Last September I had an opportunity to make an official visit to the temples of the Buddhist Churches of America as Monshu for the first time. This allowed me to complete the first round of visitations to all of the overseas districts, which include Canada, Hawai’i, South America, and the U.S. mainland.
Although every temple and district has its own history and background, many of the overseas Jodo Shinshu temples were established and have been cherished by the Japanese immigrants and their descendants. Reflecting on how sincerely our predecessors entrusted themselves to the Buddha Dharma and how importantly they thought of their temples while facing many difficulties such as World War II, I cannot help but feel grateful and even awe for their tremendous efforts as well as many other wondrous circumstances that have allowed Jodo Shinshu teaching to be handed down to us today.
However, a considerable amount of time has passed since the Japanese emigrated overseas, and the lifestyle of their descendants, as well as the world situation have changed greatly. In accordance with these changes, quite a few people who are not of ethnically Japanese origin have also come to appreciate the teaching clarified by Shinran Shonin, and attend our overseas temples.
What cause this is nothing but the universality of the Jodo Shinshu teaching that transcends time and space. In other words, Amida Buddha’s compassion equally reaches and nondiscriminatively embraces everyone in the midst of all sorts of pain and agony.
In this year, let us continue to listen to the Dharma, considering it is directed to each one of us, and keep moving forward to share it with many other people as possible.
~OHTANI Kojun
Monshu
Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-Ha