25th Annual Nembutsu Seminar
Saturday, February 12, 2022
10:30 a.m.
Where Will I Go When I Die?
Buddhist Education Committee
Shōshinge: Hymn of True Shinjin and the Nembutsu (Session 17)
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
We welcome you to join us via Zoom Meeting from the comfort and safety of your own home on Wednesday, February 9 for this free Dharma Study Class.
6:00 p.m. Shōshinge Sōfu Chanting
Chanting Shōshinge embodies the heart of daily Nembutsu practice in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. Join us to experience the settled the mind through focused breathing and meditative listening.
7:00 p.m. Reading and Discussion
This month’s session will explore the teachings of the Pure Land Master Vasubandhu, whose treatise on the Sutra of the Buddha of Immeasurable has guided many through the generations to take refuge in the Amida Buddha’s compassionate vow.
Bodhisattva Vasubandhu, composing a treatise, declares
That he takes refuge in the Tathagata of unhindered light,
And that relying on the sutras, he will reveal the true and real virtues,
And make widely known the great Vow by which we leap crosswise beyond birth-and-death.
Full text of Shōshinge
Handout
Notes on Vasubandhu
Coming soon!
To join us for this online Dharma Session, CLICK HERE and sign up for “Study Classes and Seminars”.
Shōshinge: Hymn of True Shinjin and the Nembutsu (Session 16)
Wednesday, January 12, 2022
This month’s session will continue to explore the teachings of the Pure Land Master Nagarjuna, who clarifies that mindfulness of Amida Buddha is the path swiftly realize the settled mind.
He teaches that the moment one thinks on Amida’s Primal Vow,
One is naturally brought to enter the stage of the definitely settled;
Solely saying the Tathagata’s Name constantly,
One should respond with gratitude to the universal Vow of great compassion.
Full text of Shōshinge
Handout
Notes on Nagarjuna and the Stage of the Truly Settled
Outline of the 52 Bodhisattva Stages
To join us for this online Dharma Session, CLICK HERE and sign up for “Study Classes and Seminars”.
Shōshinge: Hymn of True Shinjin and the Nembutsu (Session 15)
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
This month’s session will continue to explore the teachings of the Pure Land Master Nagarjuna, which open our minds to the easy path of entrusting in Amida Buddha.
Proclaiming the unexcelled Mahayana teaching,
He would attain the stage of joy and be born in the land of happiness.
Nagarjuna clarifies the hardship on the overland path of difficult practice,
And leads us to entrust to the pleasure on the waterway of easy practice.
Full text of Shōshinge
Handouts
Notes on Nagarjuna and Easy Practice
Outline of the 52 Bodhisattva Stages
To join us for this online Dharma Session, CLICK HERE and sign up for “Study Classes and Seminars”.
Reflections on Living in the Nembutsu
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
7:00 p.m.
Rev. Dr. Seigen
Yamaoka
Bishop Emeritus
Buddhist Churches of America
We welcome you to join us for an evening of conversation and Dharma sharing with a lifelong teacher who has inspired generations of seekers on the path of the Nembutsu.
We welcome you to join us via Zoom Meeting from the comfort and safety of your own home on Wednesday, December 1 for this Dharma session.
To join us for this online Dharma Session, CLICK HERE and sign up for “Study Classes and Seminars”. To protect the privacy of online participants and encourage free and open discussion, this session will not be recorded.
Featured image above: Rev. Dr. Seigen Yamaoka is shown with other Buddhist Study Center members in the 1950s. In front, from left, are: Rev Keisho Motoyama, Rev. Dr. William Masuda, Mr. Matsuo, Mr. Noboru Hanyu, and Rev. Hakushi Futaba. In back, from left, are: Rev. Dr. Yamaoka, Rev. Dr. Leslie Kawamura, Rev. Kanmo Imamura, Bishop Rev. Enryo Shigefuji, Rev. Dr. Taitetsu Unno, and Mr. Albert Kosakura. Not shown is member Rev. John Doami. (Courtesy of Berkeley Buddhist Temple)
Shōshinge: Hymn of True Shinjin and the Nembutsu (Session 14)
Wednesday, November 10, 2021
This month’s session will explore the teachings of the Pure Land Master Nagarjuna whose writings on the Middle Way serve as the foundation for the Mahayana Buddhist path to awakening.
Sakyamuni Tathagata, on Mount Lanka,
Prophesied to the multitudes that in south India
The mahasattva Nagarjuna would appear in this world
To crush the views of being and non-being;
Full text of Shōshinge
Handout
To join us for live online Dharma Sessions, CLICK HERE and sign up for “Study Classes and Seminars”.
Shōshinge: Hymn of True Shinjin and the Nembutsu (Session 13)
Wednesday, September 8, 2021
We welcome you to join us via Zoom Meeting from the comfort and safety of your own home on Wednesday, June 9 for this free Dharma Study Class.
6:00 p.m. Shōshinge Sōfu Chanting
Chanting Shōshinge embodies the heart of daily Nembutsu practice in Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. Join us to experience the settled the mind through focused breathing and meditative listening.
7:00 p.m. Reading and Discussion
This month we enter into the section of Shoshinge that is based on the teachings of the Seven Masters who transmitted the Pure Land teaching westward across Asia over the course of two millennia.
The masters of India in the west, who explained the teaching in treatises,
And the eminent monks of China and Japan,
Clarified the Great Sage’s true intent in appearing in the world,
And revealed that Amida’s Primal Vow accords with the nature of beings.
Full text of Shōshinge
Handout
To join us for this online Dharma Session, CLICK HERE and sign up for “Study Classes and Seminars”.
Why I Abandoned Sundry Practices
Wednesday, September 1, 2021
7:00 p.m.
Alexander O’Neill
Ph.D. Candidate, University of Toronto
Visiting Researcher, Taisho University, Tokyo
Alexander O’Neill is a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on Mahāyāna Buddhism. He does research on Mahāyāna sūtra literature and the Newar Buddhism of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. His recent publications have focused on the worship of sūtras in manuscript form, both in India and in Nepal. He came to Japan to perform research on Sanskrit ritual manual manuscripts at Taisho University, under the supervision of Ryugen Tanemura, as part of the Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai Canada fellowship. Due to the pandemic he continues to collaborate with local scholars by Zoom, and currently lives in Kamakura.
We welcome you to join us via Zoom Meeting from the comfort and safety of your own home on Wednesday, September 1 for this Dharma session.
To join us for this online Dharma Session, CLICK HERE and sign up for “Study Classes and Seminars”.
Shōshinge: Hymn of True Shinjin and the Nembutsu (Session 12)
Wednesday, August 11, 2021
The nembutsu is the easy path to awakening because its liberating power does not come from our own efforts. In this month’s gathering we will explore the challenges of entrusting our lives to Amida Buddha’s compassionate Vow.
For evil sentient beings of wrong views and arrogance,
The nembutsu that embodies Amida’s Primal Vow
Is hard to accept in shinjin;
This most difficult of difficulties, nothing surpasses.
Full text of Shōshinge
Handout
To join us for online Dharma Sessions, CLICK HERE and sign up for “Study Classes and Seminars”.
Shōshinge: Hymn of True Shinjin and the Nembutsu (Session 11)
In this session we reflect upon the Dharma truth expressed in the lotus, a symbol of pure awakening that blossoms, not in pristine clear water, but from the messy muck of everyday life.
All foolish beings, whether good or evil,
When they hear and entrust to Amida’s universal Vow,
Are praised by the Buddha as people of vast and excellent understanding;
Such a person is called a pure white lotus.