Dharma meetings in Paris and Antwerp

Dharma meeting with Vincent

Due to some unexpected difficulties, I couldn't attend the 17th ESC in Southampton(UK),  but I did two more important Dharma activities.

The first was a wonderful Dharma meeting with my nembutsu friend, Vincent, in Paris, to whom I donated many books for free distribution among nembutsu followers and people interested in Amida Dharma in France. 

 The second was attending a meeting at Jikoji temple in Antwerp (Belgium) with Japanese representatives of Hongwanji. Here I presented a report of Dharma activities in Romania and informed them of the plan and progress in building Amida-ji temple. 

with Hongwanji representatives
 and Jikoji members

They were very excited about this project and firmly encouraged its continuation.

During the discussions held at Jikoji with Japanese representatives of Hongwanji I also introduced the Dharma activities of my nembutsu friend Petros Theodoridis from Greece, who is now engaged in translation work and is trying to establish a dojo in his town.

with Hongwanji representatives

The books donated in Paris were soon replaced by other copies donated to me for Amida-ji library ( older translations of the sacred texts by Ryukoku University and new ones by Numata Center) by another great friend - Frits Bot from Holland, who was so kind as to accommodate me and my girlfriend Shushin at his home in Bergen op Zoom, and took us to Jikoji in Antwerp. 

I installed the altar of Amida-ji Temple

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE NEW UPGRADES AT THE TEMPLE 

Dear friends in the Dharma,

  

I am glad to inform you that I have just installed the altar in the small Hondo (Dharma Hall) of Amida-ji.

As you can see in the pictures, it is a simple altar made from an old piece of furniture covered with cloth. On this,  it is placed a statue of Amida Buddha which was donated a few years ago by the Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation (CBBEF) from Taiwan. This statue was previously used at Tariki Dojo Craiova and now moved to the temple. It is not a Hongwanji style statue of Amida, but it is the only statue we received until now, and with so much generosity.

My book - The 48 Vows of Amida Buddha (free online edition)

A newly revised edition of my explanation of the 48 vows of Amida Buddha was integrated in the new book COMMENTARY ON THE SUTRA ON THE BUDDHA OF INFINITE LIGHT. 
(click here to download the free online edition of this book)

Notes on the 16th European Shinshu Conference (31 August - 2 September 2012)

Group photo with all the participants

  First of all, it is good to know that the European Shinshu Conferences are organized by European sanghas and financially supported by IABC. They are usually held together with the IASBS (International Association of Buddhist Studies) annually conference which is the academical part, so to speak, of the meeting.

The European Shinshu Conferences are also honored by the presence of Shinmon-sama (the next Patriarch of Hongwanji) and Rev Kiribayashi, the director of Hongwanji International Center.

The activities are paper presentations on the decided topic of the Conference, religious services and a kikyoshiki (confirmation) rite for the newcomers which is usually held in the last day. Although I personally find many papers and discussions to be useless and even promoting divergences, I still think this Conference is a good place for disseminating the seeds of the true Shinshu Dharma. Enough people, old participants or new, are opened or gradually become opened to the right way the teaching should be presented.

Pictures from the 16th European Shinshu Conference

Hy guys,

I'm back from the 16th European Shinshu Conference, in Dusseldorf,  but have not reached home yet! I'll write a report about what happened there when I find some free time. Meanwhile, see the pictures bellow and share the album with others!

16th European Shinshu Conference

My message on the United Nations Day of Vesak 2012 (Bangkok, Thailand)

As I informed you some time ago, one of my students will attend the United Nations Wesak Celebration and Conference in Thailand between 31 May – 2 June 2011.

The Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University (MCU), which is the principal organizer, asked me to send them a short message to be published in the Souvenir Program. You can download it from here:

https://www.academia.edu/6529653/Wesak_Message_2012

NEWS: Romanian delegate at the 9th Conference of The United Nations Day of Vesak

Robert Kaigo Ionescu

This year, Robert Kaigo Ionescu will represent me and the Romanian Jodo Shinshu sangha at the 9th Conference of The United Nations Day of Vesak (31 May- 2 June 2012).

Website of the event: http://www.undv.org/vesak2012/en/index.php

NEWS! THE PATH OF ACCEPTANCE - COMMENTARY ON TANNISHO available for sale

The printed edition of my book THE PATH OF ACCEPTANCE - COMMENTARY ON TANNISHO is now available for sale here.


The free online edition can be downloaded from here.

The Path of Acceptance - commentary on Tannisho

This book is an adaptation of my Dharma talks on the sacred text of Tannisho – Notes on Lamenting Divergences, given  at Tariki Dojo Craiova during the usual days of practice. Each chapter is explained in easy to understand terms so that to be accesible to beginers and the general public.

 

You can order a printed copy at one of these links:

 

Click here to order it in British pounds on Amazon.com/uk
Click here to order it in US Dollars on Amazon.com
Click here to order it CDN on Amazon Canada

Click here to order it from Amazon Australia
Click here to order it in Euro on Amazon Germany
Click here to order it in Euro on Amazon Italy

Click here to order it in Euro on Amazon France
Click here to order it on Amazon Spain
Click here to order it in Japanese yen on Amazon Japan

 

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Links for free download:

My google drive (click here)
My page from Academia.edu (click here)
My page on Scribd.com (click here)

If you have problems downloading this book write to me at josho_adrian@yahoo.com and I will send you a copy via e-mail.

If you wish to support me and my Dharma activities, please consider a small donation:

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[1] Jodo Shinshu means „the true teaching of the Pure Land school”. 

