Delegates at the 2007 Annual General Meeting in Calgary voted to change the name of the Buddhist Churches of Canada. The new name will be the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Temples of Canada. Evolution brought about the change. Delegates wanted recognition of the Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism in the title and also have the word “church” removed. Following the Second World War, Japanese-Canadians used the word, “church” to assimilate their religion in Canadian society. The change in name will go into effect following approval by Industry Canada.

Sadly, the Board of Directors accepted the withdrawal and closing of the Alberta’s oldest temple. The Raymond Buddhist Church has closed its doors after 78 years. Raymond members will attend one of the remaining four Alberta temples. Together, they form the newly amalgamated Buddhist Temple of Southern Alberta. The group has purchased land in the city of Lethbridge and hopes to complete construction of a new building in 2008.

Calgary also hosted the first gathering of representatives of the Living Dharma Centre. Led by Dr. Leslie Kawamura of Calgary, a Board of Directors was chosen to begin work on projects, programs, and activities propagating Jodo Shinshu Buddhism.

The BCC Women's Federation will continue to support a Jodo Shinshu Hospital in Kenya. BCCWF members appreciated the presentation by Rocky Oishi who had photographed Kenyan Buddhists in their activities.

The Ministerial Association introduced their theme for 2007. “Encounter the Dharma, Namo Amida Butsu” will include the creation of a full-size wall calendar. Sponsorships for each month of the calendar will be sold to raise money for the BCC Sustaining Fund.

The Vancouver Buddhist Temple will host the 2008 general meeting. If construction is complete on the new Buddhist temple in Lethbridge, Southern Albertans have volunteered to host the 2009 meeting with the Manitoba Buddhist Temple as a backup, if required.
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Neither monk nor layperson - The Spirit of Jodo Shinshu
The slow fragmentation of Jodo Shinshu within the international scene is becoming more noticeable. In the North American context, attendance in temples is dwindling. In response to this, those organizations that are importing other forms of practice - Zen-style meditations, Hindu Yoga, Western Psychology, European Japanization - seem to be doing better.

Should this trend be of concern at all?
How might we respond to this trend - academically? sociologically? psychologically? culturally? linguistically? methodologically? ritually?
organizationally? historically?

The 13th Biennial International Association of Shin Buddhist Studies Conference will be held at the University of Calgary on August 3, 4, and 5.

Papers can be given in Japanese or in English. Registration of $100 US or $110 CDN. includes book of abstracts, collection of papers, conference coffee breaks and lunches (on Friday and Saturday), an conference dinner on Saturday evening. Abstracts for papers will be received until June 5 and full papers until June 30. On Sunday an optional trip to Lake Louise and lunch at the Banff Springs Hotel is planned at extra cost.

Registration form containing information on Hotel and University Residence can be obtained by e-mailing Dr. Leslie Kawamura, Department of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary: kawamura@ucalgary.ca

If you haven't heard already, the Health Sciences Centre Hospital is putting up a new 1200 stall parkade beside our temple.

They took all the trees
Put 'em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em

For us, it will mean a new address. Our front street will become Tecumseh Street, instead of Winnipeg Avenue. To accommodate a drop-off point and special events parking, there will be a small road built to the east of the temple garage, running south to what was Winnipeg Avenue. Eventually, there will also be a signal light placed at the corner of Tecumseh and Notre Dame. The project is scheduled for completion in September 2008.

Don't it always seem to go
That you dont know what youve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

And while there will be more traffic and we may lose some sunshine, it will clean up the area a bit. Beyond all that, I'm sorry, I just can't get that song out of my head every-time I walk by the construction site. With respect to Joni Mitchell.

Instead of a sod turning, Health Sciences Centre will be hosting a "Mother Earth event" for the parkade. It will take place Friday, June 8th at 9:00 am. The public is invited.

May 23, 2007 The Kansas City Star

Talk about a test of faith.

Eight Tibetan monks spent two days cross-legged on the floor at Union Station, leaning over to meticulously create an intricate design of colored sand as an expression of their Buddhist faith. They were more than halfway done. And then, within seconds, their work was destroyed by a toddler.

