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Welcome to the Tendai Buddhist Institute, an official North American representative of the Tendai School of Japanese Buddhism, and branch of Enryakuji, Mt. Hiei, Japan. Tendai Buddhist Institute is comprised of the Karuna Tendai Dharma Center and Jiunzan Tendaiji.
Weekly Meditation
Buddhist meditation services are held on Wednesday evenings.
06:00PM, we gather in the main house for a Dharma talk and discussion.
Schedule of topics may be found in our newsletter, The Shingi.
07:00PM, we move to the Hondo (Main Hall) for the meditation service.
08:00PM, we enjoy a potluck dinner.
All of Wednesday evening’s events are open to the public.
There is no fee and reservations are not required.
Special services such as weddings, memorial services, baby blessing ceremonies, and annual events and holidays are held throughout the year.
April Wednesday Meditations and Discussions
4 Good and Evil in Buddhist Thought – As a discussion piece, ‘The Nonduality of Good and Evil’, a short article by David Loy, Tricycle – Spring 2002 is the jumping off point for this topic. The article will be available in the kuri a week before the discussion. Due to the inclement weather last month we did not discuss this at that time.
11 What is the Role of Forgiveness in Buddhist Practice – An article by Ken McLeod and a response by Thanissaro Bhikkhu will be used to examine this debatable subject. The articles will be available in the kuri a week before the discussion. Due to the inclement weather last month we did not discuss this at that time.
18 Thomas Merton: His Insight and Wisdom- This discussion centers around New Seeds of Contemplation.Originally published in 1961, reprinted with an introduction by Sue Monk Kidd, 2007, by New Direction Books. The book is 39 chapters and 297 pages, too long for a Wednesday evening discussion. Please read chapters 1 – 9, 69 pages, enough to absorb for an evening’s discussion.
25 Mikkyō – (Jpn – secret teachings – esoteric, Buddhist mysticism) is a Japanese term that refers to Vajrayāna practices of the Tendai school. We will discuss the role of mikkyō in both ordained and lay practices.
Other Events in April:
7 Sutra Class and Morning Service, 8:30 – 10:30 AM – The Maha Prajna Paramita Hridaya Sutra (Heart Sutra) is the most often chanted, cited and best known sutras in the Mahayana canon. We will read and discuss two different translations and commentaries (Mu Soeng’s and Red Pine’s) as a set throughout the classes.
8 Hanamatsuri (Festival of Flowers – Shakyamuni Buddha’s Birthday) 10:30 AM – This is a fun holiday for the whole family where we tell the story of the Buddha’s birth, and pour sweet tea over a statue of the baby Buddha. This is a great opportunity to share the story of the Buddha with our children, families, and friends. There will be a special program for younger ones and a pot-luck lunch following the service.
17 The Rise of Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia: Solutions and Challenges with Dr. Mehnaz M. Afridi. Tues, 7 PM. Dr. Alfredi is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education at Manhattan College, NYC. The Sidney Albert Interfaith Spring Lecture is held at the Hubbard Sanctuary, College of St. Rose, 959 Madison Ave. Albany, NY.
NOTES:
Please sign up to donate flowers for a month – at Tendai Buddhist Institute / Jiunzan Tendai-ji. You can either bring them yourself or pay to have them purchased for you. There is a sign-up sheet on the notice board in the kitchen. If you have any questions please ask Shoshin (Sandy), Chorin (Peter), or Shumon (Tamami). Providing flowers for the hondo is a service to the temple and a smŗti practice. By providing flowers one makes an important contribution to Jiunzan Tendai-ji. Several people can choose to contribute together. We still have several months available later in the year..
Food Pantry at Jiunzan Tendai-ji – Gratitude is best shown by extending to others the thoughtfulness we have received. Please bring non-perishable food items to the Tendai Buddhist Institute on Wednesday’s. We contribute these items to the Chatham Silent Food Pantry.
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Jushoku’s Thoughts
Three years ago, this month, Rev. Keisho VK Leary died. Many of you had met Keisho. I want to remember my old friend and provide an update on what is happening at California Tendai Monastery. For background on the relationship between Keisho and Monshin and the Tendai Buddhist Institute and California Tendai Monastery please go to tendai.org in a few days. There is a more in depth recounting at that site.
Keisho's personality, character, and vows were as a shugendo practitioner living in a monastery within Tendai's purview. He was a devoted and disciplined practitioner who had a big heart, but his demeanor was sometimes eccentric. Our relationship went back to 1994, when Shumon and I first returned from Japan to establish the temple in upstate New York. In many ways we were very different in our outlook and our practice.
As previously mentioned he was a monastic shugendo practitioner, while I am devoted to spreading the Dharma through a village temple system. Fortunately, Tendai is an Ekayana school, and we both respected the other as authentic practitioners of the Dharma fulfilling our mission to the same ends through different mechanisms.
California Tendai Monastery (CTM) was a direct affiliate of Tendai Buddhist Institute, at the request of his teachers, as well as a result of our close relationship. Thus, several months before his death I visited him for several days on Cobb Mountain in Northern California, at CTM. There was no one who could succeed him. While there was another Tendai monk who was a lifelong friend of his, that person was not able to succeed him at the monastery for logistical and personal reasons. As a result, Keisho, after discussions with his two daughters who own land, as well as his sister, adjacent to California Tendai Monastery, asked that I take over the monastery upon his death, and he deeded the land to me.
During my visit with Keisho before his death we discussed personal things, such as reminiscences about his life and his relationships, his funeral (he requested that I officiate; this was later affirmed by his daughters, James and Jennifer), legal issues regarding the property, that the caretaker of the property be able to live there throughout her life, of how we should proceed with CTM in the future. Among the issues that were vitally important to him was that CTM would be a Tendai temple. He didn't want it to be a ecumenical Buddhist retreat center, conservation area, hiking trails, definitely no yoga, etc. He was also adamant that only his and my lineage be involved. He recognized that his idea of a monastic community was not going to be fulfilled the way he had envisioned. He trusted me to develop a program that would be consistent with our mutual understanding.
Something that he, nor I, could foresee would be that in the Fall of 2015 there was a devastating fire in Lake County that totally destroyed Hoshu-in (a Goma-do), associated buildings, including the main house, and the infrastructure on the property. Any plans that I had before the fire required rethinking.
I won't go into detail here, because this is still a work in progress. However, within the next few years there will be several people, including Junsen Nettles and Jiko Clarke, who will be living near and on CTM, putting our plans into action. There will be a functioning temple, living quarters, and associated buildings. The leaders of the temple will all be ordained in the Tendai tradition and have specific skills that lend themselves to the goals of the reorganized CTM.
This Tendai complex will be devoted to Ikigai (Jpn. 生きがい) which is roughly translated as intellectual and spiritual settings that enable people to feel that their lives are valued. We will use Morita teachings as a guide, including and incorporating Tendai Shikan meditation, mikkyo (esoteric practices), chanting, shodo (brush calligraphy), tai chi, constructive living principles, and Buddha Dharma classes, etc. It will not be a retreat center. People can be in residence for various periods of time, and they will be expected to work and function as a monastic community, with instruction from the core teachers.
There is a lesson is to be learned from this narrative. Keisho and I were very different in our expressions of Tendai philosophy, practices, and teachings, but we were always respectful of the other's viewpoint. We could have been obstinate in our individual perspectives, but we worked together, bringing our own gifts, to make a better world.
Keisho - Nama Amida Butsu, Nama Amida Butsu, Nama Amida Butsu - on the third anniversary of your passing.
Love and Gassho ..... Monshin
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