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

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT BUDDHADHARMA...

"Unbeaten by Rain" is arguably the most memorized and quoted modern poem in Japan. It often hangs in schools or homes. Both intensely lyrical and permeated with a sophisticated scientific understanding of the universe, Kenji Miyazawa's poem is a testimony to his deep love of humanity and nature. And now, it is also a fitting tribute to people of Japan.

Kenji Miyazawa (1896-1933) is widely viewed as Japan's greatest poet of the 20th century. He was born and lived in Iwate Prefecture, which suffered severe damage in Great East Japan Earthquake.

We have featured this poem on our website for many years and we have recently updated the translation upon request, so that it will be used on a poster as a fundraising tool for earthquake relief.

It turns out, we are not the only ones who have made the connection to Miyazawa's poem to the tragedy in Japan.

Actor, Ken Watanabe has recited the poem as a tribute to the people of Japan. But thats not all. He has also created a web site that hopes to heal Japan and bring a smile back to the people. He calls it Kizuna311. Kizuna means “bonds” or “ties” and 311 is for March 11th, the date of the earthquake and tsunami.

To overcome this painful catastrophe, we must find a way to unite and find our Kizuna among people. We decided to create a video library showing the power and benefits from voluntary work efforts. We wish to deliver the message of hope to the victims and kindle a light in each one's heart.

We understand that each medium has its role. We would like to show a different point of view from what the mass media reports everyday. Our hope is that our message will show the uplifting efforts we Japanese are making to come together and help one another rebuild our lives after the earthquake and tsunami. We believe that this message inspires the power of Kizuna among the victims of these tragedies, and demonstrates our Kizuna to the world.

CHECK OUT KIZUNA311...
READ UNBEATEN BY RAIN...

Dr. Leslie Kawamura — one of the titans of modern Buddhist Studies, Professor of Religious Studies and Holder of the Numata Chair in Buddhist Studies at the University of Calgary – has died. --DannyFisher.org

Even in his final days, Rev. Leslie Kawamura expressed his desire for the growth and flourishing of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. He was determined to be in Winnipeg for our Hanamatsuri service. Sadly, Rev. Kawamura became ill and passed away in March 9, 2011.

Rev. Kawamura championed and supported new ideas. He leaves the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Temples of Canada - Living Dharma Centre having put in place a minister in training, a new youth retreat program, Jodo Shinshu Correspondence Course graduates, a library of video lectures, the Manning Park Retreat, Dharma School programs, lay minister training and other ongoing programs and relationships within our community and with the broader spiritual community. 

He will be greatly missed.

READ A TRIBUTE TO REV./DR. LESLIE KAWAMURA...

For more than two terrifying, seemingly endless minutes, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan shook apart homes and buildings.

Then came a devastating tsunami that slammed into northeastern Japan and killed hundreds of people. The violent wall of water swept away houses, cars and ships. Fires burned out of control. The magnitude of the devastation and flooding is extensive. Now, over 10,000 people are feared dead.

Nuclear explosions and the chance of meltdown burden the earthquake-stricken country.

In Canada, many members of the Manitoba Buddhist Temple still have friends and family that live in Japan. Our sect of Buddhism originated in Japan over 800 years ago. We continue to have a very close relationship with the country where Jodo Shinshu Buddhism began. To be able to help is a privilege. It is now time to show compassion and help the people of Japan.

Speaking at the Sunday service following the earthquake, the Minister of the Manitoba Buddhist Temple, Sensei Fredrich Ulrich told the congregation,

“The best part of ourselves is each other. It’s the compassion we show after a tragic event like this that shows just how close the we and the other really are.”

Donations can be made to the Manitoba Buddhist Temple. The funds will be consolidated and directed to Canadian aid groups such as the Canadian Red Cross. Tax receipts will be made available for any donation over $10.00.

