Thread by @EngagedPureLand

Presenting “Rev. Kenryu Tsuji: Modern Buddhist Circuit Rider.” An offering in celebration of #AAPIHeritageMonth.

Takashi Tsuji was born in 1919 into a family of poor British Columbia farmers. His parents were immigrants to Canada from Shiga Prefecture, in central Japan. Despite his agricultural background, he determined to enter the Jodo Shinshu ministry.

Tsuji was the 1st Canadian to pursue ordination. He experienced culture and language issues while studying at Ryukoku University in Kyoto. Nevertheless, he achieved ordination, receiving the Dharma name Kenryu. He left Japan in Oct 1941 on the last ship to Canada before the war.

He was assigned to the Vancouver temple. The next month Japan attacked Hawai'i. Officials declared all Nikkei must be incarcerated. The Tsuji berry farm was seized and sold. Almost all ministers were rounded up. Tsuji, the only English speaker, took over the evacuation. He was 22

Tsuji traveled to survey the remote ghost towns the government was forcing the Japanese Canadians into. He raised money to help the refugees, arranged for guardians of the evacuees’ possessions, and provided constant moral and spiritual support.

Tsuji set up a temple in the Slocan camp, became principle of the camp elementary school, and met his future wife. He traveled camp to camp providing Buddhist services and leadership. When he was released in 1945 the Nikkei were forbidden to return to BC (this lasted until 1949).

Tsuji went to Ontario to aid the Nikkei being displaced eastwards. Many towns were hostile and refused them work and housing; Toronto officially wouldn’t let Nikkei other than university students live there. He laboured as a mushroom farmer, dishwasher, and chemical factoryworker

In 1946 in Toronto he organized the first Obon service in Canada, which led to the creation of the Toronto Buddhist Church. He established temples in Hamilton and Montreal, and study groups in Ottawa and Thunder Bay. He was the only Buddhist minister in the eastern half of Canada

Ministers were few in the eastern USA as well, and he was often on the road to serve Buddhist temples in both countries. He developed Buddhist Sunday School materials, weddings, and many other resources that became popular throughout Canada and the USA.

The Buddhist Churches of America hired Tsuji as the 1st director of the Bureau of Buddhist Education in 1959. In California he established the 1st Buddhist bookstore, dramatically increased the volume, organization, and quality of BCA educational materials, and held many seminars

In 1968 Tsuji became Bishop of the BCA. His election was groundbreaking. He was elected by American ministers rather than appointed by the Japanese headquarters. 50 years old, he was the youngest Bishop ever, and the first Nisei. He was ordained in California, not Japan.

Under Tsuji the BCA moved to new headquarters, accredited the 1st Buddhist seminary, created outreach programs to young Nikkei and to non-Asian Americans, professionalized ministerial benefits, and greatly expanded adult education programs, and produced Buddhist films.

Tsuji also led the BCA into greater public engagement. The BCA opposed school prayer and Creationism in textbooks, undertook prison ministry, participated in interfaith activities, assisted Vietnamese refugees, and supported women’s access to safe abortion.

He retired as Bishop in 1981 and moved to the Washington DC area to start founding temples again. Temples in northern and central Virginia, and study groups in North Carolina and Georgia, resulted. He served them as a circuit-rider, driving vast distances to support the Dharma.

Tsuji was ecumenically-minded. In 1974 Tsuji co-officiated (with Thich Thien-an and Hsuan Hua) the novice ordination of Karuna Dharma, who 2 years later became the 1st woman fully ordained in America. He was president of the World Conference on Religion and Peace from 1983-1989.

When Zen, Tibetan Kagyu, Chinese Pure Land, Vietnamese Mahayana, and Vipassana groups needed meeting space, he readily gave them the key to the temple he founded in Richmond, Virginia. Most became permanent member groups, creating a truly inter-denominational Buddhist temple.

Tsuji’s rural past contributed to an element of nature mysticism in his approach to Jodo Shinshu: “Here in Virginia, in the hot humid evenings the fireflies light up the lawns with their natural glow and the cicadas join the myriad of insects in the recitation of the Nembutsu.”

“The Nembutsu is the sound of the universe. It is the sound of the wind as it rustles the leaves; It is the roar of the waves as they rush toward the shore; It is the song of the robin, the whippoorwill and the chorus of cicadas on a summer evening.”

“Buddha-nature is not restricted solely to human beings. The fundamental Dharma teaches us that even ‘the mountains, rivers, trees, and grasses all possess Buddha-nature.’ This means not only human beings but...all things in the universe, possess the capacity to become a Buddha."

"Once a scientist asked me, ‘How can a rock become a Buddha?’ I replied, ‘When you have become a Buddha.’”

Tsuji passed away in 2004. Over 84 years he not only experienced the greatest transformations in North American Jodo Shinshu, he was critically influential in provoking or managing many of them. Countless temples, groups, and solo Buddhists were nurtured by his tireless efforts.

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