By Christopher Hojo
Good Morning, Everyone.
I hope you are all doing well today. As Alex and Cori said, I am Chris Hojo and I have been a member of the Mountain View Buddhist Temple since I was 5 years old. For the past 13 years of my life, I have been hearing these senior speeches and always thought the day would never actually come when I would have to give my own. Well clearly, I was wrong.
When I sat down and began trying to write my senior speech, I had no idea what to say or what I wanted to talk about. I sat around for a while thinking about if I should talk about any specific memories I have at the Temple or any Buddhist teachings I had learned like the Golden Chain.
But, one night at dinner my parents were talking about the upcoming speech and asked me “What does Buddhism mean to you?” I sat there for a second and thought about it.
For years, Buddhism has asked me to reflect on the consequences of my actions, my obligations to my community, and the importance of helping others, but now you’re asking me to reflect on the entire religion! “I mean c’mon man how am I supposed to do that.”
But even for someone who has practiced Buddhism their entire life, how are you supposed to respond to that question? How are you supposed to sum up and quantify something so immense into just one simple sentence?
However, after letting the question sit for a little, I think I have found my answer within three stories from my childhood. For me, these three stories embody what it means to practice Buddhism and have had a profound effect on my development into a young adult.
My first story is about my Mom. One day when I was in the 3rd grade, I went to the park with my friends to ride bikes. We decided that we wanted to race each other across the park to see who was the fastest. However, me being the smaller, skinny boy that I was, I was not very fast on the bike. So as the race started and our bikes darted across the blacktop, I began to slip behind and tried pedaling faster and faster to catch up. I was so determined to try to catch up to my friends that I did not notice that one of them had swerved into my path and was on the ground in front of me. When I finally noticed, it was too late and our bikes collided and I tumbled to the ground hitting the hot asphalt.
Instantly, I felt a weird tingle in the front of my mouth. I looked around and saw that half of my front tooth was lying on the ground. At first, I thought it was kind of cool that I had chipped my tooth. However, that feeling faded in about 30 seconds when the weird tingle in the front of my mouth turned into an increasingly sharper pain.
I realized that I had to walk home and tell my parents what had happened. However, this only got me worried about how my mom would react. I was scared that she would be upset and not let me hang out with my friends if I was out chipping teeth with them.
Nevertheless, I slowly walked my way home and crept through my wooden back gate. I grabbed the handle of my back door and hesitated a second before opening it. “Maybe my mom won’t freak out” I thought to myself. I entered through the door and instantly saw my mom standing in the garage. Reluctantly, I opened my mouth to speak and before I could even get a word out my mom screamed “Oh my god Christopher your tooth!” as she ran over to bring me inside.
Despite my mom’s initial reaction, she immediately drove me over to the dentist and waited patiently for two hours as they checked out my tooth. When I eventually had to go see an Endodontist to try to help repair the tooth, she drove me to every appointment. And when I eventually had to get a root canal due to the tooth decaying further, she was right by my side throughout the whole procedure. Instead of scolding me or expressing disappointment, my mom comforted me and focused entirely on my well-being.
Overall, this experience exemplified a core principle of Buddhism that my mom embodies every day: compassion. Her actions in those moments and throughout my life have taught me the importance of being present for others, especially in times of need. By practicing compassion, my mom not only helped ease my pain when I hurt my tooth but has also inspired me to become someone that strives to approach life with the same empathy and understanding.
I would like to take a moment right now to thank my mom for all that she has done for me. For my entire life, she has always been my Number #1 supporter. She woke up early every day to make me a school lunch, so that I felt good for class. She has always dedicated herself to being present in me and my sister’s lives whether it be by becoming my Elementary School PTA President or one of my current YBA Advisors. And when I mess up or chip one of my teeth, she is always there to show her motherly love. Even though she likes to nag me a lot, I know that she only does it because she wants what is best for me and although I do not say it a lot, I love you mom and thank you so much for everything. Also sorry for not picking up after myself at home. I will try to be better.
My second story is about my Dad. Throughout my childhood, I practiced Judo and competed in a lot of Judo tournaments. About 7 years ago when I was in 6th grade, I went to a Judo tournament in LA.
However, this tournament was unlike other tournaments I had been to before. For starters, this was the Winter National tournament and hundreds of kids from across the state came to compete. This meant that my bracket would be 32 people instead of the usual 8-10. Additionally, the rules on overtime were different in this tournament. In previous matches I had competed in, if the score was tied and it went to overtime, the match would only continue for one more minute and then a decision on who won the bout would be decided by the judges. But, in this tournament there was no restriction to overtime meaning that a match would go on until someone scores. This means that a match could theoretically continue for more than 30 minutes if no one was scoring, which is much greater than the usual 4 minute match time that I was accustomed to.
