• One monk said that he wants to revive his temple after it was engulfed in flames

LAHAINA (Hawaii): Japanese monks at Buddhist temples on the Hawaiian island of Maui have recounted their experience of surviving the wildfire that swept across the island from Aug. 8.

One monk said that he wants to revive his temple after it was engulfed in flames, while another expressed a sense of helplessness following the devastation.

“Wildfires are very common,” said Gensho Hara, the 87-year-old chief priest of the Lahaina Jodo Mission, a Buddhist temple of the Jodo-shu sect located in Lahaina, western Maui. “But the wind that day was abnormal,” he said.

The wildfire caused the door of the temple’s main hall to break around 3 p.m. on Aug. 8. With a hot wind blowing, Hara evacuated with his wife, daughter and grandchild at the urging of police. The main hall and the three-storey pagoda of the temple were destroyed by the fire.

Ai Hironaka, 46, a monk at the Lahaina Hongwanji Mission, also recounted strong winds on the day the fire broke out. Hironaka was on his way home from buying food following a power outage, when he heard an explosion. He fled his home with clothes for two days and his passport, and evacuated to an acquaintance’s home with his wife and children.

During the evacuation, the monk stopped his car briefly ran toward his temple to retrieve its “honzon,” the principal icon, but the fire had spread near to the temple, forcing him to turn back.

“I didn’t think the temple would burn,” Hironaka said. “I wanted to take the honzon and the necrology, but I had to give up.”

Hara’s Lahaina Jodo Mission, which previously burned down in 1968 due to a fire and was rebuilt in 1970, was beloved as a place where people could see the beautiful local scenery and experience Japanese culture. It hosted “bon odori” festival dances in the summer, drawing large crowds.

Following the wildfire, the temple received offers of donations and words of encouragement.

“We have to move forward in a way that reciprocates the goodwill,” Hara said. “Although it may take a very long time, we must revive the temple.”

Meanwhile, Hironaka said he has “zero ideas about the future,” after his temple, his family keepsakes and the town of Lahaina were destroyed by the disaster.

“I must do all that I can, but I don’t have a source of strength right now,” he said.

The Lahaina Hongwanji Mission monk said that once the entry restrictions are lifted, he plans to get ashes from where the temple’s honzon was and make a prayer.

“I will incorporate (the ashes) into our next honzon,” he said.

JIJI Press