About the Author
Hello, this blog is about my life as a father, Buddhist and Japanophile / Koreaphile. Any useful information I can pass along will hopefully make the Internets a better place. Thanks for reading!
Monthly Archives: June 2008
Weird Buddhist Dream III
This one is somewhat different than the two dreams I had in the past. In this dream, I was in the lobby of a big office building, and I was there with a few female co-workers I vaguely know, and … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Religion, Seattle
3 Comments
Make the most of what you got!
Buddhism in the West, if not in general, sometimes suffers from excessive commercialism, where people pay exorbitant amounts for meditation retreats, seminars with famous gurus, meditation equipment, or elaborate altars.* This is kind of ironic given the Buddhist teaching of … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Jodo Shinshu, Jodo Shu, Religion, Zen
12 Comments
Pure Land Buddhism and Antinomianism, part 2
In the past, I wrote about the Pure Land Buddhist stance toward “licensed evil” or antinomianism, whereby one is saved so they do not have to account for the rest of their behavior. During Honen’s time, this did come up … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Jodo Shinshu, Jodo Shu, Religion
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Balancing the nembutsu
In Jodo Shu Buddhism, whose practice I have been more or less following for 3 weeks,* there is a lot of questions about how much one should recite the nembutsu, Amida Buddha’s name (namu amida butsu). In Honen’s time, he … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Jodo Shu, Religion
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Unofficial Buddhist Terminology
For those who’ve been in the Western Buddhist community long-enough, you begin to see certain trends among its followers. Someone compiled a list of unofficial Buddhist terms that are just too funny to ignore. A few examples: HUNGRY GHOSTS: Used … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Religion, Tibetan, Zen
3 Comments
No Buddhist Left Behind
In the temple of Eikandō in Kyoto, Japan there is a famous state of Amida Buddha looking back over his shoulder: The stories regarding this statue vary somewhat, but the stories generally follow the same pattern. A 11th century monk … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Japan, Jodo Shinshu, Jodo Shu, Religion, Travel, Zen
3 Comments
The Best Part of Being a Nerd
You can have nerd kids! This is my daughter, code-named “baby”. She’s trying on Daddy’s glasses, which are now filmy from her fingers on the lenses.* Oh well, parenting is fun. I await the day when she says, “Daddy, I’ve … Continue reading
Moonlight
Among Honen’s most famous poems is Tsukikage (月影) which means “moonlight” (lit. moon-shadow). Here is the original poem in Japanese, with romanization and translation courtesy of the good folks at the Jodo Shu Buddhism group: 月影の いたらぬ里は なけれども 眺むる人の 心にぞすむ Tsukikage no itaranu sato … Continue reading
Pure Land Buddhism and the Four Dharma Seals
Whilst reading the E-sangha forums, I saw someone mention the Pure Land Buddhist path in conjunction with the Four Dharma Seals. A nice explanation of the Four Dharma Seals can be found at Shambhala Sun, but explained in a Tibetan … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Jodo Shu, Religion
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Kenshin, the doubtful Buddhist
As I study more about the lives of the people who followed Honen and his Pure Land Buddhist movement, I found this helpful site about a follower named Kenshin.* Kenshin is an interesting of someone who has access to the … Continue reading
Posted in Buddhism, Jodo Shu, Religion
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