Visit of IABC delegation from Japan to Amidaji temple

Visitors and members in the Hondo (Dharma Hall) of Amidaji

On August 28th a delegation of IABC from Japan visited Amidaji temple.

We had a wonderful time together. We recited Amidakyo (Smaller Amida Sutra) and Nembutsu, we had Dharma discussions and we enjoyed a delicious vegetarian food.

I also explained the orthodox attitude of Amidaji in all matters related with Dharma activities and I presented the plan for the next phase in the development of the temple.

Short Dharma meeting in Vienna and Notes on the 18th European Shin Buddhist Conference in Antwerp

 Dharma meetings before the Conference:

August 19th

I met with my Dharma friend Frank Kusmierz. I offered some books in the memory of late Myoshin Friedrich Fenzl, and we had a wonderful evening with discussions and cofee.

August 20

Frank and me

I met with my good friend from Holland, Frits Bot, who donated many good books for the library of Amidaji temple. These include, Rennyo-sama, His Life Through Pictorial Illustrations, Life of Eshinni by Yoshiko Ohtani, two books by Eiken Kobai Sensei, some biographies of Shinran and Honen, and a few good studies on the history of Jodo Shinshu.

18th European Shin Buddhist Conference in Antwerp

The following is not a detailed and objective report of the 18th European Shin Buddhist Conference, but only some significant events for myself and my mission.

A reader from Brasil at Amidaji temple

Shinkai and Josho in the Hondo
(Dharma Hall)
of Amidaji

As you can read here, at this link, I have declared Amidaji open for visitors. As most of my readers live outside of Romania, and because Amidaji is an international temple (including Romanians of course, but not limited to them), many expressed their wish to visit and stay for a few days in order to listen to the orthodox Jodo Shinshu teaching  presented here.

So, the first visitor arrived and she came all the way from Brasil! Usually, when I have a visitor, I dedicate myself exclusively to him or her. The visitor does not leave the temple for a few days, and is focused entirely on Dharma activities like teaching, recitation, but also work in the garden and courtyard of the temple. This is some kind of a small retreat, but also retreats of more than 3 days can be arranged for either one person or a group.

Amidaji construction news 2016 (part III)

- last update August 8th - 

 Dear Dharma friends,

Here it is a short summary of what I did this summer, and what I plan to do in the next months at Amidaji temple. For more detailed information (including the funds I spent from your donations) and photos you can click on the links provided in the text:

1) What I did until now

the renovated Hondo (Dharma Hall)

(a)

- I renovated, arranged and did some repair on the inside of the Hondo (Dharma Hall). I also added some liquid thermal insulation and painted the walls.

- I paid half of the taxes that must be paid for this year and which are related with the land of Amidaji and the two wooden houses (Hondo and Library)

- I added a new altar with a new beautiful Amida scroll (a gift of Zuikoji temple Osaka)

Emotional instability does not mean absence of faith

My mind can never be at peace.

Since the Buddha and me both know this simple truth,

Namo Amida Butsu comes naturally on my lips.

There are people who confuse emotional instability with the absence of faith (shinjin), and so they hope that faith will give them some kind of constant emotional stability. However, it is normal for unenlightened beings (and people of faith remain unenlightened until death and birth in the Pure Land!) to experience various degrees of emotional instability. It is exactly why Amida urges us to entrust to Him, and not on our own so called, ”personal power” and "personal achievements or merits". Trully, nothing stable can be achieved by an unenlightened mind, especially not Nirvana or birth in the Pure Land.

We must bear in mind that faith will not give us absence of desires while we are still here in our samsaric bodies. Faith will only make us enter the stage of non-retrogression, which means that no matter how many desires we have or how low we are on the scale of spiritual evolution, we will surely reach the Pure Land in the moment of death.

Thus, an unenlightened person who entrusts to Amida continues to suffer while still in his/her samsaric body. For a non-Buddha mind clinging is always present, and so,  there will always be suffering, insatisfaction, and some kind of emotional instability. I often say this to my Dharma friends - shinjin (faith) is not satori (Enlightenment)! Not even a little satori, so much more a greater satori which leads to absence of desires and constant emotional stability!