Why We Do Not Celebrate Easter - March 23, 2008

Easter is a celebration, of course, of the significant event in Christianity. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s promise of the future of Christians. For the first thousand years of Christianity, this “holiday” was most celebrated.

Of course, Buddhists do not celebrate this event. This is what Rev. Nakano said this morning.

On the other hand, the term, “Easter,” is not from the Bible, it comes from a celebration, or festival that predates Christianity as the religion spread from its origins in the Middle East. Easter is a rite of Spting. People before Christianity celebrated this passage of time and it was an older version of “Easter” which was adopted by the Christian faith as their own.

As a rite of passage of time into Spring, some of the Easter traditions came from the festival, i.e., eggs and Easter hunt, etc. As Rev. Nakano also noted today, there are differences in interpretation, that she gave several examples of it.

Since the ancient peoples kept track of time by observing the astronomical phenomenon, the ancient Easter was probably celebrated during the Spring Equinox. The Christian Easter is calendared on a more complicated astronomical formula to recreate the annual observance of the “heavens” that are associated to the original event. Which is why the date of Easter differs from year to year.

An aside, the Jewish observance of Passover is also marked astronomically with the emphasis on the lunar cycle.

Another aside, one of the calendars that was observed had a miscalculation and observances of such holidays as we know today such as Christmas begain to fall in different season, so this was corrected with the calendar in use today. Calendars are so arbitrary.

Anyways, the Spring Equinox when the length of the day is equal to the length of the night is an astronomical measure of time based on the rotation of the earth around the Sun.

As Rev. Miura noted, Buddhist do celebrate this rite of passage of time with O-Higan which Rev. Nakano talked about last Sunday during the Higan observance at our temple.

Since the day and night are equal, it is a representation of good and evil as Buddhist believe. Rev. Kodani at Senshin Buddhist Church mentioned that evil must exist to prove good. So in an equilibrium…

Actually, in that case, we do celebrate Easter….

(corrections and comments are accepted...)

Hongwanji Trip - Nishiyama Betsuin

Nishiyama Betsuin is the training facility for priests of Nishi Hongwanji, located to the west of the Hongwanji.

The Hondo is a National Treasure - it preceded the current structures at Nishi Hongwanji, so this temple is much older. In fact, parts of the temple even precedes the structure, as it was customary to reuse parts of the previous structure in the new building. The Hongwanji, during the civil wars in Japan, had to move from different sites in the Kansai area until Toyotomi Hideyoshi gave part of his land to create what is now Nishi Hongwanji.

As a training facility, the hondo was considered too precious for use, so the Hongwanji built a modern facility next door to the hondo.

Today it is used year-round as a training facility. American ministers also obtain their certification by attending sessions here.

Rennyo Shonin is also buried in a mound behind the Betsuin.

Hongwanji Trip - Otani Hombyo

Nishi Hongwanji's Otani Hombyo is in the Higashiyama District in eastern Kyoto. Not far from Kiyomizu Temple. This, of course, is the Otani Mausoleum where Shinran Shonin is venerated. It is location of the Columbarium. Shinran's daughter Kakushin-in created the mausoleum, which later became of the Hongwanji. It also has been moved around in its history. Now, there are two, as Higashi Hongwanji has its own mausoleum not too far from here.

There is a memorial to Kakushin-in, in appreciation of her duty to her father.

Although the columbarium is open to anyone, the BCA has its own niche to keep in perpetual memorial the names of the deceased in the United States. Each District also has its own, and even individual temples own their own niches. Gardena Buddhist Church does have its own.

Hongwanji Trip - Ryukoku University

Ryukoku University is a Jodo Shinshu university and is affiliated with Nishi Hongwanji. It is considered to be Japan's oldest university, found in 1639. In comparison, Harvard University in Boston was founded in 1636. Originally, Ryukoku is the school to train priests for the Hongwanji. It became a secular school in 1876.

The president of Ryukoku University does not have to be affiliated a priest, but generally is a member of the Hongwanji. The chair of the department of religion has to be affiliated with the Hongwanji.

We visited two of the campuses. Omiya which is within the Hongwanji Complex and Fukasaka, which is the main campus.

http://www.ryukoku.ac.jp/english/index.html

The university is small and has seven faculties. Its central theme is Science, Humanities and Religion. It is known as one of the top school for engineering science in Japan.

We met the public information person in the religious hall - a simple and sparse hall with a contemporary naijin, consisting of the myoji as written by Shinran. It has has morning services every morning, but in this secular world very few students attend regularly each morning.

It is a beautiful campus with many brick buildings.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

What does St. Patrick has to do with Jodo Shinshu? Nothing. But cheers to green beer.

Today we held our services for O-Higan. Higan services are done twice a year, once at spring equinox and the other at the vernal equinox.

From http://mothra.rerf.or.jp/ENG/Hiroshima/Festivals/35.html

"The Higan observance comes from a Buddhist belief that when the night and day are equally divided, Buddha appears on earth for a week to save stray souls and lead them to Nirvana. Having been so long followed by.the people, this Buddhist service has also created many customs that make it a big social event."

"Higan, meaning the other shore comes from the Buddhist idea that there is a river marking the division of this earthly world and the future world of salvation. The river is full of illusions, passion, pain and sorrow. Only when one crosses the river, fighting strong currents of temptation, to the other shore, does one gain enlightenment."

In Jodo Shinshu, of course, we don't believe that Buddha will appear on earth, but Higan is a reminder of the river of illusions, passion, pain and sorrow.