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.

These kind of Conferences started in 1986 if I am correct, and was an event in which followers from all corners of Europe and the world come together for discussions, paper presentations, kikioshiki (confirmation) ceremonies, etc

Most of the papers presented at the Conferences I attended since 2002 were too academical, but some good Dharma talks could be heard, too, especially in the religious part. Also meeting and talking in the breaks or at dinners with many followers from other countries, walking  with them, drinking a beer or cofee was beneficial for all.

So, no matter the shortcomings, such Conferences were useful and good for many. Newcomers from Europe could also receive kikyoshiki or rite confirmation from Shinmon-sama (the future Patriarch of our school) who made it a custom to attend this event.

The 16th edition of this Conference (2010) was supposed to be held in Romania.

Many months of preparations, talks with the hotels, letters exchange with other followers from Europe, finaly led to nothing.

After lots of talks with the Hotel manager of the supposed place of the Conference, when I finaly came with a price and arrangements accepted by everybody, and after being officialy announced (on September 5th) that things are settled and the next Conference will indeed take place in Bucharest, Romania, there came this article about Unno’s divergences from the Jodo Shinshu teaching....

I immediately received some letters in which I was asked to delete it, or else things will go bad for me and my sangha. I met with this kind of threat that things will go bad for me and my sangha many times and I always found it very strange. Then I realized that it was reffering to the fact that I and my sagha might be isolated by the others as a consequence of my actions. Fortunately,  I also received enough letters of support from members of various groups in Europe, Japan and elsewhere that made me not feel so isolated and alone.

Now lets go back to the story.

So, I received some letters in which I was asked to delete that post, some using a more fundamentalist language than I was acccused I use :) , some just talking with me in a nice manner that I am wrong and to which I explained why I think I am not, etc. In short, some letters were exchanged between me and members of the European sangha, this being the visible letters that I keep in my computer and to which I answered, but there is another category of letters that I call, „invisible letters”, which were complaints sent without my knowledge to IABC and Hongwanji International Center. Words like „I refuse to attend the Conference in Romania because Josho is writing this or that”, etc were also sent. Even an exclusion took place as I  mentioned in the last post from today.

Also some tried to distort my image saying that I will somehow transform the next Conference in some kind of hellish and uncivilized place where no normal discussions could take place. This is what they tried to convince everybody and it seems they succeeded.

However, whenever I attended a European Conference, where I was even a chairman from time to time, my different views were in no way used to disturb the good discussion atmosphere that is normal at such meetings. At the last Conference too, which was held in Bad Reichenchal- Germany,  I and Kobai Sensei expressed our views when it was our time to speak and that was all. So, trying to distort my image because of some articles written on my personal website, presenting me as some kind of brutal fundamentalist who doesn’t deserve the next Conference be held in his country ..... - this is not a nice way of dealing with difference of opinions....

Many talks were held behind closed doors between representatives of various groups and japanese oficials. Although International Association of Buddhist Culture (IABC) for which I have a deep respect, wanted and sincerely tried their best to make this Conference in Romania possible, in the end it can’t be organized anymore. I even heard that not only in Romania, but in other European country too, this year will no conference.

Its indeed a pity that such a meeting, not the best of its kind, but syill a good and useful event, will not be held this year.

I refuse to accept any blame for this. What happened is that some made a horse out of a mosquito, as a Romanian saying goes, transforming an article written in a personal blog into  a huge problem, when instead they could simply ignore me or answer in writing to my critics. This is how a normal reaction should have been in a normal environment where critics and discussions on what is good or bad in the way we present Shinshu today are treated as normal.

But no, this was not the case….. Personal attachments to some scholars,  the wish to suppress my voice because I dared to write against the established opinions prevalent in modernist circles,  the accusations that I don’t give enough space for other opinions to exist like my critique was based on my own opinion and not on the sacred texts’s traditional presentation of the teaching, or like others don’t have enough space on the internet, journals or books to express their own opinions, etc - all these led to the cancelation of the 16^th European Shinshu Conference. The  noise some of my Dharma friends in Europe made as a reaction to my articles prevailed and led to this sad consequence.

However, all that happened will in no way affect my feelings of Dharma partnership with anybody. I am always opened for good relations with any Shinshu sangha from Europe or elsewhere, leaders or ordinary members, and I will always attend future events to which I am invited, working side by side with those involved in the promotion of the teaching of our school in this turbulent world.

Although I have experienced a lot of sadness and depressions since all this "modern divergences affair" began, I will not let myself drawn to feelings of adversity towards anybody. As one of my Dharma companions (which doesn't agree with my opinions) noticed, I can be very strict and radical in my statements and presentation of the teaching, but when all discussions are finished, I remain the same friendly person I have always been.

related article - NOTE ON THE CANCELLATION OF THE 16th EUROPEAN SHINSHU      CONFERENCE SUPPOSED TO BE HELD IN ROMANIA