It wasn't long ago, that if you wanted to know more about Pure Land Buddhism, your choices were limited. Local bookstores carried only a handful of "Buddhist" titles.

Today, the Buddhist book business has changed. Visit a bookseller, either at a mall or online and you will find a wide selection of books with Buddhist themes.

For Pure Land Buddhists, it is only recently that a selection of books written for Western readers have become available. One of the first Jodo Shinshu-specific books that was written in English is the classic, "Ocean" by Kenneth Tanaka. While others were penned, they were originally written in Japanese or another Asian language and then translated.

Only in the last few years, Jodo Shinshu Buddhists are able to find titles specially relating to the sect.

Authors like Caroline and David Brazier, Alfred Bloom and Jeff Wilson are writing books for Western readers.

The most recent release to North America is from the Monshu Koshin Ohtani. Ohtani is the head of Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism. Though originally written in Japanese, "The Buddha's Wish for the World" headlines a list of new books available to lift your knowledge of the Buddha's teachings.

While these may not be available at your local bookseller, you can purchase most of the titles online.

We hope the recent influx of books is due to demand and that many North Americans have discovered the Pure Land path and wish to read more.

GO TO THE BCA BOOKSTORE...
SEE SENSEI ULRICH'S RECOMMENDED READINGS...

"heart-wrenching"
****Starting on Friday, September 11 at the Winnipeg Film Group's Cinematheque...

Anders Østergaard's terrific documentary about a loosely organized network of scrappy underground videographers who risked their lives photographing the 2007 uprising against Myanmar's military dictatorship.

The government shut down the Internet and local media, and banned foreign journalists from covering the demonstrations, which were led by Buddhist monks and students with growing support from an emboldened public.

Burma VJ takes us on a roller coaster of alternating hope and despair as the young guerrilla reporters, always on the lookout for ubiquitous informers, wade into the thick of the struggle with Handycams hidden in bags, then transmit the footage to a hidden colleague, who smuggles it out of the country via satellite. The raw, shocking images of courage and brutal backlash, here enhanced by added voiceover from two anguished young cameramen, were then broadcast, uncanned and unpolished, by the mainstream media.

 

“Should be required viewing for anyone thinking of becoming any kind of journalist, be they blogger, indie-media digicammer, or Facebook feed-streamer. It's the truth, unshackled and captured against all odds, and it's one of the most powerful documentary films I have ever seen, period.     AUSTIN CHRONICLE

VISIT THE WINNIPEG CINEMATHEQUE WEBSITE...
READ MORE ABOUT THE FILM INCLUDING REVIEWS...

The head of Jodo Shinshu, Monshu Koshin Ohtani, has written a book that will be available in English for the first time. "The Buddha's Wish for the World" will be published in September, 2009, by the American Buddhist Study Center Press.

The book is dedicated to honor the 750th memorial of Shinran Shonin (1173 - 1263), the founder of Jodo Shinshu, who established this spiritual path in 13th century Japan. It includes a foreword by world-renowned Buddhist scholar, Professor Robert Thurman, Professor of Buddhism at Columbia University and Founder of Tibet House in New York.

Born in Kyoto in 1945, Koshin Ohtani is the twenty-fourth Monshu or head of the Jodo Shinshu tradition. He also serves as chief minister of Nishi Hongwanji, the tradition's head temple in Kyoto and one of the largest Buddhist centers in the world.

"The Buddha's Wish for the World" consists of 36 short chapters, demonstrating how Buddhism is lived in everyday situations.  Monshu Ohtani shares his insights on compassion, mindful attention to others, faith, and self-understanding through personal stories and examples.  Americans who are familiar with other Buddhist teachings will find many similarities, but also unique differences that come out of the Pure Land vision.

Robert Thurman writes in his foreword that the book includes a "range of observations of life and liberation, from the tiny but utterly significant moments in ordinary life, of the turning of the mind from egotism to altruistic heart's entrustment to the vast and beautiful vision of the immanence of the all-enfolding universal compassion of Amida Buddha."

READ A SAMPLE OF THE BOOK AT THE AMERICAN BUDDHIST STUDY CENTRE...