How normal are same-sex unions in the Jodo Shinshu temples of Hawai'i? The statewide newspaper carried an article about a civil union performed by Rev. Murakami of Wailuku Hongwanji Mission. There's no discussion about whether same-sex unions are OK or worry over whether he'll catch any flak. The whole article is just about his joy at doing the service and his anxiety to produce a meaningful service to celebrate their love and commitment. #jodoshinshu#shinbuddhism#buddhism#buddhist#lgbtq
Pascal's wager of "If you believe in the Christian Jesus, you go to heaven. If you don't, you go to hell. So you might as well believe just in case" gets really interesting when you find out how many hells #Buddhism has!
And various other religions...
Anyhow... Blaise. and many street preachers, didn't consider that the spiritual realm isn't binary (or at least that the options out there aren't binary).
Side note: Buddhist hells at least are temporary... you get to burn off your bad karma and get another chance at a normal life again.
Another side note: I find it interesting the concept of prison in the United States is set up to be punitive and not, say, for rehabilitation.
I'm doing a fast and while I'm in the kitchen every few minutes I want to grab something and eat it. I've already stopped myself like 10 times. Makes me wonder if the centrality of the philosophy desire in #Buddhism arose in a environment where people chronically or periodically don't get enough food & it resonated with people who are often hungry
In modern times, I'm much more likely to suffer from anhedonia (depression, not wanting to do anything) because I'm generally sated.
@everybodhi Yes, at least one general famine is recorded as occuring during the Buddha's life, and food was often scarce enough that beggers went hungry (indeed, for many food insecurity is still a problem today, let's not forget!)
@obu - AMAZING comprehensive FREE online courses on a variety of topics. I'm doing one on the words of the #Buddha and I am loving it. #Education#OnlineLearning
The key is to not see religious traditions as monolithic and to understand that there are many traditions operating simultaneously within the larger umbrella and which can become more important in certain places, times, societies, and contexts.
A terrible day. The fire killed dozens of people and destroyed Lahaina, including the Lahaina Hongwanji Mission (founded in 1904), Lahaina Jodo Mission (1912) and Lahaina Hokoji Shingon Mission (1902). The Shingon temple was the 1st outside Asia. The Jodo one had a rare 3-story pagoda and replica of the Kamakura Daibutsu. The Shin sangha has over 70 member families. Info on how to support them will be forthcoming.
Update: the Daibutsu statue at Jodo Mission survived the fire. All structures except the pagoda were burnt to the ground; the top 2 stories of the pagoda were destroyed and the bottom floor was damaged.
The Makawao Hongwanji Mission has created a GoFundMe for the Lahaina Hongwanji Mission (all buildings were destroyed and many members are homeless and/or their businesses were destroyed): https://www.gofundme.com/f/lahaina-hongwanji-recovery-fund
Further update: the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii (the umbrella organization for all the Hongwanji temples) has put together a drive to provide concrete support to the Lahaina temple and the affected greater Maui community. In addition to the GoFundMe initially set up by Rev. Kiyohara, you can donate directly by mailing cheques memoed “Maui Wildfire Disaster Relief” to Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii,1727 Pali Highway, Honolulu, HI 96813 or use PayPal at this link: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=FZBWPWSUDDRX8
I am convinced that we all have what we Buddhists call buddha-nature, core values of loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity - I see it everyday in how everyone tries to find meaning.in their lives by seeking to be happy and avoid suffering. I think that if we all tried to connect with this innate goodness at the very core of our beings and familiarize ourselves with it, begin to see it in others as well as ourselves, the world would be a much happier place. #buddhism
Well, I was going to re-read Aristotle but I'm actually a bit burnt out after that, so I'm moving on to "Buddha." I started the Sutta Piṭaka today. I'm done with the first two in Digha Nikāya and they weren't that long but there sure are a lot of them, so I think this is going to take a few months but won't be as difficult. Only thing that stresses me a bit is I wanted to re-do Nicomachean Ethics but I really needed the variation... hmm.
Aristotle can be difficult if you try to read through too much at once. If time isn't an issue, just take it a piece of a chapter at a time, so you chew over the arguments individually.
Sometimes an entire line of thought is crammed into a sentence (which isn't surprising if these really were notes).