Concerned that Buddhism is no longer part of everyday life, the Hongwanji Temple in Kyoto sought to reach out to the younger set by coming out with a DVD depicting the life of its founder, Shinran, of Shin Buddhism. The 108-minute Japanese anime DVD, comes with collectible miniature characters, key rings, pens and notes.

Sorry, no English subtitiled version seems to be available yet.

Monshu Koshin Ohtani is the spiritual head of Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha in Kyoto, Japan. He is a scholar whose articles have appeared in major magazines for several years, including an interview with the Dalai Lama in 2008 in which they exchanged views of religion in to­day's world.

Jodo Shinshu members in North America have had limited opportunities to read Monshu's messages in English. Now, for Shinran Shonin's 750th Memorial, an English translation of his 2003 book, "Ashita niwa Kogan arite" is available as "The Buddha's Wish for the World." It gives English-speaking Shin Buddhist members a wonderful oppor­tunity to get to know Monshu Ohtani's views on life, family, religion and society.

Here is a brief excerpt from a recent interview with the Monshu, courtesy of the American Buddhist Study Centre:

HEAR MORE FROM MONSHU OHTANI ON YOUTUBE...
LEARN MORE AT THE AMERICAN BUDDHIST STUDY CENTRE...