On Wednesday, March 16, 2011, the Manitoba Buddhist Temple welcomed multi-faith groups from around Winnipeg to learn more about Karen Armstrong's "Charter for Compassion."

In 2008, Karen Armstrong won a prize to make her dream of a charter for compassion a reality. The Charter was crafted by people of different faiths from all over the world. It wanted to change toe conversation so that compassion becomes a key word in private and public discourse, making it clear that any ideology that breeds hatred or contempt, be it religious or secular, has failed the test of our time.

The night featured a video from Buddhist Tenzin Robert Thurman, guest speakers and shared conversation from the different multi-faiths in attendance.

Guest speakers included Sensei Fredrich Ulrich of the Manitoba Buddhist Temple, Bllquis Khan, and Rev. Angie Desrochers-Emond

Thanks to Lynda Trono for her good work organizing this event.

Now, more than ever, the time is right for the world to focus on compassion.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CHARTER FOR COMPASSION...
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MANITOBA INTERFAITH COUNCIL...

A Message from Karen Armstrong:
Compassion is indeed central to every one of the major world religions — but sometimes you would never know it. Increasingly religion is associated with violence and intolerance; it seems preoccupied with dogma, belief, getting to heaven, or enforcing correct sexual behaviour. There are magnificent exceptions, of course, but it is rare to hear religious leaders speaking of the primary importance of compassion.

People don’t even seem to know what it means. It is often assumed to mean “pity” or “feeling sorry” for somebody. But the root of this Greco-Latin word is “to experience with;” compassion compels us to dethrone the egotism, self-preoccupation and selfishness that hold us back from the divine and put ourselves in the place of another.

All the great religious sages insist that compassion is the chief religious duty. The first person to do so was Confucius, who, five hundred years before Christ, was the first to formulate the Golden Rule: “Do not do to others what you would not like them to do to you.” It was the central “thread” that ran through all his teaching and should be practiced “all day and every day.” Every single faith has evolved its own version of the Golden Rule, which requires us to look into our own hearts, discover what gives us pain and refuse, under any circumstance whatsoever to inflict that pain on anybody else.

“My religion is kindness,” said the Dalai Lama; you can have faith that moves mountains, says St Paul, but it is worthless without charity; Rabbi Hillel said that the Golden Rule was the essence of Torah: everything else was “only commentary.” Muslims begin every reading of the Qur’an by invoking the compassion of God. But the religions also insist that you cannot confine your compassion to your own kind; you have to have “concern for everybody,” love your enemies, and honour the stranger.

The major task of our generation is to build a global community where people of all persuasions can live together in mutual respect. If we do not achieve this, we will not have a viable world to hand on to our children. We must implement the Golden Rule globally, treating other peoples ~ whoever they may be ~ as we would wish to be treated ourselves. Any ideology ~ religious or secular ~ that breeds hatred or disdain will fail the test of our time.

The religions should be making a major contribution to this essential task ~ and that is why it is important to sign on to the Charter of Compassion, change the conversation, and make it cool to be compassionate.

We hope that hundreds of thousands of people ~ Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Confucians and atheists all over the world will contribute their insights on line on our multi-lingual website.

The world will help to write this Charter to return religion to the spirit of the Golden Rule. Can we make a difference? “Yes We Can!”

“When I won the TED prize in 2008, I asked TED to help me create, launch, and propagate a Charter for Compassion that would be composed by leading thinkers and activists in a range of major faiths. Hundreds of thousands people contributed their ideas to a draft charter online, and with the aid of a council representing six of the major world religions, together we crafted the charter.”

The Charter is a special call to action, transcending religious, ideological, and national difference — and inspiring people around the world to campaign for a more compassionate global community. To add your name to the Charter, just visit the Charter of Compassion website — where you can find still more ways to act on making “the compassionate voice a more potent force in the world.”

