Minister, Who Had a Life With Highs and Lows, Found the Nembutsu Path
Editor’s note: The Wheel of Dharma is honored to publish this eulogy of BCA Minister Emeritus Rev. Rebecca Joren MacDonald, who passed away on Aug. 19, 2024, at the age of 82 in Kingsburg, California. Kingsburg Buddhist Church member Dr. Nancy Doi Wilson served as a caretaker for Rev. MacDonald.
Born in 1941, Judith Rebecca MacDonald considered her life one filled with “chicken or feathers.” She experienced high society at the topmost levels and the depths of financial and emotional poverty.
Raised by a mother who switched from household to household, Judith Rebecca sometimes had the best: the mink stole that was worn to a dance and dragged on the ground as advised by her mother; parents who asked servants to help raise their child; boarding and finishing schools and uniforms. She was trained how to serve English tea and ride horses.
But she also experienced the lowest of the low, evenings of hunger, trauma, physical and emotional abuse, homelessness, and feelings of being unloved. She told me of her regrets as a mother, having to feed her children popcorn so they were not hungry, working jobs of cleaning the houses no one else would in order to earn money while driving herself to earn her bachelor’s degree and later, her master’s degree. She told me of nights arriving home and falling asleep on the toilet.
Despite it all, or perhaps because of these wild swings up and down, the chicken and the feathers, she sought out Buddhism. Her training and dedication resulted in the name of Joren Sensei to which I had always referred to her. I think that it was through this name, she experienced a rebirth that allowed her to step away from her childhood trauma and experience the middle ground of the Buddhist teachings enabling stability and calm.
BCA Minister Emeritus Rev. Rebecca Joren MacDonald passed away on Aug. 19, 2024, at the age of 82 in Kingsburg, California. Throughout her ministry, Rev. MacDonald served the Buddhist Temple of Marin, Seabrook Buddhist Temple, Buddhist Church of Florin, Fresno Betsuin Buddhist Temple, Visalia Buddhist Church and Hanford Buddhist Church. A funeral service was held Sept. 14, 2024, at the Kingsburg Buddhist Church.
As a psychologist, I believe I recognize and sometimes resonate with the pain of others. I returned to Kingsburg in 2009 after the death of my own mother and so my children could begin attending a small country school.
I found Joren Sensei living in an extremely modest home surrounded by immigrant workers who only spoke Spanish in Parlier. The level of poverty shocked me as I remembered Joren Sensei when I was younger in the beautiful sumptuous gowns and surroundings of the temple of silks and gold. Chicken or feathers.
I found out later that she had retired unexpectedly and was not prepared financially to live without any further assistance. She would say, “It is what it is …” and found some connection through a few Spanish-speaking neighbors. Her main connections occurred through the Kingsburg church luncheons with Sharon Ezaki asking her to present Dharma talks occasionally. She truly looked forward to those get-togethers.
I began helping her with transportation to medical appointments and errands as our friendship grew. Joren’s friendship could be complicated, but overall it was uplifting, despite her circumstances as she handled her life situation with such grace and humor.
We shared many luncheons on our outings as we both loved to eat. And she knew her sushi from her time in Japan training to become a minister. I enjoyed her company especially since she had been grandfathered in as a psychologist herself. She was an accomplished poetry therapist and worked with the prison population. I could really learn from this woman. And learn I did.
I was astounded by the knowledge that Joren Sensei held. Want to know how to ride a Harley-Davidson motorcycle? Have a nursing question? How about a question about Buddhism and how to practice the Dharma? Want to know about zebra finches? Joren Sensei knew.
She asked my husband Tom to help her build a zebra finch enclosure. She made her own nests for the birds and they were so successful, they had so many babies she had to find other homes for them. She could sew, refinish her own furniture, and she raised obscure and sometimes strange looking plants. Her backyard went from a barren dirt yard to a beautiful oasis, in part with help from the Ezakis supplying some of their famous sago palms. She even knew how to play banjo and accordion and could sink an 8-ball for the win in pool.
When she moved to Park Kingsburg, a retirement facility, she would give numerous hugs as part of her morning routine. I believe she even had a boyfriend for a bit. What an inspiration to keep living life to its fullest.
Over time, she shared horrific stories of her childhood and I know that she had many emotional scars from her experiences. She had regrets, especially with her children. However, she also recognized that her circumstances were so limiting. She married when she was 14 to get out of the house and was a single parent to four children by age 20. Without good role models, good parenting was nearly impossible.
I believe she tried to compensate later by admitting many others into her life with compassionate acceptance and kindness. Perhaps too much, much like the Zen monk who gives his only robe to the thief in the night, I think Joren Sensei regretted not being able to give even more — more to her children, more to her church and congregation, and especially more to those less fortunate.
We shared many dog experiences. I picked up my half-beagle as a stray while dropping her off one day. She raised my sister-in-law’s Chihuahua for companionship. She finally adopted a white terrier mix mutt, Annie, who was shy and did not like to cuddle.
I gave her my sweet, friendly dog, Mochi, because Annie was limited as an affectionate dog. Mochi needed to be a lap dog who needed more. My family was hardly home, involved with school, soccer and band, so I hardly saw my own dog. Joren Sensei loved Mochi and they lived the best life for three months. Unfortunately, Mochi was attacked by another Rottweiler in Joren Sensei’s front yard. She used her nursing skills to keep him alive for another week, but we had to put him down. Highs and lows.
She wrote a memoir for posterity in which she called herself a “mutt priest.” Much like the mutts she loved, she was a mixture having grown up in the Christian faith, finding refuge in Buddhism, having experienced the worst of human condition yet growing to eventually demonstrate her best to others.
She had an odd conglomeration of skills and talents: Her ability to fit in to high society, a pool hall, a motorcycle ride, or an all-male Japanese Buddhist priesthood. She transformed the worst into the best that she could and, in the end, I believe, dictated how she chose to live her life within the parameters given to her.
Thank you Joren Sensei for the lessons in my life and for modeling resilience in the face of overwhelming odds, for recognizing how you wanted to live your life surrounded by the best quality and not spending time with those who would have been a waste of your efforts and time.
Joren Sensei was an inspiration, giving to others when she truly knew hunger and want. She gave her all to life. And I believe in the end, when her life lacked quality, she chose to seek the Other Shore with dignity.
A funeral service for Rev. MacDonald was co-officiated by the Buddhist Churches of America and Visalia Buddhist Church and Kingsburg Buddhist Church on Sept. 14, 2024, at the Kingsburg Buddhist Church.
Rev. MacDonald is survived by her daughters, Diann Rogers and Holly MacDonald. I would like to thank the BCA for their recognition of Joren Sensei’s status as a Buddhist minister today and would sincerely like to thank Kingsburg Buddhist Church for their friendship, support and assistance throughout the life of Joren Sensei. I would like to thank Joren Sensei’s daughters for their extraordinary efforts to attend and help each other and to Anna Rouge and Ellen Tanimoto for their unwavering friendship, phone calls and produce.
We are so very thankful to Delta Health nursing facility and the many dedicated staff that helped Joren Sensei retain as much humanity as possible, including Ashley for her discussions of Japanese culture and sneaking in Japanese snacks, to Flo for her medical consultations, to Day for keeping me informed and Courtney and Alex for their patience and nursing skills and to all the other numerous people lending their support and expertise through the difficult process of aging and the ending of a life.
Finally, I would like to thank John Urabe and Lisle Funeral Home for their generosity and donation in making this funeral happen and recognizing Joren Sensei’s contribution to the community, seeing her the way that I did and for being so kind and understanding.
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