Jodo Shinshu Buddhism for everyone
By Rev. Ken Yamada
An interesting discussion occurred recently about what’s happening at Jodo Shinshu Buddhist temples post-Covid. In-person services are returning, yet life definitely isn’t back to normal. Continue reading “After Covid, what’ll happen to temples?”
Born in São Paulo, Emilia Emy Urabe Kajimoto is a third-generation Japanese Brazilian. She grew up in the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist tradition at São Paulo Nambei Honganji temple, where her father worked as a missionary. From age five, she started chanting “Shoshinge” (Shinran’s Hymn of True Faith), and attended a local elementary school while living at the temple.
She found it difficult to explain who she was and where she lived to friends, who were primarily Catholic. She used Christian terms, which she felt they could understand, but felt it wasn’t quite right. She said, “I told my school friends that I lived in a church and that my father was a priest, even though I felt it was somewhat different.”
Look closely in your temple’s altar and you may spot various creatures lurking about, like strange, mythical birds and animals. Sitting atop an incense burner may be a lion dog. Continue reading “Buddhist symbols: Lion Dog”
While the pandemic this year shut down its summer bazaar, the Berkeley Higashi Honganji Buddhist temple is planning to sell some of its popular bazaar foods as a fundraiser in July. Order by July 5 as supplies are limited. For more information and online ordering click here: Berkeley Higashi Honganji
To download flyer and order form, click here: Summer Food Sale Order Form 2021
Among the exotic creatures you may find in a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist temple is a peacock. Continue reading “Buddhist symbols: Peacock”
Although considered the “second founder” of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, Rennyo Shonin shaped foremost how Shinshu is practiced today. Moreover, living in a turbulent era of civil unrest, religious persecution, and social upheaval, he literally saved the Honganji temple from the flames of war and conflict. Continue reading “Rennyo to the Rescue”