals.
Later, while leaning on her cane, she said, "I was scared but it felt good." After her previous fire walk, 10 years ago, "I had a lot of good luck, some bad luck, too," Abe said with a little laugh. Her husband added, "I don’t know if it brings luck, but I’m still living. I’m 89."
Tsuru said the Saito Goma, or Great Outdoor Fire, service is performed "to reveal the inner Buddha spirit, clear the mind and expose our mortal delusions to be burned away." He added, "No matter what faith anyone adheres to, we all wish for the same things: happiness and health for ourselves and our loved ones; inner peace and stability within our minds and purity of thought" as well as "a better and safer world for all of us." He continued, "Will a single Saito Goma ritual provide all of this? Every journey begins with a single step."
Tsuru said consecrated salt was scattered over the embers to cool them down before anyone walked on them, and a thick layer of salt was thrown down so everyone at the starting line stepped into it first to insulate their feet.
"So you think to yourself, it’s not going to be that bad, but it’s quite hot!" he admitted after his walk, laughing. Even so, Tsuru said his feet felt just fine. "You have to have faith! It’s a faith thing, not physics," he asserted, referring to various scientific theories of why people don’t get burned. "You know, we have to believe there is someone watching over us. We do. We’ve never had anybody burned."
Elaborating on his reference to rebirth, Tsuru said, "When you’re going through it, it’s as if you’re coming out of the womb again. All your negative karma is burnt away. I don’t think anybody crossing over didn’t feel light at the end."
Sharon Fujioka, who attends classes at Shingon, said making the walk was "sort of breathtaking, exhilarating." Fujioka, who first took part in the ritual elsewhere more 40 years ago, said in decades since, when things got tough, she reminded herself, "If I could walk on fire, I can do anything."
Natsue Morita, 86, said Sunday’s fire walk was her first. Using a cane to steady her leg, Morita was assisted by men as she walked along the path. "I wanted to purify myself," she said. "It felt good. It wasn’t hot at all."
Tsuru said the event also served as "as a thanksgiving to the immigrants and local people who worked so hard to spread the Buddhist faith, not only for the Shingon sect, but for all of the Japanese Buddhist sects." Plus, he said, such a ritual breathes new life into the temple. "Sometimes a good purification ritual is necessary to blow out spiritual cobwebs."
