Jodo Shinshu Buddhism for everyone
By Rev. Marcos Sawada
As a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist minister, would people criticize me if I practiced meditation? Even within our Higashi Honganji denomination, I think most teachers and followers may feel meditation is a “self-power” approach to enlightenment and therefore destined to fail. Continue reading “Appreciating Meditation”
A debate rages these days on whether Jodo Shinshu temples should offer meditation. Proponents say meditation appeals to many people and will attract new members.
In Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, we already are doing meditation, says Toshikazu Arai, professor emeritus of Soai University in Osaka. It’s called nembutsu (also: nenbutsu). Continue reading “Nembutsu as Meditation”
Summer is for ghost stories in Japan, sending chills down spines on hot summer nights. Consider this ghost story involving Shinran Shonin. Continue reading “Ghost Stories and Shinran”
I first noticed what the Muslim prayer hall and our Buddhist temple had in common: no sign.
Summertime for many Buddhists means the season of Obon.
Many people associate Obon with Japanese dancing, when crowds of people wear traditional clothes, line up in circles in front of temples and happily dance to folk songs. However, there’s a deeper meaning.
The hot topic was meditation and Pure Land Buddhism, rarely discussed in Jodo Shinshu circles. But that was the theme of the International Association of Shin Buddhist Studies 19th Biennial Meeting in Taiwan last month. Continue reading “Scholars Debate Meditation and Pure Land”