Tag: manshi kiyozawa

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Kaneko’s Pure Land: A Case of Heresy

Kaneko Daiei

By Rev. Ken Yamada

Jodo Shinshu Buddhism teaches birth in the Pure Land. But what exactly is the Pure Land?

Disagreements abound—a heaven-like place where you go after death; a higher realm of consciousness; spiritual understanding in this life.

That debate reached a fevered pitch in 1920s Japan with priests, intellectuals, journalists, and laypeople weighing in. The most infamous perhaps was Shin scholar Kaneko Daiei (1881-1976), who asserted the Pure Land wasn’t a place, but rather an “idea.”

A firestorm of criticism ensued as scholars, priests, and laypeople holding more orthodox views lashed out. Buddhist sect authorities quickly hurled accusations of heresy. Blowback followed as students protested, academic staff resigned and others were fired. Threatened with excommunication, Kaneko was forced to resign his teaching post at Higashi Honganji’s Ōtani University. Continue reading “Kaneko’s Pure Land: A Case of Heresy”

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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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Kiyozawa: Stand on Solid Ground!

Lives built on false pretenses and erroneous views are destined to fall, like sand castles standing before ocean tides.

Manshi Kiyozawa knew such truth, his life ravaged by disease, job loss, the death of loved ones, and gnawing poverty. Yet, spiritually he stood strong. He wrote: “The most important thing is that we should find firm ground for our spirit to strike root in. We can build houses only on firm ground. Our spirit cannot stand firm if it has no foundation.” Continue reading “Kiyozawa: Stand on Solid Ground!”

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Delusion of Name and Form

Wheel of Life

By Rev. Ken Yamada

In today’s social media world, image is everything. Becoming an influencer, garnering “likes” and followers, evoking vibes of  “Cool,” “Young,” “Rebel,” “Rich,” “Happy.”

Is it really? Or just illusion? What makes such images appealing to us?

The Buddha contemplated this phenomenon more than two millennium ago and called it,  “name and form” (Sanskrit: nāma-rūpa). In other words, our minds attach names to objects (and vice versa), giving what we see real existence. Consequently, desires arise, and along with them, passions. Continue reading “Delusion of Name and Form”

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Where exactly is the Pure Land?

By Rev. Ken Yamada

When temple visitors ask, “Where’s the Pure Land,” I usually say, it’s in “a state of mind.” Is that correct? Many people thought differently, and some were persecuted for their views.

Even today, some Jodo Shinshu followers think when they die, they’ll go to the Pure Land, comforted by the thought of reuniting with deceased loved ones. For hundreds of years in Japan, such beliefs were common.

Nowadays it’s absurd to think the Pure Land exists as a real place. There’s no proof and it’s never been scientifically verified. But just 150 years ago, a debate erupted over the Pure Land’s actual existence. Continue reading “Where exactly is the Pure Land?”