New Years Day Dharma Message 2023 " I hope that everyone will, deeply entrusting themselves to the  nembutsu and firmly embracing prayers [for peace in the world] in their hearts, together say the nembutsu. "   (From the Collected Works of Shinran p. 560) Happy New year! Happy 2023!  Akemashite Omededou Gozaimasu 今年もよろしくお願いします On December 31, members and friends joined us online from around the country for our New Year's Eve Joya No Kane service.   Traditionally  for this service the temple bell is rung 108 times. Because of the temple fire earlier this year and because we were on Zoom, we had to be creative--each person used bells that they had in their homes and we took turns ringing them. This bell ringing activity purified the 108 Bonno , our many attachments to the world of suffering. Ringing the bells cleaned out our greed, anger, and ignorance,  and reminded us of the Infinite Wisdom & Compassion of Amida Buddha that accepts us just as we are.  The process