TOBAN: My Turn of Duty

Toban has showed up on our temple’s monthly calendar for as long as any of us can remember.  In the newsletter, it is quite specific:  “Toban Group 2” it may say, and then list members of Group 2—sometimes to the astonishment of a new member unaccustomed to seeing their name in the newsletter at all, and uncertain as to what a “toban 2” is anyway.

Over time, we have gotten better about adding “temple cleaning” to the word “toban” (right before the osonae assignments—sometimes our assignments and Japanese words do run together!), and also about introducing the concept to new and prospective members during orientation.  But temple cleaning doesn’t always read like a membership opportunity no matter how well we present it—

—even if it is.

The English translation of the Japanese word toban is “my turn of duty”.  We have used the word to describe the groups of members who work together for the temple in cleaning the temple and bringing refreshments for after the service.  This tradition has been passed on to us from our pioneer families who started the temple.  It came from Shin Buddhist temples in Japan, where it remains a very strong tradition.  But it is already fading away in the US as we more to a more American Shin Buddhist practice.

Ideally, toban brings small (5-6 members) teams together once a month to clean the temple—vacuuming, dusting, emptying trash, cleaning bathrooms.  We share this time of service as a team, so ideally it is a team-building activity.  It also helps create a sense of ownership—“our temple”, not simply the place that “I” visit and where “I” attend services.

That’s been the ideal for many years, but in the past 5-6 years, many older members have become too frail or simply too old to push vacuum cleaners all over the hondo.  Newer members, entering from other religious traditions (or no traditions at all) are unfamiliar with the concept of toban.  Some are simply not interested in doing this on a regular basis.  With the full calendars many of us keep, coming together as a team outside service gets harder to do.  Conscientious team members fulfill their duties when they can—but the notion of “team” has become stretched as a result.

Finally, no matter how well intentioned we are, most of us are not professional cleaning people!  Our temple deserves to be cleaned at a professional level and look consistently presentable to our visitors and sangha members. 

Everything changes—even toban!  So our definition of toban is undergoing change.  We are hiring professionals for that consistently presentable appearance of the temple.  But we will come together as an entire temple membership the week after our festivals (first week of May after Hanamatsuri, first week of August after Obon) to dig deeply into restoring our temple after welcoming a few thousand guests and friends.

Our temple groups –BWA (Buddhist Women Association), Taiko (drumming), Wednesday Group (seniors), and Dharma School (children and their teachers)—will work together as a group during the months they are assigned to osonayae (altar offerings) to set up and clean up refreshments after service.  In other words, we will “host” each other and our guests.  No doubt, some of our visitors will pitch in too, and our sense of ownership will spread as well.