Shingon Shu Hawaii

[mrdharma]

Hi, does anyone know about this particular organization? I recall it used to be the "Shingon Sect Mission of Hawaii" until recently. Is it part of Koyasan Shingon-shu?

[Tatsuo]

I know, that this doesn't necessarily say anything, but the crest on the kesa indicates, that the priest belongs to the Kōyasan Shingonshū. (see here)

[Jikan]

Hi mrdharma,

Is this the group you're speaking of?

http://www.shingonshuhawaii.com

they have a relatively detailed wikipedia entry, fwiw.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii_Shingon_Mission

[tktru]

Actually, mrdharma is right: this temple used to be part of the fourteen other Shingon temples in Hawaii, and was the regional headquarters until 2004, when the temple decided to sever its ties with Koyasan Shingon-shu.

Once the mother church of 14 other Koyasan sect Shingon temples in Hawaii -- severed ties with its Japanese-based headquarters in 2004 with the approval of the congregation, he said. It no longer wanted to follow the dictates of Japanese authorities without question.

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php ... 18,0,0,1,0

I have but one problem with this. For all we know the temple members as well as its leader, Rev. Reyn Yorio Tsuru, may have had good intentions with the drastic change, but you must think about the risks one takes in terms of breaking lineage. Shingon Buddhism possesses an ancient lineage with as much depth and authority as the Tibetan esoteric schools. Its two ministers have certainly trained under the Chuin-ryu lineage and completed preliminary training and received initiations at Koyasan where the headquarters of Koyasan Shingon-shu are. So with this in mind, would the breaking of ties make sense? This poster does not think so.

[plwk]

Total severance of lineage ties or just administrative ties?

[Jikan]

tktru's post raises a number of questions. It's significant that the congregation approved; did the idea rise from the bottom, so to speak, or was this something proposed by the leadership of the temple that met with the agreement of the membership? If so, then what was behind the sentiment behind the decision? &c.

[Daniel Arraes]

tktru's post raises a number of questions. It's significant that the congregation approved; did the idea rise from the bottom, so to speak, or was this something proposed by the leadership of the temple that met with the agreement of the membership? If so, then what was behind the sentiment behind the decision? &c.

I'd say that events like this will become more and more common, as the Japanese Buddhist institutions realize that the demand for memorial services outside of Japan exists only in the context of immigrant communities. As the immigrant descendants grow uninterested in grandpa's religion and either convert to christianity or just become downright atheists, the temples become purposeless and then a shift becomes necessary as to provide the good ol' Buddhist training in order to establish true foreign lineage holders.

So far, in the west, when someone qualified to teach tries to establish one's lineage separate from the Japanese institution because of divergences, things become very chaotic. It becomes easy to overestimate one's qualifications and fall into personality cult, as we can see mainly in Soto-shu but also in Tendai-shu. Soto-shu has come to understand this and has, for instance, united the old Dendokyoshi and Kaikyoshi certificates into a single thing (among many other things) which makes things easier for everybody. Tendai's Jigyodan is going in the same direction, as demonstrated with the establishment of NY Betsuin.

Let us hope Kyoasan finds this out soon enough!

[mrdharma]

tktru's post raises a number of questions. It's significant that the congregation approved; did the idea rise from the bottom, so to speak, or was this something proposed by the leadership of the temple that met with the agreement of the membership? If so, then what was behind the sentiment behind the decision? &c.

I'd say that events like this will become more and more common, as the Japanese Buddhist institutions realize that the demand for memorial services outside of Japan exists only in the context of immigrant communities. As the immigrant descendants grow uninterested in grandpa's religion and either convert to christianity or just become downright atheists, the temples become purposeless and then a shift becomes necessary as to provide the good ol' Buddhist training in order to establish true foreign lineage holders.

So far, in the west, when someone qualified to teach tries to establish one's lineage separate from the Japanese institution because of divergences, things become very chaotic. It becomes easy to overestimate one's qualifications and fall into personality cult, as we can see mainly in Soto-shu but also in Tendai-shu. Soto-shu has come to understand this and has, for instance, united the old Dendokyoshi and Kaikyoshi certificates into a single thing (among many other things) which makes things easier for everybody. Tendai's Jigyodan is going in the same direction, as demonstrated with the establishment of NY Betsuin.

Let us hope Kyoasan finds this out soon enough!

I made a visit to the temple a few days ago. It felt very strange. I mean there were many young people there and that brought my spirits up. I spoke with the reverend there and to me it did not seem like he knew what he was talking about...