At the beginning of the day, I nervously wandered into the large arena taking in the amount of people there and the amount of matches I could potentially have. I turned to my dad and he encouragingly stated “You got this Christopher” while handing me a bottle of yellow Gatorade he had bought for me that morning. As he walked to the bleachers to get a spot to watch me, I marched up to the mat preparing myself for the long tournament.
Throughout the day, I ended up competing in multiple 10-minute matches and by the end of my last match, I was completely exhausted. My sore muscles ached, I was completely drenched in sweat, and I could feel myself starting to accept defeat. However, as the stadium lights blared through my eyes I looked up into the stands and there I saw my Dad.
For a second, I thought about how he had taken off work to accompany me to this tournament. How he had driven me to almost every judo practice and stayed at each one to watch me improve. How he had never missed a single game or match that I had my entire life and always cheered me on and encouraged me to do my best.
I realized that he did not have to do all these things but, that is just the type of man my father is. He is someone who is willing to wake up at 3 am every morning so that he can go to work and provide for his family. Someone who will stay up just as late as me to help me get through my math homework or whatever I need support with. Someone who truly exemplifies the Buddhist idea of being committed to those around you and is willing to sacrifice his time to lend a hand to anyone who needs it.
So, after seeing my dad cheering me on in the stands, I forced myself to continue on with the match not for myself, but for the person who has been in my corner my entire life. I ended up outlasting my opponent, winning the match, and placing 4th overall in the tournament which could not have been possible without my Dad.
I would like to take a chance now to thank you Dad for all that you have done for me. Throughout elementary, middle, and high school, my teachers and friends often asked if I had a role model. Most of the time I would joke around and respond by saying that my role model is Homer or Bart Simpson. But you have really been my role model my entire life. You have inspired me to not only be dedicated in school, but be dedicated in everything that I do. To never give up on something important and push through difficult times in life. To always remain optimistic and always try my hardest to be collected and kind to those around me. I love you Dad and once again, thank you for everything.
My final story is shorter and it is about my sister Kate. One night when I was in middle school, I was quietly doing homework when suddenly the house erupted and my mom and sister got into an argument. I do not remember what it was about ,but I do remember it left my sister crying in her room.
Now normally I would never want to step between my mom and my sister getting into a fight. That’s just a bad idea. Also being the young boy that I was, I felt uncomfortable showing a lot of care to my sister. But, in that moment I remembered the compassion that my mom had shown me throughout my childhood, I remembered how my dad always dedicated himself to my family, and I realized that I had a duty as an older brother to help out my little sister. So, understanding that I needed to apply what my parents had taught me, I walked down the hall, creaked the door to my sister’s room open, and gave her a big hug.
I would like to take an opportunity now to thank you Kate. Thank you for putting up with my bad driving that sometimes makes you carsick. Thank you for always supporting me and going to all of my Judo matches and Wrestling meets. And thank you for always being a fun and friendly presence. As you continue through high school, I hope you know that you have the potential to do so much and truly have the ability to accomplish whatever you want.
Now, I would like to give a huge thanks to everyone else who has helped me throughout my life. Thank you so much to the Sangha, my Dharma School teachers, my Miroku and YBA advisors, Reverend Mukojima, and my fellow YBA members for all helping me. Furthermore, thank you so much to the rest of my family: Uncle Jeff Auntie Jan and Auntie Diane, Grammi and Grandpa, Uncle Todd, and my cousins Derek and Mitchel.
To wrap up my senior speech I would like to go back to that question my parents asked me at the dinner table: “What does Buddhism mean to you?”
Although I have just spent the last 10 minutes trying to solve that question, I still find it difficult to answer. It’s like I’m a pirate trying to find buried treasure. Just as a pirate must face waves and storms on their journey to get to their destination, I must confront life’s hardships and challenges to discover what Buddhism truly means to me. I may have the map and clues, but the exact location of what I am looking for remains elusive, just like a treasure chest hidden beneath layers of sand and time. However, similar to a pirate that does not mean I am going to give up looking for what I am searching for.
But for right now, through all of these experiences, I have learned these three things about Buddhism:
Buddhism is a promise to show compassion.
Buddhism is an expression of unwavering dedication.
Buddhism is a way for me to become the best version of myself.
Thank you!