Shōshinge: Hymn of True Shinjin and the Nembutsu (Session 29)

Posted on July 11, 2023September 22, 2023

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

We welcome you to join us via Zoom Meeting from the comfort and safety of your own home on Wednesday, October 11 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

Please join us as we encounter the teachings of Honen-bo Genku, Shinran Shonin’s teacher, who established a radically inclusive Sangha community where leading figures of high society sat shoulder to shoulder with outcastes and thieves to hear the message of Amida Buddha’s great compassion:

Master Genku, well-versed in the Buddha’s teaching,
Turned compassionately to foolish people, both good and evil;
Establishing in this remote land the teaching and realization that are the true essence of the Pure Land way,
He transmits the selected Primal Vow to us of the defiled world:

Shōshinge: Hymn of True Shinjin and the Nembutsu (Session 28)

Posted on June 13, 2023September 14, 2023

Wednesday, September 13, 2023

We welcome you to join us via Zoom Meeting from the comfort and safety of your own home on Wednesday, September 13 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

Please join us for a conversation about the teachings of the Japanese Pure Land Master Genshin, whose teachings offer the assurance that the light of the Buddha’s compassion is constantly illuminating our path forward in life, even when we are not aware of it.

The person burdened with extreme evil should simply say the Name:
Although I too am within Amida’s grasp,
Passions obstruct my eyes and I cannot see him;
Nevertheless, great compassion is untiring and illumines me always.

Open Dharma Q&A and Discussion with Rev. Giei Sasaki

Posted on June 6, 2023September 7, 2023

Wednesday, September 6, 2023

7:00 p.m.

Rev. Giei Sasaki

Hongwanji Guiding Dharma Teacher

Bring your Dharma questions and curiosity to this open conversation with Rev. Giei Sasaki, a leading thinker and scholar of the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist tradition.

To join us online for this hybrid Dharma Session, CLICK HERE and sign up for “Study Classes and Seminars”.

one long listening: a memoir of grief, friendship, and spiritual care

Posted on February 3, 2023May 5, 2023

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

7:00 p.m.

A conversation with Buddhist author Chenxing Han about her new book one long listening: a memoir of grief, friendship, and spiritual care.

Photo by Lan Le

Chenxing

Han

Institute of Buddhist Studies Alumnus

and Buddhist Author

Immigrant daughter, novice chaplain, bereaved friend: author Chenxing Han (Be the Refuge) takes us on a pilgrimage through the wilds of grief and laughter, pain and impermanence, reconnecting us to both the heartache and inexplicable brightness of being human.

Eddying around three autumns of Han’s life, one long listening journeys from a mountaintop monastery in Taiwan to West Coast oncology wards, from oceanside Ireland to riverfront Phnom Penh. Through letters to a dying friend, bedside chaplaincy visits, and memories of a migratory childhood, Han’s startling, searching memoir cuts a singular portrait of a spiritual caregiver in training.

We welcome you to join us in person at the San Mateo Buddhist Temple or via Zoom Meeting on Wednesday, May 3 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 27)

Posted on January 12, 2023September 13, 2023

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Please join us for a conversation about the teachings of the Japanese Pure Land Master Genshin, whose teachings set the stage for the flowering of the Pure Land teaching in Japan.

Genshin, having broadly elucidated the teachings of Sakyamuni’s lifetime,
Wholeheartedly took refuge in the land of peace and urges all to do so;
Ascertaining that minds devoted to single practice are profound, to sundry practice, shallow,
He sets forth truly the difference between the fulfilled land and the transformed land.

Buddhism and Social Welfare

Posted on January 5, 2023April 6, 2023

Wednesday, April 5, 2023

7:00 p.m.

Rev. Jundo Gregory Gibbs

Resident Minister

Pasadena Buddhist Temple

Supervising Minister

Buddhist Temple of San Diego

Supervising Minister

Arizona Buddhist Temple

Rev. Gibbs will be joining us via Zoom Meeting on Wednesday, April 5 for this Dharma session. We warmly welcome you to come to the San Mateo Buddhist Temple to view and participate in this session with other Sangha members in the Hondo.

To join us via Zoom, 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.

Shōshinge: Hymn of True Shinjin and the Nembutsu (Session 26)

Posted on December 8, 2022September 13, 2023

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

In this month’s session we will further explore the teachings of the Chinese Pure Land Master Shan-tao (Shandao), who illuminates the path to attaining the threefold wisdom realized by Queen Vaidehi.

Shan-tao alone in his time clarified the Buddha’s true intent;
Sorrowing at the plight of meditative and non meditative practicers and people of grave evil,
He reveals that Amida’s light and Name are the causes of birth.
When the practicer enters the great ocean of wisdom, the Primal Vow,

He receives the diamondlike mind
And accords with the one thought-moment of joy; whereupon,
Equally with Vaidehi, he acquires the threefold wisdom
And is immediately brought to attain the eternal bliss of dharma-nature.

Sangha Life After Covid: Continuity and Change

Posted on December 1, 2022March 2, 2023

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

7:00 p.m.

Rev. Blayne Higa

Resident Minister

Kona Hongwanji Buddhist Temple

As we begin to view the Covid-19 pandemic in the rearview mirror of our lives, we look forward to welcoming Rev. Blayne Higa via Zoom to share his perspective on the aspects of temple life that remained constant through the pandemic, as well as the lasting changes to temple life that have resulted from our Covid-19 experience.

Rev. Higa will be joining us via Zoom Meeting on Wednesday, March 1 for this Dharma session. We warmly welcome you to come to the San Mateo Buddhist Temple to view and participate in this session with other Sangha members in the Hondo.

To join us via Zoom, 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.

Experiencing The Power Beyond Self: How the Buddhist Teachings are Manifested in Our Helping Others

Posted on November 11, 2022February 15, 2023

26th Annual Nembutsu Seminar

Saturday, February 11, 2023

10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Rev. Dr. Yasushi

Kigoshi

Professor

Otani University

Visiting Scholar

University of California Berkeley

In this seminar, Rev. Dr. Kigoshi will talk about the series of weekend trips he and Otani University student volunteers took to the area affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The volunteers went to provide help to the disaster victims – cleaning out damaged properties and organizing gatherings for activities but most importantly, being there to listen and provide moral support without using the occasions for proselytizing. In this way, Prof. Kigoshi and the students learned concrete Dharma lessons about themselves and society.

Shōshinge: Hymn of True Shinjin and the Nembutsu (Session 25)

Posted on November 8, 2022September 13, 2023

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

In this month’s session we will encounter the teachings of the Chinese Pure Land Master Shan-tao (Shandao), who clarified the meaning of the Contemplation Sutra as an expression of the Buddha’s vast compassion for all beings.