21600 Shaker Blvd, Shaker Heights, OH 44122
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Welcome to 2023
Our Next Shin Buddhist Service January 15, 2023
Sunday, January 15 Service:
- 9:45 AM: Sitting mediation, all levels, including beginners
- 10:30 AM: Shin Buddhist Sangha Gathering and Service: Rev. Anita Tokuzen Kazarian, January Memorial Service
Following the Service: Coffee service followed by Exploring Buddhism. An informal gathering for those who hear more about basic Buddhism. You are free to participate or not, it is up to you. We will read and discuss a short selection from Dr. Taitetsu Unno’s book River of Fire, River of Water. If you own a copy please bring it with you, if you do not, a copy to share will be available. This is free and open to everyone who attends the service.
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New Year's Greeting |
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OHTANI Kojun
Monshu
Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji- ha
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年頭の辞
新しい年のはじめにあたり、ご挨拶申し上げます。
まず、2022年2月に始まったロシア連邦のウクライナ侵攻に対して、私たち念仏者は親鸞聖人がお示しくださった「世のなか安穏なれ」のお言葉を改めて深く心に刻み、武力による他国の主権の侵害を強く非難するとともに、一刻も早くウクライナに平和が訪れることを願ってやみません。
さて、昨年も、世界では新型コロナウイルス感染症の流行が続きました。新型コロナウイルス感染症によりお亡くなりになられたすべての方々に、謹んで哀悼の意を表しますとともに、罹患されている皆様、後遺症を患われている皆様に心よりお見舞い申し上げます。また、医師や看護師をはじめとする医療従事者の方々、ライフラインの維持に努めておられる方々に深く敬意と感謝を表します。
新型コロナウイルス感染症の流行は、科学技術が発達し、医療も進歩した世の中にあっても、私たちの予想できない事柄が現実に起こるということを知らしめました。仏教を説かれたお釈迦様は、この世を諸行無常であると示されました。約2500年たってもそのことに変わりはありません。そして、この真理をそのままに受け入れることができず、悩み苦しむ私たちの姿も変わることはありません。
それ故にこそ、新型コロナウイルス感染症の流行以前も以後も変わることなく、親鸞聖人が説かれた浄土真宗のみ教えが、日々悩み苦しむ私たちの生きる支えとなります。阿弥陀如来を中心とするお寺の集まりは、み教えを聞く場であると同時に、同じみ教えを依りどころとする私たちがお互いに支え合い助け合って、安心して集うことのできる場でもあります。
皆さまには、今後も様々な工夫を凝らして、広くみ教えを伝えられることで、お寺に多くの方が集まり、その誰もが心穏やかに過ごせる場所となりますことを願っております。そして、引き続きお寺の活動にご理解とご協力を頂きますことをお願い申し上げ、年頭のご挨拶といたします。
2023年1月1日
浄土真宗 本願寺派 門主 大谷光淳
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New Year’s Greeting
OHTANI Kojun
Monshu
Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji- ha
Happy New Year, everyone! At the beginning of this New Year, I would like to extend my best regards to you all.
In view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022, as Nembutsu followers who have deeply inscribed in our hearts and minds Shinran Shonin’s message of “May there be peace in the world,” we firmly stand against the military infringement of the other nation’s sovereignty, and also aspire for immediate return of peace in Ukraine.
Over the last year, COVID-19 continues to be a global pandemic. I would like to offer my deepest condolences to those who fell victim to the disease and express my sympathies to those who are undergoing treatment. I would also like to express my respect and sincere gratitude to the doctors, nurses, and other frontline medical professionals who have been engaging in the treatment of infected people, as well as all essential workers who have made it possible for us to continue with our lives.
The pandemic has forced us to learn firsthand that we will continue to be confronted by unexpected situations even in modern times despite technologies both in science and medical fields being highly developed. Sakyamuni Buddha, who passed on the Dharma to us, made clear that there is no life nor entity in this world that lasts forever. This truth, the principle of impermanence, has never changed even in this time and age approximately 2500 years since his time. Another fact that does not change is our inability to accept this truth as it is, and because of this, we continue struggling.
This is the very reason why, regardless of the pandemic, we can rely on the Jodo Shinshu teaching clarified by Shinran Shonin, which guides us as a spiritual foundation that enables us to move forward even when being overwhelmed with difficulties. A gathering at the temple with Amida Buddha as its center provides a great opportunity to receive the Dharma as well as an occasion in which people can support and reassure one another as fellow practicers who follow the same teaching.
I hope you will continue to share the teaching within the greater society through various ways and your temple will or continue to serve as a place where people can gather and find comfort in its activities. I humbly ask for your understanding and cooperation in support of your temples. I would like to conclude my new year’s greeting with my heartfelt appreciation to you all.
January 1, 2023
OHTANI Kojun
Monshu
Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji- ha
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Dhammapada
Dhammapada, a collection of verses of Shakyamuni Buddha
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Otsu-e Nirvana of the Buddha (Otsu-e Butsu Nehnazu) 1800s Hakuen (Japanese, active 1820-1870) Japan, Meiji period (1868-1912) Cleveland Museum of Art |
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Evil: 127 - 128 |
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Not up in the air,
nor in the middle of the sea,
no going into a cleft in the mountains
– nowhere on earth –
is a spot to be found
where you can stay & escape
your evil deed.
