New Year's Bingo will help you focus on what is most important as you move into a new year. Print off more than one card and play with friends and relatives!
Say "Goodbye" to 2024 and say "Hello" to 2025 in style!
NOTE from Rev. Anne Spencer: We always enjoy sharing insights and experiences from our diverse IOBT community. This month we are happy to share a reflection from Keith Hopper. Although Keith now lives in Florida, his early years were spent in Vale, Ontario, and parts of western Idaho. He graduated from Ontario High School. In 2022 he received a tip from a friend about our twice-monthly Tuesday evening online discussion groups and he decided to join us. He has been a regular at our meeting ever since. Let us know if you would like to join us too! "The medium is the message" was a familiar twentieth century adage. Enigmatic, separated from its context and author (1960s Canadian communication theorist Marshall McLuhan), it was claimed by academics, promoters of all sorts, and also politicians, television preachers and other dubious sages. It has a ring to it and seemed to apply to our world, likely did, but as something of a koan . The exact meaning is fuzzy. On advic...
Many of us are feeling stress from the current political situation. This stress includes feelings of frustration, anger and even hatred toward people with political views different from our own. These frustrations and conflicts are a totally normal part of human life--the result of the 3 poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance. Over 2000 years ago, Shakyamuni Buddha offered this observation to help people respond to conflicts in their lives: “Hatred is never appeased by hatred in this world. By non-hate alone is hatred appeased. This is a law eternal.” (Dhammapada V. 5) PHOTO: Shakyamuni Buddha Statue (Photo Credit: Anne Spencer) Shakyamuni’s teaching remains useful today, and can be applied in our daily lives. In the course of my day, I hear many perspectives on the current political and social situations—I agree with some and strongly dislike others. Among friends, relatives, online, and on TV I hear harsh and insulting comments regarding others’...
“In gratitude to Amida, the Buddha-as-words, I dedicate my whole being to realizing Buddha’s intent. In gratitude to the masters of teachings and the countless good Dharma friends among our ancestors, I dedicate my total efforts to spreading the Nenbutsu.” Translation of the Ondokusan from Shinran Shonin’s Shozomatsu Wasan #59. ( Translation by Rev. Kakei Nakagawa, Rinban of Fresno Betsuin based on Bishop Kenryu Tsuji’s writings) (Shinran Shonin Image from Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple Altar) . January is the month for a major service called “ Hoonko ” which is typically observed on January 16 th in the Nishi Hongwanji tradition. “ Hoonko ” means “repaying our debt of gratitude”. This is a time for us to reflect on and appreciate the life and teachings of Shinran Shonin, the founder of our Jodo Shinshu tradition. Our debt of gratitude to Shinran Shonin extends to our ancestors who walk together with us on the path of the Buddha Dharma. The Japanese t...
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