Thread by @EngagedPureLand

"Peace and Harmony: Lessons from the World Buddhist Women's Convention," a collection of threads on Jodo Shinshu Buddhist women's contributions to Buddhist social engagement.

The World Buddhist Women's Convention is a international conference of Jodo Shinshu women held every 4 years. It brings together thousands of people from across the world to discuss the Dharma and its application in the contemporary world.

The 9th Convention was held in Vancouver in 1990, with the theme "Peace and Harmony Through Nembutsu." This theme was chosen due to the importance that charity and peacework have played in the WBWC since its creation in 1961.

Dorothy Kagawa, of the Buddhist Churches of Canada Buddhist Women's Federation spoke at one of the panel sessions:

"I am a Nisei born in Vancouver. With the outbreak of World War II, all Japanese Canadians were forced to evacuate 1000 miles from the Pacific Coast. We moved to a self-supporting camp with no water or electricity.

"A two-room school was built and I was fortunate to be chosen as the teacher. Often I felt close to despair. My father boosted my morale with these words, 'Do not forget we are not the only ones who had to be evacuated--think of the others.'

"This is how we kept 'Peace and Harmony through Nembutsu' alive during the war years. The fact that the Canadian government publicly apologized to us in 1988 carries with it a great responsibility and duty among the Japanese Canadians.

"It is up to each and every one of us as Jodo Shinshu members to ensure that such an injustice WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN TO OTHERS! Through listening to the Dharma, saying Nembutsu, and helping to build a strong temple, we are training ourselves to be citizens of Peace and Harmony.

"As Canadians, we must reach out to Native Indians and recent refugees from S.E. Asia and help them achieve the same social equality that we now enjoy. We must search for more creative ways to make our Buddhist heritage relevant to the younger generation.

"This will mean personal study of the teachings, group study at the temples and offering to become involved in the religious education programs at our temples. Let us accept this challenge!"

Mrs. Kagawa's speech provides a succinct encapsulation of Jodo Shinshu Pure Land Buddhist values, practices, and their relation to social engagement.

She recalls the hardships of her past and her community's past, noting how the Jodo Shinshu way was to endure them by not focusing selfishly on one's own suffering but rather recognizing it as a shared experience, in which care for others is called for.

Having experienced suffering with others, she firmly charges Jodo Shinshu followers that they have a profound responsibility to ensure no other community faces such injustice as they have.

She provides a 4-point plan for carrying out this responsibility. First, listening to the Dharma. Deep listening is the primary Jodo Shinshu practice (rather than meditation, mantra, etc). It is by deeply soaking in the Dharma that the hardened ego-self breaks down.

Second, saying the nembutsu. In Jodo Shinshu the nembutsu is not a cause of awakening, but a response to awakening: it is a shout of gratitude when one awakens to the liberation of oneself and all others that is provided through Great Compassion.

Third, creating sangha, the community that supports each other's living and awakening. Sangha is where we first apply, improve, and develop our skills at creating peace and harmony in the world. Women's collective efforts have been essential to sustaining every Shin sangha.

Fourth, application of the Dharma in action. She specifically points out Indigenous peoples and Southeast Asian refugees as examples of those who should receive help and solidarity based on our desire to prevent anyone from experiencing injustice.

She ends with a call to make sure that the lessons of suffering, support, peace, and harmony of our Buddhist heritage are transmitted in relevant ways to each generation. She focuses on education as key, which is an area of women's specialty in Jodo Shinshu communities.

The women of the World Buddhist Women's Convention have been working to create a world of peace and harmony through their local temple and neighbourhood efforts, and through the Convention, for generations.

This Buddhist engagement is too often overlooked by approaches that focus on elite celebrity teachers/activists, on monastic (mainly male) Buddhism, on premodern texts, or on meditation. Pure Land women are major everyday engaged Buddhists, toiling constantly to help others.