Not up in the air,
nor in the middle of the sea,
not going into a cleft in the mountains
– nowhere on earth –
is a spot to be found
where you could stay & not succumb
to death.
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Happy New Year SHUU-SHO-E |
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Rev. Ron Miyamura
Supervising Minister - Cleveland Buddhist Temple
Resident Minister – Midwest Buddhist Temple
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According to the ancient Japanese tradition, we begin each year fresh and a-new. We should not be dragging old things into the New Year; this means, we do not bring grudges and hatreds into the New Year.
As we are prone to do, let us look forward to the New Year with great hopes. The year 2023 will be filled with the usual ups-and-downs and with the usual happiness-and-sorrow….yet, we all hope that everything will be up and everything will be happiness.
This is one of the great things about being human, about being here in 2023….for the most part, we are warm, comfortable, safe. Thus, we do not have to worry about food, shelter, clothing and such basic things.
In Japanese, this holiday is called SHUU-SHO-E. It means to observe the New Year’s gathering. But it is interesting on how we get there….the characters are a bit obtuse. The first character is CHUU which means obtain, master or repair. The second character is SHO which has many meanings, but usually right, correct, exact, proper or true. The third character is E which means gathering.
So the meaning comes from the sense of proper repairing. Or, to start off correctly…..the first service of the year is to make sure we start properly….and we need to take care of ourselves right now….with this Pandemic, we are all suffering from isolation and loneliness. I am sure feelings like anger and sadness can sometimes feel overwhelming, which again are feelings beyond our control.
We look at ourselves and wonder how much this Pandemic has really affected me. We have to admit that we are all suffering to some degree of mental illness. And once we can admit it, we can start to do something about it…..we can seek out things to do that bring us small pleasures and a sense of satisfaction of doing something.
Perhaps, we can do some small things that help us cope with isolation or loneliness by doing something new….or maybe something old…..maybe it is writing a letter to an old friend or maybe it is to make a new friend.
As we look ahead to the New Year, Buddhism is telling us….don’t get ahead of yourself. Each and every day is a new day and today is the only day you have. We are reminded in Buddhism to always have a Beginner’s Mind. That is, to always start at the beginning….it sounds so logical, but our minds are such that we tend to jump in, somewhere in the middle. Thus, we are not prepared.
Today, we begin new. We leave the baggage of last year behind. And we look forward to the New Year with a fresh outlook and an all new attitude for going into the new year with a Beginner’s Mind.
Year of the Rabbit….to be gentle, quiet, elegant….patient and responsible.
Namu Amida Butsu – with gratitude and kindness beyond words.
Rev. Ron Miyamura
Supervising Minister
Cleveland Buddhist Temple
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Excerpts of Buddhist voices across teachings, across continents, across time.
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The Teaching of the Buddha
The Poison Arrow
(or, the unanswered questions)
The venerable Māluṅkyāputta comes to the Master and expresses his astonishment that the Master’s discourse leaves a series of very important and deepest questions unanswered. Is the world eternal or is it limited by the bounds of time? Is the world infinite or does it have an end? Is the living being identical with the body or different from it? Does the Perfect One (tathāgata) live on beyond death? Does the Perfect One not live on beyond death? It pleases me not, says the monk, that all this should remain unanswered, and I do not think it right; therefore I am come to the Master to interrogate him about these doubts. May it please the Buddha to answer them if he can. “When anyone does not understand a thing and does not know it, then a straightforward man says: I do not understand that, I do not know that.”
The Buddha answers: “What have I said to thee before now, Māluṅkyāputta? Have I said: Come, Māluṅkyāputta, and be my disciple; I shall teach thee, whether the world is everlasting or not everlasting, whether the world is finite or infinite, whether the vital faculty is identical with the body or separate from it, whether the Perfect One lives on after death or does not live on, or whether the Perfect One lives on and at the same time does not live on after death, or whether he neither lives on nor does not live on?”
“That thou hast not said, sire.”
“Or hast thou,” the Buddha goes on, “said to me: I shall be thy disciple, declare unto me, whether the world is everlasting or not everlasting, and so on?”
This also Māluṅkyāputta must answer in the negative.
A man, the Buddha proceeds was struck by a poisoned arrow, and his friends and relatives called in a skillful physician. What if the wounded man said: “I shall not allow my wound to be treated until I know who the man is by whom I have been wounded, whether he is a noble, a brahman, a vaiśya, or a śūdra”; or what if he said “I shall not allow my wound to be treated until I know what they call the man who has wounded me, and of what family is, whether he is tall, or small, or a middle stature, and how the weapon with which he struck me was made.” What would the end of the case be? The man would die of his own wound.
Why has the Buddha not taught his disciples whether the world is finite or infinite, whether the accomplished one lives on beyond death or not? Because the knowledge of these things does not conduce to progress in holiness, because it does not contribute to peace and enlightenment. What contributes to peace and enlightenment the Buddha has taught his own: the truth of suffering, the truth of the origin of suffering, the truth of the cessation of suffering, the truth of the path to the cessation of suffering.
