Jushoku’s Meanderings – March 2023

‘Mid-February I had the opportunity to participate in the ‘Hizmet International Conference: Responses to Contemporary Challenges’ held in Long Beach, California. What is Hizmet, what was the conference about and what is Hizmet’s relationship to Tendai Buddhist...

Jushoku’s Meanderings – February 2023

‘May you live in interesting times’, is a Chinese curse that might describe the world we live in. More so for people who are plugged into the many streams of information, disinformation and misinformation that abound in our world. How I long for what the Japanese...

Jushoku’s Meanderings – January 2023

In the morning before breakfast Shumon and I conduct a daily gongyo. Before starting the service we sit in front of the Butsudan (family Buddhist altar), that is located to the left of the shumidan (the front altar with the main Buddha image) and offer our prayers. It...

Jushoku’s Meanderings – December 2022

The eighth of December is the observance of Śakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment, Shaka-Jōdō-e in Tendai. An important aspect of that occasion is the teaching of the Middle Way (Madyamā-pratipad), a path of moderation of away from extremes. Siddhārtha Gautama was a...

Jushoku’s Meanderings – November 2022

On the 22nd of this month there will be an Interfaith Thanksgiving Service at Saint James Roman Catholic Church in Chatham, NY. The local sangha is encouraged to attend. As an interfaith service this is very important because it brings together faith communities from...

Jushoku’s Meanderings – October 2022

A person recently asked me exactly what merit means in a Buddhist context. I had to stop and think about how to answer. From an Asian perspective it is more or less obvious and doesn’t need much explanation. So, it has been with not a little misgiving that we have...