"On Venerating Problematic Patriarchs," a thread about the specific ways that Jodo Shinshu honours great sages of the past. Yesterday, a tweeter tried to play "Gotcha" by claiming that homophobic hate should be acceptable in contemporary Jodo Shinshu because we honour Vasubandhu as a patriarch of the Pure Land way, whom the poster characterized as homophobic.

Yesterday morning, the Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple (Jodo Shinshu) caught fire. There is damage throughout, but the worst is confined to the basement; the main hall primarily has smoke damage. The altar was mostly spared. Details about how to help will be forthcoming The temple got its start in 1942, when Japanese Americans were put into concentration camps. Farms in the Treasure Valley needed labour; internees who agreed to work were released from the incarceration camps and sent to farm labour camps instead. The formal temple opened in 1947

American Buddhist immolates himself to protest climate crisis inaction, following in the footsteps of Vietnamese monks during the Vietnam War and Tibetans in Chinese-occupied Tibet. Namandabu, namandabu, namandabu.

https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1517934107136864258

To provide some context, here is an extract from Thich Nhat Hanh's letter to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1965:

"The self-burning of Vietnamese Buddhist monks in 1963 is somehow difficult for the Western Christian conscience to understand.

@kodonishimura Nishimura Kodo grew up in a Pure Land Buddhist temple family. Labeled male, attracted to men, feeling both masculine and feminine, drawn to make-up, and other "female" things, he didn't fit conventional categories. This raised issues during his monastic training. As he describes in his book, This Monk Wears Heels, gender matters when performing certain rituals:

"Men always step with their left foot and women with their right. But as someone who identifies as both male and female, what should I do?..."
penguinrandomhouse.com/books/697260/t…

@BuddhismViews is the author of the new "An Introduction to Engaged Buddhism." In the book and a recent Twitter thread, he wrestles productively with the somewhat obscure nature of the term "engaged Buddhism," which is usually ascribed to Thich Nhat Hanh.

https://twitter.com/BuddhismViews/status/1438908524596285441

In the second half of 1963, TNH published an essay series titled “Aujourd’hui le Bouddhisme” in the new Parisian journal Tin Tuong. They were collected, edited, and published in Paris in 1964 as “Aujourd’hui le Bouddhisme,” his first book in a European language.

Midwest Buddhist Temple successfully requested support from the Social Welfare Fund of the Buddhist Churches of America for 3 Chicago-area nonprofits this year. Please consider making your own donation in honour of their good work. Apna Ghar provides services for victims of gender violence, and works to combat the causes of such violence. They particularly focus on immigrant, refugee, and marginalized community needs. BCA's donation of $5000 will buy 20 Chromebooks for clients.
apnaghar.org

Rev. Ron Miyamura is the head minister of the Midwest Buddhist Temple, in Chicago. He has been involved with nonviolent direct action since the 1960s. His series "Ask Reverend Ron" deals with common questions asked at the temple. Today: Buddhist political activism Q: "What are the political implications of Buddhism? In an age where politics is such a big part of our lives, and there are so many issues that cause pain and suffering, should we be active and engaged in the political process? ...

Three of the 31 original founders of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship were Jodo Shinshu Pure Land Buddhists, including all of the Asian-American founders. Though not among the list of official founders published in 1979, a fourth Jodo Shinshu Buddhist, Ryo Imamura, was long acknowledged as one of the two true originators of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship (along with Zen teacher Robert Aitken). The BPF page carried his bio until 2012

This is a Buddhist image. It might not look that way to you at first. Can you guess how it is Buddhist?
@BodiesBuddhist #BuddhistStudies #gender #ritual #amrel #visualculture #Buddhism It doesn't LOOK Buddhist according to how we imagine Buddhist images should look. They should depict placid buddhas, wise monks, or dazzling mandalas.

A thread about the dread we feel as we face a future of disaster. 1/18 Buddha taught that dukkha (suffering) arises when things change, we get things we don't want, lose things we want, or don't get things we want. Life includes anticipation of loss/change, called anticipatory grief. We could call it anticipatory dukkha 2/18
realsimple.com/health/mind-mo…

Midwest Buddhist Temple: "While the temple provides the venue and the opportunity to listen to the Dharma and to study the Buddha’s teachings...it also aims to provide assistance for the welfare of the community beyond the circle of the Sangha. "As the central focus of the community, the temple and its ministers and members have a responsibility to society at large." This manifests in many ways.
They advise people to help Afghan refugees resettle in the US by donating time and money to RefugeeOne
refugeeone.org

@LionsRoar editor @MelvinMcLeodSun, in an otherwise moving editorial, commits serious Pure Land Erasure: he mislables the famous #haiku master Issa as a "Zen master."