Karen Armstrong is one of the most provocative, original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world. Armstrong is a former Roman Catholic nun who left a British convent to pursue a degree in modern literature at Oxford. Awarded the $100,000 TED Prize in February 2008, she called for drawing up a Charter for Compassion in the spirit of the Golden Rule, to identify shared moral priorities across religious traditions, in order to foster global understanding.

WATCH KAREN ARMSTRONG ON THE CHARLIE ROSE SHOW...
ADD YOUR NAME TO THE CHARTER OF COMPASSION...

Scientists say that meditators may be benefiting from changes in their brains. The researchers report that those who meditated for about 30 minutes a day for eight weeks had measurable changes in gray-matter density in parts of the brain associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN THE NEW YORK TIMES...

A new movie from Japan has its North American debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

In his youth, Jonen was a punk-rock musician, now he’s settled into a life as a Buddhist monk with a wife and five-year-old son. During his career-day speech at a local high school, however, Jonen has a public breakdown that leads to a deep depression when he realizes the importance of music to his life. In an attempt to raise Jonen’s spirits, the compassionate chief monk suggests he play a live show. As he plans for the concert, Jonen faces challenges from past loss, small-town resistance, and the possibility of alienating his family.

Full of authenticity and charm, “Abraxas” is a subtle exploration of a man’s journey to reconcile the spiritual and secular. Director Naoki Kato cinematically renders the film to complement its philosophy by uniting the everyday and the transcendent. Rich, rewarding, and profoundly moving, Abraxas affirms peace and happiness within and posits “once a punk rocker, always a punk rocker.” ----- IndieWire

READ MORE AT THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER...
READ AN INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR AT INDIEWIRE....

People often ask how can I meditate.
Here is a great way to start.

Created by Alex Tew, this website features an image of a sunset, the ocean, the sound of crashing waves and a small clock.

Try relaxing for the next two minutes. If you nudge your mouse or press a key on your keyboard, the clock resets.

Sound easy? Think again.

Going nowhere, being nobody, doing nothing... try it here.

This post courtesy of For Our Grandchildren

About six months ago Doreen expressed her desire to work on behalf of For Our Grandchildren (FOG). During the fall she participated in the meetings of the steering committee. She was firm minded and fair, with a talent for thinking and speaking clearly.

As a grandparent, her commitment to the mission of FOG was evident. What may not have been as evident was the source of her commitment: Doreen became a Shin Buddhist and in 1988 was ordained as an assistant minister of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. She later served as an assistant minister at a Toronto Buddhist temple, and as a Buddhist Chaplain for the University of Toronto and for Federal Prisons.

Of all the great religions, Buddhism gives the most emphasis to the identification of humans with the natural world. Our self-deification as the controlling species is inconsistent with this teaching. Such deification regards nature as a resource, a means for increased consumption with its attendant over-population and pollution of the environment. Climate change is only one consequence of that attitude. In Buddhist thinking, ecological balance is restored through the philosophy of Sarvodaya (uplift of all), which is based on loving kindness, compassionate action, and altruistic job.

In Doreen’s words: “As Buddhists we have a deep sense of respect for nature just the way it is. We seek to understand and harmonize with nature rather than conquer or improve it.”

Doreen died on January 3, 2011 – a great loss to us as individuals, and a misfortune for FOG. She would not have considered her death in such negative terms. In the words of two poems she wrote:

Our short life.

Our short life can’t matter much.
What matters is what we leave when we die.
Will I leave love?
Will I leave beauty?
Will I leave peace?
Will I leave others stronger than before I came?
I’ll do my best!

Human Life.

We are briefly here,
like fish leaping out of the ocean!
“The Ocean of Infinite life”.
In human life, it is our thoughts that make our life here heaven or hell!
At human death we all return to the blissful emptiness from which we came.

READ MORE OF DOREEN'S POETRY...
READ DOREEN'S OBITUARY...
LEARN MORE ABOUT DOREEN'S WORK...
COURTESY FOR OUR GRANDCHILDREN...