Author Archive

G Sakamoto

Shinran thought of himself as neither priest nor layman. Until he was exiled from Kyoto Shinran led the life of a priest. He spent twenty years as a monk on Hieizan and six years with Honen. When they were exiled their stripped of their religious identity. Shinran no longer thought of himself as a priest, but having lived that life for so long, he did think of himself as a layperson. He no longer shaved his head ...

K. Ken Fujimoto

Like many of you, I have been watching the Winter Olympics and much of what I see totally amazes me. Who comes up with the ideas for some of these events? Who came up with the idea to jump off a cliff after skiing down a steep slope to try and land over 100, 200, even 300 yards away? Who decided that they should go head first down ...

G Sakamoto

There was a very devout Shinshu follower who lived in Japan many years ago. One day he heard that a fire was burning at the Hongwanji. Unable to go and help fight the fire he did the only thing he could do: he shook a wet blanket in the direction of the Hongwanji.

With so much going on in the world, sometimes we might feel overwhelmed. Swept under by the flood of news coming to us from around the world. ...

K. Ken Fujimoto

When studying in Japan, my major was Shin Buddhist Studies, but my particular area of focus was Jodokyo Kyo Rishi, or the historical development of Pure Land thought. The reason for this was that I felt knowing the concepts and how they developed historically would better enable me to explain those concepts in a ...

K. Ken Fujimoto

We have been fortunate here in San Jose and the Coast District to have the four International Ministers Orientation Program (IMOP) students visiting and participating in events and programs here. These students are young ministers who are going to be overseas ministers in Hawaii, Canada or our BCA or are strongly considering the possibility. They come to the Jodo Shinshu Center and the BCA ...