American Buddhist Study Center

Hope you enjoy this informal discussion with Rev Gary Jaskula on his journey to Buddhism, the focus on "Come as you are" and some light hearted examples of his experiences

Enjoy this exciting discussion with Rev Kurt Rye, resident minister at the New York Buddhist Church. Listen to his journey, learnings and his association with Buddhism and Japanese culture

Hoshina Seki interviews Priya Kumari, author and publisher of children's books. In this interview, Priya talks about how she started writing children's books and then setting up her own publishing company Eternal Tree Books. Even though her books are for kids 3 to 8, she adds a workbook at the end for parents and teachers. Take a listen; I think you will enjoy it. 

Hoshina Seki interviews Priya Kumari, author and publisher of children's books. Priya's books are all beautifully illustrated, heartwarming stories about Buddha and Indian culture. These books are meant to teach children the values of gratitude and compassion. Please take a listen, I think you will enjoy it.

Hi Dharma-friends!

Welcome back for the conclusion of our traversal of the Shōzōmatsu Wasan or Hymns of the Dharma-Ages.  , These verses are among Shinran's last public thoughts and are particularly trenchant, even for such a fearless guy as Shinran.  In these verses, Shinran looks directly into the mirror and identifies himself as a fellow foolish being of this last dharma-age, our dharma-age, the time when the teaching alone remains, but the self-power practices and realization have become extinct.  Shinran, our great teacher, does not exempt himself from his understanding of Amida's Primal Vow to bring to the Pure Land (Awakening or Enlightenment) foolish beings who call the Name, Namo-Amida-Butsu.  To me, these are powerful verses, and they perplexed me many years ago when I first read them.  But now, I have come to understand them as real teaching, not only as a religious construct but for me personally.  How many other religious teachers won't let themselves off the hook?  Speaking for myself, this is precisely what makes Shinran the greatest teacher.  I hope these verses resonate with you as well.

Our audio series of Shinran's 3 main Wasan collections is now complete in 68 episodes.  Congratulations if you have stayed with us from the beginning!  I believe the American Buddhist Study Center will keep the Wasan series online as an audio resource.  We read the Jōdo Wasan (Hymns of the Pure Land), the Kōsō Wasan (Hymns of the Pure Land Masters) and the Shōzōmatsu Wasan (Hymns of the Dharma-Ages), letting Shinran speak to us across the centuries in his own voice, even if only in translation, with minimal commentary.

Please check out the home page of the American Buddhist Study Center ambuddhist.org for more great Dharma content.  Please be happy, well, and peaceful!

Palms together, Gary

Hi Dharma-friends,

This episode is a little different than others in the series because it is a prose passage inserted into the collection instead of verses.  It is like a little Dharma talk or message from Shinran himself.  It is known as "On Jinen Hōni"  Jinen Hōni is often rendered into English as "naturalness."   By way of introduction to this very basic Shin Buddhist concept of "naturalness," a definition by Rev. Mark Unno found online is very helpful:  "The foolish being is always contriving or calculating to reach a goal dualistically, whether that goal is material, such as worldly success or health, or is spiritual such as enlightenment or birth.  The one who becomes aware of this foolishness and is receptive to the compassion of Amida is led beyond this contrivance to a realm of spontaneous freedom.  This spontaneity, in contrast to the contrivance of the foolish being, is called jinen hōni, the suchness of spontaneity, or more simply, naturalness."  Let's enjoy listening to Shinran's take on Jinen Hōni  in his own words, even if only in translation.