“Therefore, Māluṅkyāputta, whatsoever has not been revealed by me, let that remain unrevealed, and what has been revealed, let it be revealed.”
Excerpt in gratitude from: Johannes Bronkhorst, Buddhist Teaching in India (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2009)
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Cleveland Buddhist Temple Services |
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Funeral • Memorial • Memorial with Sangha |
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As Buddhists, death is a time of transformation from this life of samsara. It is also a time for the family and friends of the deceased to hear the teachings of the Buddha on impermanence. The minister’s message and the sutra chanting form the core of the funeral service. Funeral gatherings are for the sake of the living and attendance by family and friends is encouraged.
Understanding death is necessary to understand life. As Rennyo, our 8th Monshu in the 15th century), writes in his Letter on White Ashes: "The fragile nature of human life underlies both the young and old."
The Funeral Services may be conducted at a location chosen by the family and coordinated with the Resident Minister. A Homyo or Buddhist name, which reflects the life of the deceased, is chosen by the Supervising Minister and presented by the Resident Minister at the service. This Homyo accompanies the deceased as she or he passes on to Buddhahood.
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Families may arrange to hold the following Memorial Services following the Funeral or in place of a funeral service. They may be private services arranged with the Resident Minister, or they may be held with the Sangha at the monthly service.
Cycles for holding Memorial Services following a Funeral are based on ancient Japanese counting; it is the Memorials that are held, not the years following death.
- First week (7th day) following burial or cremation - The first memorial service to be held is also called the seventh day service. This service is usually held after the burial or cremation. It is the first time the family gathers together after the physical body of their loved one is no longer among them. It is the time to turn to one another for support and listen to the Dharma for strength and guidance.
- Seventh week (49th day) about a month and a half to two months after death - The next is on the 49 day period of mourning after death and is another opportunity to listen to the Dharma.
- Hatsu-bon memorial is held on the 1st year anniversary from date of death. It is held during the Temple’s annual Obon Service held in July of each year
For the traditional calendar of services following Obon, please speak with the minister.
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Monthly Memorial Service |
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A tradition that evolved in the United States is our Monthly Memorial Service. It takes place on the third Sunday of each month and is part of our Shin Buddhist Service. We recognize the names of those who passed in that designate month and offer incense in gratitude. This Memorial Service is shared with our Sangha and guests. Family and friend are encouraged to attend in the month their loved one is remembered with gratitude.
Memorial services have a long history in Buddhism. Family and close friends gather at the memorial services to help emphasize that death is a natural occurrence in life and is not something to be feared. It is an opportunity of reinforcing family ties beyond one's immediate family and which helps to create a sense of continuity from generation to generation.
The memorial service in Shin Buddhism is not for the sake of the dead. In holding the service in memory of the deceased, we acknowledge our ties to the various causes and conditions in our life that allow us to exist.
Memorial services provide us with the opportunity to quietly meditate or reflect upon the cherished memories of the deceased and they remind us of the impermanency of life. This reflection brings us to further awareness of our own changing existence. As we recall the countless benefits bestowed upon us by the deceased, there arises within us a feeling of gratitude toward the deceased and others for making life possible for us.
By realizing the true significance of memorial services in light of the Shin teaching, it will become more significant and meaningful to us. In the Western tradition the family registers the name of the deceased to be remembered each year, thereafter, in that month’s Memorial Service.
Sangha members may submit names of loved ones to Rev. Anita to be registered in the proper month.
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All welcome to attend the virtual Eastern Buddhist League Conference |
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Join us for our 2023 Eastern Buddhist League (EBL) conference Saturday, February 11 (10am CST/11am EST/ 8am PST). This half-day event is free and held virtually on Zoom. We will begin with an EBL-wide service and Dharma Talk shared by Rev. Kurt Rye, from Ekoji Buddhist Temple. This will be followed by a presentation with Q&A given by Rev. Dr. David Matsumoto, President of the Institute of Buddhist Studies. The theme of the conference is “Nembutsu as Living,” a phrase taken from the book Heart of the Shin Buddhist Path: A Life of Awakening by Rev. Dr. Takamaro Shigaraki and translated by Rev. Dr. Matsumoto. ‘;
The Eastern Buddhist League consists of Jodo Shinshu Temples and Sanghas in the eastern part of North America. Due to the vast geographical distance between temples, it has been a way to share resources and stay connected. The EBL has a long history beginning with their first meeting in 1946. The photo in the attached flyer shows the 1947 gathering in New York City.
There is no fee. All are welcome. To register: https://bit.ly/EBL2023registration.
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Supervising Minister
Rev. Ron Miyamura
Resident Tokudo Minister
Rev. Anita Tokuzen Kazarian - rev.anita.cbt@outlook.com
Buddha Post is published by the Cleveland Buddhist Temple, 21600 Shaker Blvd, Shaker Heights, OH 44122
The Cleveland Buddhist Temple is an affiliate of the Buddhist Churches of America, founded in 1899:
https://www.buddhistchurchesofamerica.org/
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