Two Thousand Ancestors

In the summer of 1986, I visited Japan, and with the help of my father traced my ancestors back three generations. Because my infant name was partially borrowed from my great grandfather's, and I also gave names borrowed from my grandfather to my three children, I wanted to trace my ancestry.

Some people take their parents' or grand-parents' names, while others inherit money and estates of their ancestors. Heredity is not only names, money, and estates, but also character, habits, constitution of body, intelligence, and many other things.

Have you ever wondered how many ancestors you have? EVERY person in this world has two parents, four grand parents, eight great grand parents, sixteen great grand parents, and it keeps going back. In every generation, you multiply by two. Two becomes four, which make eight, which get sixteen, 32, 64, and so on until 1024. So when you add all of them, from your parents to 10 generations ancestors back, in ten generations, the number of your ancestors becomes over 2,000 people. That is, over 2,000 people were directly connected to you in order for you to be born in this world. Without any one of them, you would never have existed in this world.

You are not merely born by your parents' love affair only, but also at least over two thousand ancestors are directly or indirectly been involved in your character, habits, your body, and inheritance of money and states.

Therefore, Buddhists hold many memorial services for their ancestors again and again and show their appreciation to their ancestors. Remember, each one of us has over 2,000 ancestors in the last ten generations.

September 16, 1986