Next time we'll wind up our journey through the Shōzōmatsu Wasan with Shinran's concluding verses.  Until then, please be well!  For more Dharma content, be sure to check out the home page of the American Buddhist Study Center, ambuddhist.org

Palms together, Gary

Hi Dharma-friends,

In this episode we continue with 5 more verses of the Shōzōmatsu Wasan known as "Additional Hymns of Lament on the Term Hotoke."  Hotoke commonly means "Buddha."  According to the commentary found in The Collected Works of Shinran (CWS), "Probing into the origins of the term, Shinran traces it back to an early critic of Buddhism, Mononobe no Moriya (d. 587), who opposed its introduction into Japan.  According to Shinran, Moriya applied the term, with the meaning "sick with fever," to a statue of Amida that was discovered in Naniwa Bay (present Osaka) and later enshrined in a temple known as Zenkō-ji.  In using the term, Moriya implied that the foreign image was the cause of an epidemic.  Although Shinran's etymology is not currently accepted by scholars of Japanese, his concern is that the use of the term leads to widespread disparagement of the teaching, and in his own writings, he avoids it." CWS, II, 101.

We're in the home stretch of our traversal of the Shōzōmatsu Wasan.  Next time, we'll cover a prose section in this collection, "On Jinen Hōni."  After that, our final episode will feature Shinran Shōnin's two powerful concluding verses.

Please be well!  Check out more good Dharma content on the American Buddhist Study Centers home page, ambuddhist.org

Palms together, Gary

Hi Dharma-friends!

Today let's conclude the section entitled "Gutoku's Hymns of Lament and Reflection" by listening to the last five verses.  These are poems of a very personal nature by Shinran, reflecting his awareness of himself as someone sharing the deepest weaknesses of his age.  This is the Last Dharma-Age, and we are in the same boat.  Shinran calls out high-ranking monks and dharma teachers of his time who are said to be so in-name-only.  Showing no self reflection, they often give themselves over to worldliness and seek honors and status, all the while paying lip-service to the Buddhist teachings.  Shinran is that rare religious master who does not exclude himself from his diagnosis. Shinran's universal remedy:  rely on Amida Buddha's directing of virtue exclusively in Namo-Amida-Butsu.

Next time, we'll continue the Shōzōmatsu Wasan with the next section, "Additional Hymns of Lament on the Term Hotoke."  For more good Dharma content, please visit the homepage of the American Buddhist Study Center ambuddhist.org

Palms together, Gary

Hi Dharma-friends!

Today you can hear 6 more verses of "Gutoku's Hymns of Lament and Self-Reflection," part of the Shōzōmatsu Wasan.  Shinran wrote these verses toward the end of his life, when he was around 85 years old.  They are profound expressions of his own self-reflection.  He also calls out the various deficiencies, as he sees them, of this own age.  Particularly, he laments a superficial adoption of the Buddhist Teaching by both monks and laity.  Significantly, he recognizes these same deficiencies in himself.  The commentary on this section in The Collected Works of Shinran (CWS) explains: "Shinran expresses his own awareness of himself as a person sharing the deepest weaknesses of his age."  Shinran encourages all to rely exclusively on Amida's directing of virtue - the only sure way to cut through our seemingly intractable self-delusion.

Next time we will conclude this section.  Until then, please be well.  You can find more good Dharma content on the American Buddhist Study Center's website ambuddhist.org

Palms together, Garyself-reflection

Hi Dharma-friends!

Welcome back after a brief hiatus!  This episode is the start of the next section of the Shōzōmatsu Wasan.  It is called "Gutoku's Hymns of Lament and Reflection" in sixteen verses.  This episode contains the first five of these.  These sixteen verses as a whole are a particularly deep personal self-reflection by Shinran.  Please recall that the Shōzōmatsu Wasan are the product of Shinran's final years, written when he was about 85 years old.  The commentary in The Collected Works of Shinran (CWS) explains:  "Shinran expresses his own awareness of himself as a person sharing the deepest weaknesses of the age."  Shinran also calls out and owns specific criticisms of this Last Dharma Age - particularly the superficial adoption of the Buddhist teaching by monks and laity alike.  Shinran relies exclusively on the Vow of Amida Buddha as the only reliable path cutting through self-delusion.

Next time, we'll continue with five more verses in this section.   Until then, please be well!  Check out the home page of the American Buddhist Study Center ambuddhist.org for more good Dharma content.

Palms together, Gary