Dr. Kawamura receiving the Order of the University of Calgary in June 2010

Danny Fisher has posted interviews with two men who knew Rev. Leslie Kawamura very well. The article was written for "Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly Online" and features John Harding, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Lethbridge, and a co-editor of "Wild Geese: Buddhism in Canada" and Charles Prebish, the recently-retired Charles Redd Chair in Religious Studies at Utah State University, and author of "Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America".

The highlight of my time in Calgary was our daily lunches. Usually, around noon, Leslie and I would meet in his office, often with other faculty members and students included, and just brainstorm about all things Buddhist. Nothing was ever pre-planned. We just spontaneously discussed whatever came up on any specific day. It didn’t matter whether it was Vinaya or Vimalakirti, monasticism or meditation, the discussions were lively and free-spirited. --CHARLES PREBISH

Rev. Leslie Kawamura’s influence goes beyond his role with the Raymond temple and includes important innovations at the Honpa Buddhist Temple of Lethbridge from the end of the 1960s to the mid-1970s when he took an academic position. This history deserves more attention as does the more recent period in which Leslie served Jodo Shinshu in Canada as the Director of the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Temples of Canada – Living Dharma Centre. --JOHN HARDING