Japan 2011 - Hongwanji's Floating Cloud Pavilion

The Hongwanji came to Kyoto shortly after the Sengoku Period which unified Japan. The General Oda Nobunaga had come to terms with his enemies, but passes - leaving control of Japan to his no. 1 general, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a man of common beginnings who could not become Shogun. Although the temple had begun as a mausoleum after the death of Shinran, the temple had moved extensively until this point. In the negotiated peace with the Imperial family's blessings, Toyotomi gave Hongwanji in 1584 a tract of land in Kyoto, probably to compensate for the Ishiyama location that eventually becomes Osaka Castle. The temple is complete in 1592 and Hideyoshi also donates works of arts and architectural features to the temple. Construction on Osaka Castle begins in 1593 and completed in 1597, after the passing of Hideyoshi.



Hideyoshi is also known as a tea enthusiast, oftentimes, consulting (and eventually disagreeing with) Sen Rikyu the founder of tea schools. Within the grounds of the Hongwanji, he had built the Floating Cloud Pavilion (Hiunkaku)


This is part of the National Historical Registry. Japan was a source of inspiration for such designers such as Frank Lloyd Wright and other Arts and Craftsman. In fact, if you go down and see La Brea Bakery at Downtown Disney, you will notice it has a familiar facade.

The Hiunkaku features two types of architecture, the angular lines of Chinese architecture popular in Kyoto and the softer curvy architecture of native Japan. It is considered as one of the three great pavilions of Kyoto, albeit most people cannot see this one. The other two are Kinkaku-ji and Ginkaku-ji.

Temple Anniversaries

2012 is the 30th Anniversary of our Hondo. We will be celebrating with a time capsule that was part of our 85th Anniversary commemoration. Please feel free to contribute anything about our temple and the people it was built for. It could be remembrances or actual journals, videos on DVD, photographs, etc. We will close the time capsule at this celebration and open it at our Centennial, which will take place 15 years later. Our hondo was dedicated in August 1982 after fires that destroyed the previous hondo.

This commemoration will coincide with Gardena hosting the 2012 Southern District Conference. I am looking for people to volunteer for the steering committee. One of the first things we need to do is to arrange for a location and select a theme.

The komon and sodanyaku hope that we can hire another minister who is a native English speaker. The board did approve establishing a Minister Scholarship Program that will help us with getting another minister in the future. The board has a few more procedures to approve before we can fully implement this.

In the meantime, we will start seeing guest ministers for the English sermons at least twice a month and the religious department will also be looking for lay speakers who can speak in English. We do have a volunteer who looks after Rev. Shindo and helps with pronunciation. If others can help please let me know.

We have received items in the suggestion box, and we are doing our best to respond to the needs.

Our October group to Japan will meet soon. Kintetsu is finalizing the preparations for the May group’s visit, and then we will be scheduling meetings for our tour. Please stay tuned. Anyone interested in traveling to Japan in October for the 750th Memorial Service for Shinran in Kyoto, please contact me.

In Gassho,

December 5, 2010

This past Sunday, Rev. John Turner, a minister's assistant from OCBC, was our guest speaker. During the early family service, he spoke to the Dharma School kids on Bodhi Day. Most of the western world, thinks of linear terms, i.e., crossing themselves, usually in a north-south, east-west. The Buddha before he became the Buddha ventured outside of his father's palace in a circular order - he first went out the East Gate, then the South Gate, so on. Therefore he went out East, South, West and North. But it is this symbol of circleness that is emphasized, the cycle of birth and death.

He continued this theme in the adult session. The Buddha was enlightened, but after his death, who would be able to take his place? There were four disciples that were closests to the Buddha, Sariputta, Mogallan, Kasyapa and Ananda.

Sariputta was brilliant and probably the closest to the Buddha. Mogallana was innately spiritual and is the subject of our O-Bon observances. Kasyapa was very disciplined, akin to a Marine. Ananda was not at a high level of any one thing, but was eminent in many disciplines. He was able to attain this by "listening." Mogallana and Sariputta passed away quickly after Buddha, leaving only Kasyapa and Ananda behind.

Interestingly, they did not get along. However, it was Ananda that won over because he was good at many things. Learning and listening is what he advocates and does very well.

On this Bodhi Day, we may not be exceptional to attain Enlightement, however, we may do well to listen to the teachings and be good at many things.

Namu Amida Butsu.

Thought for the day

"The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude."- William James

William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was a pioneering American psychologist and philosopher who was trained as a medical doctor. He wrote influential books on the young science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religious experience and mysticism, and on the philosophy of pragmatism. He was the brother of novelist Henry James and of diarist Alice James. -Wikipedia.

Three Treasures

Namo kie Bu
Namo kie Hou
Namo kie Sou

The three treasures - Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. The Sanga is made up of the 400 alumni.

After life?

We want to know about what happens after we die. Will we see others? Where will we be. The sutras that use in Jodo Shinshu describes in great detail what Pure Land is like. But at the same time, Jodo Shinshu says why bother? We don't have to worry about after life because Amida says we don't have to worry about because he guarantees it. Through reciting the nembutsu and with shinjin, we will be reborn in the Pure Land, so don't worry about it.

It's been awhile ....

This blog was meant to be an extension of the Megumi and allow visitors to the Facebook page for Gardena Buddhist Church to learn something. So for a short while, I would try to recap what we heard on Sundays.

It takes a little time to write up something, and of course, if there was something to write up it would make it easier.

Instead of recapping Sunday's Dharma Talk, I hope to add some things that I have heard that you may like to know on your journey along the White Path.

Currently, I am reading "The Three Pure Land Sutras: A Study and Translation: by Hisao Inagaki. The study portion is interesting on how the concepts of Pure Land and Nembutsu developed. And why Shinran selected the seven as the Seven Patriachs.

The translations of the sutras are interesting, and you wonder how the ancient people memorized these sutras so that we can read them today.

In Gassho,