Tag: Haya Akegarasu

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Faces Brightly Shining: Rev. Akegarasu and the Eternal Life Sutra

(credit: Cleveland Museum of Art)

By Rev. Patti Nakai

(This article was originally published in Buddhist Temple of Chicago’s Bulletin, August 1997)

It may sound paradoxical, but throughout Buddhism’s history, teachers who spoke most powerfully to people of their generation and to generations afterward looked backward in time to India and heard Shakamuni Buddha’s words directly as possible. They broke through layers of stale traditions and customs separating the Buddha’s time and their own. Continue reading “Faces Brightly Shining: Rev. Akegarasu and the Eternal Life Sutra”

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Seishinshugi: Shinshu’s Clash with the Modern World

Rev. Manshi Kiyozawa

By Rev. Ken Yamada

Today, government mandates clash with personal rights; an unprecedented rise in wealth clashes with unrelenting poverty; political upheaval, military expansionism, and redefined social mores and identity abound. In these changing times, we must ask, “Is Jodo Shinshu Buddhism relevant?”

These challenges confront us now, but they also confronted a small group of innovative Buddhist thinkers a century ago, spurring them to redefine, modernize and find meaning in Jodo Shinshu, which for the previous two centuries had stagnated and grown moribund. For their contributions, they were persecuted, some even excommunicated by their own denomination. Their writings continue to be studied, debated, and valued in understanding Shinshu today. Continue reading “Seishinshugi: Shinshu’s Clash with the Modern World”