by BISHOP KOSHIN OGUI
Buddhist Churches of America

One night I was in the suburbs of Los Angeles. I was coming home from a movie showing we had done at Sun Valley Buddhist Church and I got in a car accident. I think it was around 11 at night in May of 1963.

I forgot what kind of movie we had shown but it was a pleasant movie, one that kids and adults alike enjoyed. I remember that watching the movie was a relaxing time for the local farmers, who grew mainly celery, strawberries and carnations.

On my way back to L.A., I was pulling onto the freeway when the car jiggled and the film projector that I had set on the passenger seat fell towards me. It knocked my hand from the steering wheel and next thing I knew, a car collided with my left side and my car spun to the right. It was a double-whammy because then I got slammed into by another car coming from the right. It all happened in an instant.

It was a miracle that no one was hurt because the front and the sides of the car were completely demolished. The other two drivers were livid, gesturing angrily and yelling at me in English at machine-gun speed. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for me at the time, I couldn’t make heads or tails of what they were saying.

Anyway, I wrote down my license and insurance information and by the time I had gotten back to the temple, it was 1:30 in the morning. I went to bed wondering how I was going to explain this to my boss, certain only that I was going to be in a lot of trouble. I finally fell asleep.

I woke in the morning and the instant I got up to go to English school, I got dizzy and fell. They would tell me later that I knocked on the neighboring door and then passed out. When I came to, I was in a hospital. One of the older monks was looking at me worriedly showing me a picture of someone I had no recollection of, and try as I would, I couldn’t think of who it was.

Three days later, I was surprised when I realized who the person in the photo was. I had been suffering from short-term memory loss. The person in the photo was my mother.

I left the hospital about a week later and was able to get back to work and to my studies again. And lucky for me, I didn’t get in trouble for the car accident because of all the hubbub surrounding my temporary amnesia.

We never know what is going to happen to us as we go about our daily lives. That incident really taught me something. It taught me to be thankful now from the bottom of my heart to be living and breathing in the present.

Gassho

Translated by Lefteris Kafatos