Video from the Associated Press

Monks are bald, so they couldn’t rip their hair out. But were they angry? Did they curse?
READ THE ARTICLE AND WATCH THE VIDEO...

Great report by the BBC on whaling in Japan. The article tells us how Jodo Shinshu Buddhism explains the tolerance for this act which some Westerners find inhumane. It also helps us to understand the love, compassion, and reality, we face in our daily lives.

The writer goes to the Koganji Temple in Nagato, Japan. He speaks to Buddhist monk, Kensai Matsumura to explain the history of whaling and Buddhism in this fishing village.

This tells a story concerning Shinran Shonin (the founder of the sect). "He was in a fishing village in 1207. A fisherman and his wife approached him and told of their worries, saying 'we live on catching fish and eating them and selling them - would we go to hell after we die?' "And monk Shonin said, 'if you thank them and give proper service to them, praying for the resting in peace of those fish, then there will be no problem at all'. The husband and wife listened and cried with relief on hearing this."

READ THE BBC ARTICLE...

What is Vesak?
The Buddhist Channel, April 30, 2007
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- Vesak (Sinhalese) is the most holy time in the Buddhist calendar. In Indian Mahayana Buddhist traditions, the holiday is known by its Sanskrit equivalent, Vaisakha. Due to the leap year in the lunar calendar, Vesak is celebrated on both May 1 and 31 in 2007 (varies according to countries). The word Vesak itself is the Sinhalese language word for the Pali variation, "Visakha". Visakha/Vaisakha is the name of the second month of the Indian calendar.

On Vesak Day, Buddhists all over the world commemorate events of significance to Buddhists of all traditions: The Birth, Enlightenment and the Passing Away of Gautama Buddha. The exact date of Vesak is defined according to the astrological calendar, as the time of the full moon of Taurus, which corresponds to the birth, enlightenment (Nirvana) and the passing away (Parinirvana) of Gautama Buddha. According to the Chinese Lunar calendar, Vesak is usually celebrated on the full moon day of the fourth month.

For this year 2007 however, there are two full moon days in the month of May. Some countries have opted to celebrate on the first full moon (May 1) based on the resolution passed at Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in 1950, whereas others have chosen to do so on the second full moon day (May 31), based on the traditional chinese calendar.

The decision to agree to celebrate Vesak as the Buddha’s birthday was formalized at the first Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists (W.F.B.) held in Sri Lanka in 1950, although festivals at this time in the Buddhist world are a centuries-old tradition.

The Resolution that was adopted at the World Conference reads as follows:

"That this Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists, while recording its appreciation of the viscous act of His Majesty, the Maharaja of Nepal in making the full-moon day of Vesak a Public Holiday in Nepal, earnestly requests the Heads of Governments of all countries in which large or small number of Buddhists are to be found, to take steps to make the full-moon day in the month of May a Public Holiday in honour of the Buddha, who is universally acclaimed as one of the greatest benefactors of Humanity."

Where Vesak is celebrated in 2007 (brackett denotes what the public holiday is called in each respective country).
May 1: Sri Lanka (Vesak), Malaysia (Wesak), Cambodia (Visaka Bochea - Buddha Day), Myanmar (Kason Full Moon - Buddha Day)
May 2: Nepal - (Buddha Jayanti - Buddha Day), Laos - (Vesak), India (Buddha Purnima - Buddha Day), Bangladesh (Buddha Purnima - Buddha Day)
May 24: Hong Kong (Buddha's Birthday), South Korea (Seokka Tanshin-il - Buddha's Birthday), Macau (Buddha's Birthday), Taiwan (Buddha's Birthday)
May 31: Singapore (Vesak), Thailand (Visakha Bucha Day)
June 1: Bhutan (Buddha Day), Indonesia (Waisak - Buddha Day)

In Japan, Buddhists including the Jodo Shinshu sect, celebrate Buddha's birthday on April 8 as Hanamatsuri.

Among the events in Winnipeg, there will be a "Blue Moon Buddha Birthday" celebration at the St. Norbert Arts Centre on Sunday, May 31. The program includes a lantern procession, chanting of loving kindness and insight meditation. Radhika, a teacher from the Sri Lankan community, and Sensei Ulrich of the Manitoba Buddhist Temple will each give a dharma talk. There will be music, tea and snacks in the gallery.

