At the San Mateo Buddhist Temple, October is the month in which we celebrate Buddhist women of the Nembutsu, including Shinran Shonin’s wife Eshinni and their youngest daughter Kakushinni, who worked tirelessly to ensure that the joy of the Nembutsu would be passed on to future generations. We also remember Lady Takeko Kujo, who promoted the well-being of all people at a time of social upheaval as Japan entered the modern word, Lady Yoshiko Ohtani, who provided much-needed inspiration and guidance for Jodo Shinshu Buddhists throughout the world during the period of healing and rebuilding following World War II, and all the deceased members of the San Mateo Buddhist Women’s Association.
The courageous leadership of Buddhist women in our tradition can be seen in earliest days of the flowering of the Pure Land teaching in Japan. Our founder Shinran Shonin’s teacher Honen Shonin taught that by simply entrusting in Amida Buddha’s compassionate vow to liberate all beings and reciting the Nembutsu, it was possible for any person to break free from the cycle of birth and death through birth in Amida Buddha’s realm of peace and bliss. At that time in Japan, many mainstream Buddhist teachers taught that people who engaged in professions such as fishing and leatherworking, those who had broken monastic precepts, and women in general were so burdened with negative karma that they would surely remain bound to the cycle of birth and death at the end of their present life.
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