Author Archives: Ron Gee

For myself, I do not have even a single disciple. For if I brought people to say the Nembutsu through my own efforts, then they might be my disciples. But it is indeed preposterous to call persons “my disciples” when they say the nembutsu having received the working of Amida. Tannisho 6 This passage is… Read More: Vision of a Healthy Temple »

The body of Amida is in color like a mountain of gold The radiance of his features and marks illumines the ten quarters Only people of the nembutsu are grasped by the light Know that the Primal Vow is the decisive cause. Kyogyoshinsho 3.95 The phrase above is from Shinran Shonin’s third chapter of the… Read More: Amida’s Gold Light »

Gassho and congratulations! Thank you to everyone who made this occasion possible. This celebration has been long overdue. We were a little broken-hearted when we had to postpone our 60th anniversary celebration and then eventually canceled because of the happenings in the world. When I look to the past, I see that our temple has… Read More: Happy 65th Birthday, Venice Hongwanji Buddhist Temple! »

If, when I become Buddha, the sentient beings in my land do not decidedly attain the equal of perfect enlightenment, so that they realize great nirvana, may I not attain enlightenment. Kyogyoshinsho 3.3 Although there are initially nine grades among those aspiring for birth, now [in the Pure Land] there are no distinctions whatsoever. It… Read More: This is Why We Have a Temple »

All that we are really capable of doing is to consider ourselves as separate from others, and take life and death to be two distinct things. Thus, we cannot help but form attachments to our selves and become estranged from others, or cling to life while rejecting death. We are afflicted by love and hatred,… Read More: Are you going to the Bonbu Lounge? »