Minister Articles

No make hard
G Sakamoto

I have thought of the Three Poisons of hatred, greed and ignorance as drivers that push us along through the six realms of existence, through samsara, through the rounds of birth-and-death. The samsara mandala depicts this as a wheel with six spokes. The spokes separate the realms of hells, hungry ghosts, fighting spirits, heavenly beings, humans and animals. On the outer rim of the mandala is the twelve chain of causation. At the hub, around which ...

By K. Ken Fujimoto
From the June 2012 edition of The Dharma

As I have mentioned before, there are times that we need to do housekeeping chores to inform people of upcoming events.  This tends to happen just before the summer vacation/Obon season and this year seems to be no different.

Item #1 – Some of you may have heard that there is a Hongwanji Temple in Katmandu, Nepal.  The temple was founded in 2006, and has its roots in a group ...

G Sakamoto
From the June 2012 edition of The Dharma

When was the last time you invited a friend to a Sunday morning service at the temple? Have you ever invited a friend? Most likely the last time was when you were in grade school. Ever wonder why that is.

We should feel comfortable with our religious life. Things have changed over the years. Although some may still see Buddhism as an exotic Oriental tradition, many people, and probably your friends are ...

G Sakamoto

Last October, at a delegates meeting of the Federation of Buddhist Women’s Associations, I challenged the participants in a workshop to rethink how we produce materials and share the Buddhadharma.

We no longer need to be tied to the model of printing materials that we’ve followed in the past. That model required a specific number of books to be ordered and printed by a publisher. The cost of each book often is related to the number of copies to be ...

New and Improved!

Reflections on the Betsuin Vision Statement

K. Ken Fujimoto

“To learn and to share the Jodo Shinshu understanding of the Three Treasures – Buddha, Dharma and Sangha”

The statement above is the new vision statement for our Betsuin.  Though it is new to us as a temple, it is actually a restatement of the traditional basis for religious education in Jodo Shinshu,  jishin kyonin shin (?????), which is generally translated as “to have faith and to teach others faith” (more detail ...