Just like Jordyn and Tyler before him, Connor joined Miroku (middle school youth group) at the Mountain View Buddhist Temple in the 6th Grade. So far,
he's attended multiple meetings and participated in several activities. One activity, so far, has been seeing the movie, Black Panther. He and a few other
members got together on Saturday, March 10, 2018 in Mountain View to see the movie. They really enjoyed themselves while eating popcorn, candy, and hot dogs.
At the movies to see Black Panther.
The day after seeing Black Panther, Connor and a few other Miroku members started taking inventory of health kit items the Sangha donated for a joint
Dharma School/Miroku Dana project. Once assembled, these health kits will be given to homeless youth in Silicon Valley. Each kit will include items like tooth brushes, dental floss, soap, shampoo, and band-aids.
Inventory of health kit donations.
Miroku Fun Activity ComedySportz - San Jose 11/10/18
The first Miroku activity outside of the monthly general meetings was a get-together at ComedySportz in downtown San Jose. ComedySportz is a live improvisational comedy show that relies on audience participation.
All told there were 17 people (members, parents, siblings) who attended and ate at Pizza My Heart for dinner. To make the event even more special, Miroku Parent Advisor Mike Inouye got on stage and participated in the show with the players.
Everyone in their seats.
Everyone on stage.
Miroku with the cast!
Miroku Community Service Activity Save The Bay 5/4/19
After much deliberation, the Miroku membership voted to participate in a community service project with the Save The Bay organization. One of the ways Save
The Bay endeavors to preserve the San Francisco Bay is by removing invasive plantlife that might hinder native plant species from continuing to grow. On this day about 12 Miroku members, siblings, parents, and advisors
helped remove nearly 1000 pounds of weeds that might otherwise restrict native plant growth.
In order to help the temple prepare for Obon, Miroku volunteered to help sort prizes for the Shooting Gallery Game Booth. There were cases of prizes that
needed to be separated by prize level and day. There are 3 levels of prizes at the Shooting Gallery so we had to decide which prizes would be considered 3rd Place, 2nd Place, and 1st Place. We also needed to make sure we
had enough prizes for both days, so we pre-designated prizes for either Saturday or Sunday. In the end we were able to power through the sorting process in about 3 hours. It was extremely gratifying to help out and make
things easier for everyone.
Tables to help us separate all the prizes.
Even the parents helped out. That's Dad on the top shelf.
Ryptic Room Escape Escape The Mad Hatter 11/3/19
The first Miroku event of the school year was an Escape the Room fun activity. After Dharma School, the kids got together and ate a pizza lunch at the
temple. As soon as everyone was finished we booked over to the Ryptic Room Escape that is only 5 minutes away from the temple. We divided into two teams of 6 and proceeded into the game. This escape the room is a
little different from the traditional ones. The two teams were actually given all the clues they needed to escape in a locked briefcase. The problem was there were 4 locks to unlock. To unlock the locks they needed
to solve clues found in four different rooms. Each room unlocked a different lock. Each team got 15 minutes in the individual rooms but in 5 minute intervals. After 5 minutes elapsed each team had to proceed to the
next room. Once in the next room, the gamekeeper reset the previous room, so each team had to make sure they took notes or else they would have to start all over again. Unfortunately, this particular room has a
success rate of only about 25%. Needless to say, we didn't get out, but both teams were able to unlock 3 of the 4 locks on their briefcases. It didn't matter though. The kids all had a blast and the excitement
level was super high.
Keiro Kai is the celebration of the temple's senior members. It is a time when the entire Sangha can honor and thank them for all their hard work over the
years. This year, Miroku helped carry bentos to the tables for the attendees. They also distributed desserts after everyone finished their lunches. In the end it was a really nice luncheon where everyone was able to
sit down, talk, and enjoy each other's company.
Every year the Mountain View Buddhist Temple holds its annual Mochitsuki Fundraiser. This year, Miroku helped the MVBT VISION Committee fill out name tags
with the temple values printed on them for volunteers. This way, everyone who helped out would know who they were working with, and they could talk about the newly adopted temple values.
At the last general meeting (1/5/20) Miroku decided to organize a warm sock drive, appropriately named, "Fuzzy Feelings", to benefit the needy. To promote
this community service activity, members gathered in the YBA Hall to create signs to be hung around the temple. As you can see there were a lot of great ideas and amazing creativity.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit the world hard, and nations across the globe are trying to prevent the spread of the virus. In order to comply with state and county
mandates to shelter-in-place, the Mountain View Buddhist Temple halted all activities at the temple. Unfortunately, what that meant was Miroku was unable to hold any monthly meetings. The parent advisors felt they
should somehow try to keep the group together using technology that has become increasingly necessary in these unprecedented times. Zoom has quickly become the go-to software for virtual meetings so, with that in mind,
Miroku held its first ever virtual meeting this past Sunday. There was a great response as 14 members were able to participate, and then many stuck around to play Skribbl.io, an online Pictionary game, after the meeting.