Issa, as is well known, was a Jodo Shinshu monk. #AAPI #BuddhistStudies #Buddhism
lionsroar.com/this-world-of-… McLeod is actually getting his misinformation from Zen teacher @John_Tarrant, who in the same issue mislables Issa as a "Zen poet."

Which points to the larger nature of the issue.
lionsroar.com/where-oh-where…

This comes down to the status quo feeling OK to some (white) people, but not to other (Black etc) people. When group #2 tells #1 that they're suffering, #1 decides that their comfort is more important than #2's suffering. Their ears and hearts are closed.
lionsroar.com/the-maras-of-p… Regardless of what actions you think are needed, a better Buddhist response would be to start by accepting that Black people feel suffering. It's not like they're lying. Then asking yourself if you're OK with them suffering, and with your sangha causing some of their suffering.

"Think Reusable" is a Girl Scout project created by San Mateo Buddhist Temple member Hailey La Monte. The goal is spreading awareness to the temple sangha about single-use products and how you can reduce your environmental footprint. This project was inspired by the EcoSangha movement of the BCA, which promotes ecology in the Buddhist sanghas and reminds us to be mindful of our environmental impact as Buddhists. "To be a Buddhist," Hailey notes, "is to work towards helping those around us, and our planet."

Techno Pure Land Buddhism!

Jodo Shinshu monk @gyosen_asakura Asakura Gyosen offers memorial services based on techno music, EDM lighting, and CGI. Here's an English-language video for context:
These services are hoyos (memorials)--the most frequent and thus central form of Jodo Shinshu temple practice. But they're not mere morbid death-oriented services. They are moments of encounter with the Great Compassion of Amida Buddha and the sensual liberation of the Pure Land.

This is a Buddhist object. It might not look that way to you at first. Can you guess how it is Buddhist? It doesn't LOOK Buddhist according to how we imagine Buddhist things should look. They should show some Asian aesthetic, such as Tibetan art styles. They should depict grand buddhas or wise monks, or be tools for meditation or mantra practice. They should be traditional (ancient)

"Nembutsu Echoes," a further thread in the "Peace and Harmony: Lessons from the World Buddhist Women's Convention" series.

Previous threads here:

https://twitter.com/EngagedPureLand/status/1437746737926520832

https://twitter.com/EngagedPureLand/status/1437466727437279242

Thousands of Jodo Shinshu women gathered in Vancouver in 1990 for the 9th World Women's Buddhist Convention, held in Vancouver in 1990. There they stated their values in a Convention Declaration:

"The Creativity of Ignorance in American Buddhism," a quick excerpt from Jeff Wilson "Mourning the Unborn Dead (2009). From p.114: "One of the ironies of studying Buddhism in America is the eventual realization that ignorance, the bugaboo of Buddhism, is at times just as responsible as understanding for the creative development of distinctive forms of Buddhism...

@agleig So, a lot of it comes down to framing of topics, it would seem. You and @LangenbergAmy are able to collaborate across vast times (and therefore use different methods) because your topic isn't "such-and-such text" or "such-and-such group," but a broader theme: sexual misconduct. @agleig @LangenbergAmy For some, this sort of project seems semi-legit and squishy since it isn't deep, deep investigation of a singular text/site (the bread-and-butter of Buddhist Studies, historically-speaking). For others, it's a breath of fresh air because otherwise these topics never get addressed

"The Lei of Aloha," a further thread in the "Peace and Harmony: Lessons from the World Buddhist Women's Convention" series.

Previous thread here:

https://twitter.com/EngagedPureLand/status/1437466727437279242

At the 9th World Women's Buddhist Convention, held in Vancouver in 1990, 1000s of Jodo Shinshu Pure Land women gathered to discuss their contributions to peace and harmony. One was May Okazaki, of the Hawai'i Federation of Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist Women's Association, who said:

"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.