Father's Day Part 3

(Part 1 and Part 2)

We didn't get home until late from the final phase of Father's Day which was an orchestra concert in which my daughter played flute and piccolo. The concert involved two youth orchestras which combine twice a year for their major concerts. My daughter is in the South Coast Youth Symphony, and the other group is the Buddhist Light Symphony Orchestra which is based at the huge Buddhist temple in Hacienda Heights. The vast majority of the kids in both orchestras are Asian, and probably most of them are Chinese. My nearly 6' very Caucasian daughter sort of stands out.

Just for the political junkies, you may remember this temple from the 1996 election. In April of that year Al Gore made an appearance there and received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions...from monks who have taken a vow of poverty. The story is here.

This is the entrance sign to the temple. I don't read Chinese, but I think it says "Al Gore, You Da' Man", or something like that.

The concert was held in the large courtyard between the entrance building and the main shrine. Most of the audience found themselves sitting on cushions on the temple steps staring into the very warm sun. Not us. I brought our folding camp chairs and sat in a shady spot on the lawn. This ain't my first rodeo, as they say.
On the drive in and out of the grounds, they have these small statues which I guess are sort of like Buddhist garden gnomes. In my daughter's words, she found them "disquieting".
The daughter did great and after spending the better part of two days at the temple, she was ready to go somewhere where they weren't worshipping ceramic statues. To see people bowing in front of the giant Buddhas and other "gods" in the entrance hall is also "disquieting". For an old Nazarene boy like me, it's a little weird to spend some time in a very foreign world like this temple.

It was a long but very enjoyable Father's Day. Now, to get back to work so I can slow down a little.