NEWS! Son of Shinmon-sama at his first visit to the Hongwanji-temple

Takashi-sama, the son of Shinmon-sama (the future Patriarch of our tradition) and of Ruzumi-sama, born on 12th of May 2011, attended the ceremony of the "first visit" at Hongwanji temple on 8th of October.


In the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist tradition, the family presents their newborn child at the temple, thus expressing the wish that the child will follow the Buddha's Path. Congratulations! Namo Amida Butsu!

Pictures from the 750th Memorial of Shinran Shonin (8-11 September 2011)

link here

new pictures were added on 19th September

I recently came back from Japan where I attended the 750th Memorial of Shinran Shonin, an event which is organized once in 50 years.

There are so many things to be said, stories to tell, people to mention, but I will resume myself in this article only at sharing with you pictures that might be useful for those who attended the Conference, kikyoshiki (confirmation) ceremony and pilgrimage to Mount Hiei.

I know that usually it takes a lot of time until official pictures are released by the organizers and maybe, as it often happens, some people might not find themselves in them. This is why I always hurry, after all the Conferences and meetings I attend, to make available as many pictures as possible. 
On September 11th I tried to position myself so that I could take some pictures with my members and other nembutsu friends in the foreground, receiving kikyoshiki. However, I appologize for not being able to catch all the candidates.

I am grateful to the members of my sangha for many other pictures taken by them.

Soon, more pictures will be added, so check this post for new updates! 
There is no copyright for the pictures, so feel free to share then with others!

ps:
- The same pictures can be seen on the Facebook page of Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Community from Romania
- on my youtube page you can also see a video record of a small part from the Ceremony dedicated to Shinran Shonin

Handwriting of Shinran Shonin found

A piece of paper with a monk's name believed to have been written by Shinran, left, and another piece of paper with the title of the Buddhist archive Saihoshinansho and the name of one of Shinran's followers. (Provided by Takada Honzan Senjuji temple and Takada Honzan Senjuji temple)

Takada Honzan Senjuji Temple in Mie Prefecture said it found two pieces of paper that apparently contain the original handwriting of Shinran (1173-1263), founder of the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist sect. The papers were found inside the six-book archive Saihoshinansho believed to have been written by the monk around 1256, when he was 84 years old, the temple said.

Read the entire article here
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201108110242.html

The 750th Memorial of Shinran Shonin in Kyoto

Through the benevolence of the International Association of Buddhist Culture I will be able to attend, together with three members of Romanian sangha, the 750^th Memorial of Shinran Shonin and the European Conference that will be organized on this occasion between 8^th to 11^th September in Kyoto.

Earthquake in Japan

We, members of the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Community from Romania wish to express our solidarity with the people of Japan who are now suffering the effects of the natural disaster which falled upon their country.

We are looking forward to receive news from our Japanese Dharma friends and hope they are well and safe.

May we all deeply understand impermanence and follow the Dharma like this would be the last day of our life. In this world of suffering nobody is safe.

Namo Amida Butsu

Buddhist books for children

Dear readers and Dharma friends,

Can you please help me with Buddhist books for children, especially cartoons? I need as many variants as possible to get inspiration for something like "Buddha's life", "Shinran's life", "Rennyo's life", Buddhist teachings with animals, etc. It does not matter if they are in Japanese (I know there are many such cartoons in Japanese), English or any language. We have no Buddhist books for children in Romanian and I intend to create some. I also know there are not so many in English, too.

If you have some free copies, please send them to my mail address:

ADRIAN CIRLEA

O.P. 6, C.P. 615

CRAIOVA, DOLJ

ROMANIA

Your help will be very much appreciated.

Namo Amida Bu,

Josho Adrian

A Romanian tokudo candidate not recognized by me

Many days ago I received news from a Japanese source who wishes to remain  anonymous that a Romanian person is now in Japan for tokudo (priest) ordination. All the evidences indicates that she is the one who left my dojo after I did not allowed the publication in Romanian of Taitetsu Unno’s „Bits of Rubble Turn into Gold” due to some fragments from that book which I consider to be a divergence from the Jodo Shinshu teaching one can find in the sacred texts of our school.

It is traditional when one goes for tokudo that he or she first receive a recommendation from his/her priest and teacher, in this case me, who I am also the official representative in Romania.

Why this did not happen now?

Good methods of comunication (skype, yahoo messenger, etc)

Just a short note to inform my readers and Dharma friends about new methods to keep in touch with me.

If you use skype, my id is josho_adrian

My e-mail remains the same: josho_adrian@yahoo.com

I prefer to talk with my readers and Dharma friends from abroad on  skype, rather than by phone, because its harder for me to understand English if the phone connection is bad. Sometimes I also have too much letters to answer and an online discussion might be better. I can also use webcam if you wish to see each other while talking.

Note on the cancellation of the 16th European Shinshu Conference supposed to be held in Romania

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On January 19^th  (yesterday) I received this report from Kensho Jerome Ducor Sensei, leader of the Swiss sangha. I share it with you bellow, followed by my comments.

Next European Shinshu Conference supposed to be held in Romania was cancelled

I recently received the official news of the cancelation of the next European Shinshu Conference which was supposed to be held in Romania, although I heard rumors about this before, from members of various sanghas who support me and gave me this information.

Exclusion from the German Shinshu Sangha

Here is an official document sent to me by the leadership of the German Shinshu sangha and bellow you can see my answer. Some time ago I was invited to become a member of this sangha although I am not a German, and I guess the reason was that they liked me and my style of teaching the Dharma. But after I wrote that article against Unno and other texts that came after it in the section “divergences from Jodo Shinshu teaching”, they decided that I should be kicked out. Its ok, I have nothing against exclusions, I just wanted to show you that I am not the only one capable of radical attitudes, like my action of excluding books written by Unno from the library of Tariki Dojo was considered to be.