John Safran is an Australian media personality and documentary producer. He is the host of an 8-part TV series titled "John Safran vs God". In the program, Safran explores a wide range of religious beliefs. His visit to a Zen monastery is absolutely hilarious!

The series makes its U.S. premiere this month. Let's hope it comes to Canada soon.

"Exhilarating...abounds in beautiful images..." VARIETY
"Unexpected and exhilarating... ” THE NATION
"One of the best films of the year..." NEW YORK TIMES

Our friends at the Cinematheque Theatre in Winnipeg invite you to see "Into Great Silence". Its the first film ever made chronicling life inside the Grande Chartreuse, one of the world's most ascetic monasteries. Monks dedicate themselves entirely to the service of God and to spiritual life, in complete silence. A filmmaker and his crew live in the monks' quarters for six months. They record their daily prayers, tasks, rituals and rare outdoor excursions. This transcendent, closely observed film seeks to embody a monastery, rather than simply depict one. it has no score, no voiceover and no archival footage. What remains is stunningly elemental, just time, space and light.

Into Great Silence (2006) (164 mins.) By Phillip Groning
June 4-7 at 7:00 PM, Cinematheque Theatre in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Imagine a high school that has a curriculum based on Jodo Shinshu Buddhist teachings. Its more than an idea. In Hawaii, they are about to graduate their first class of students.

INCENSE drifts through this small school overlooking a white Buddhist temple in Nuuanu. Students and faculty bow their heads before and after class, and misbehaving children must do yoga and meditation as an alternative to suspension. Four years after opening, the Pacific Buddhist Academy, the only Shin Buddhist high school in the country, will graduate its first class Friday. Fourteen seniors will get their diplomas and chant in a ceremony at the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin temple, just steps away from a college preparatory school that taught them as much about math and science as it did about respect, gratitude and peace.

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE FROM THE HONOLULU STAR BULLETIN...

In the Editor's Blog, we are on the lookout for interesting posts and articles. This posting came the blog, GODZ. The aim of this blog is to write about different religious experiences in various churches, mosques or temples. In this post, they attend a Buddhist temple. The article begins by being quite skeptical of Buddhism as a current trend.

As the sensei said in temple, your practice should be whatever floats your boat, but I'm talking about the kind of yogi who spends 400$ on a new meditation cushion or yoga mat and another 1,500 dollars on their yoga clothes.

After attending the temple, they have these observations after attending their first Jodo Shinshu service.

The sensei seemed real, honest, intelligent and content. It did not bother him that the folding chairs were only 1/5th full. I got the sense that he might actually have some inner peace.

The writer seemed to lump Buddhism with the "new age" movement. Buddhism is not new age. Jodo Shinshu is not new age. It is old age. It has a rich history. The writer seems to understand and appreciate this knowledge in the end.
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Recently, we were in Calgary for the Buddhist Churches of Canada annual general meeting. One of the changes that came out of that meeting was that the BCC will change its name to the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Temples of Canada (JSBTC).

The Manitoba Buddhist Temple would like to thank all the organizers and volunteers in Calgary for their work that weekend. They were wonderful hosts and now, good friends.

One of the ideas we heard that interested us, was creating a Buddhist Film Festival. The Calgary Buddhist Temple organized one last year that was a big success. It was held at a public library and included discussions about the films. Would the general public in Winnipeg be interested in an event like this?

Here's an example of an International Buddhist Film Festival in Singapore. I would attend just to see Lisa Simpson on the big screen. In the meantime, here she is on the computer screen.

We would also like to thank Calgary for creating at link on their web site to us. So right back at you, go to the Calgary Buddhist Temple web site for more information on Jodo Shinshu Buddhism in the Calgary area.

We relaunched the Manitoba Buddhist Temple web site at the beginning of 2007. In just two months, we have had over 1,000 visitors to our site from all over the world.

In the next phase of this web site, we hope to introduce more people to the Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism. This will be a place for the editors of this web site to share their thoughts, web sites, and recent news of the world.