| Title | Surname | Given Name | Paper | |
| Mrs. | Andrade | Marie Angela | Learning with Translations of Buddhist Texts | |
| Rev. | Arai | Toshikazu | Non-violence as the Universal Principle for Creating Peace | |
| Rev. | Brazier | Caroline | Writing About Guilt | |
| Rev. Dr. | Brazier | David | Writing Contemporary Poetry and Pureland Faith? | |
| Rev. | Cheng | Jackson | YinKwan’s (1861-1940) Pure Land Thought with His Practice | |
| Rev. | Cirlea | Adrian | Peace of shinjin | |
| Mrs. | Evers | Ilona | The peace within | |
| Mr. | Gregg | Krech | Naikan: The Principles of Pure Land Buddhism as a Path to Self-Awareness and Faith | |
| Rev. | Ishida | Hoyu | May Peace Prevail on Earth! - Shinran’s Letter to Shôshin | |
| Rev. | Kashiwahara | Nobuyuki | Covered with the light of Amida | |
| Prof. | Kobai | Eiken | Establishing Shinjin: The premise of peace and tranquillity | |
| Mr. | Kobs | Frank | The day Amida meet me or better hit me | |
| Mr. | Kósa-Kiss | Sándor | Peace in the mind, peace in the world | |
| Mr. | Martens | Fons | Building a sangha: professionalising tips | |
| Rev. | Moser | Thomas | introduction and conclusion | |
| Dr. | Mullen | Kenneth | Shinjin: Buddhism and Addiction | |
| Dr. | Nasu | Eisho | ||
| Mr. | Nottelmann-Feil | Jan Marc | Some reflections on the term “peace” | |
| Rev. | Sasaki | Esho | "A reflection on "May Peace and tranquillity prevail throughout the world" : Shinrans letters and his Buddhist spirit" | |
| Prof. Rev. | Sato | Taira | The Notion of Buddha-nature in Shin Buddhism | |
| Mr. | Takayama | Hidetsugu | Otani Kozui and Europe | |
| Rev. | Teramoto | Tomomasa | Conflict and Diversity of Religions - Christian Theology of Religion(s) and Buddhist View of Religion(s) | |
| Prof. Rev. | Wu | Chao Ti | Tan-Luan's Pure Land Thought and Practice |
Please, send your abstract before 10/07/2008,
and your final paper before 01/08/2008.
Thank you!
| Mrs | Andrade | Marie Angela | Learning with Translations of Buddhist Texts |
The difficulties that naturally appear in the task of translating Buddhist texts disclose cultural and individual limitations that we, as translators, all have. At the same time they stimulate us to move further. As technical terms are obviously the key point, the methods available to translate them are only attempts to solve a permanent and polemic question. Each of the three most well known options namely, neologism, borrowing and concept matching show efforts either to keep a tradition, or on the opposite way, to move toward what is new. I will attempt to examine in which ways each method contribute to foster the understanding of the Buddhist teaching. My focus is particularly on Shin Buddhist terms such as shinjin, jiriki, tariki, etc, having in mind that the translator’s main task which, in my view is to try to draw near what languages separate, and at the same time to do so while respecting their differences and particularities. To serve as a bridge between people and ways of thinking can be an exercise of delving into the limits and possibilities inherent in language and of moving toward mutual understanding among cultures.
| Rev. | Arai | Toshikazu | Non-violence as the Universal Principle for Creating Peace |
This paper is intended to propose that the principle of non-violence be the
common ground on which all the faiths of the world should work together toward
creation of peace.
All are agreed that peace brings happiness and violence brings misery. If peace
and happiness are what every human being desires the most, avoiding violence and
misery will be the key to creating peace. However, the issue of peace and
violence is not that simple. In the following discussion, we will first take up
the definition of peace and then examine the idea of non-violence as presented
by Mohandas Gandhi. We will also examine how Gandhi’s employment of non-violent
means to achieve certain political goals has influenced other contemporary and
later persons who worked for their social and political causes.
We will then discuss how non-violence is at the core of the teachings of
Śākyamuni Buddha and Shinran. At the end of the paper, we will conclude that all
peace-loving people should take the ideal of non-violence to their hearts and
join forces to eliminate all the miseries in the world.
| Rev. | Brazier | Caroline | Writing About Guilt |
| Rev. Dr. | Brazier | David | Writing Contemporary Poetry and Pureland Faith? |
| Rev. | Cheng | Jackson | YinKwan’s (1861-1940) Pure Land Thought with His Practice |
Yinkwan’s (1861–1940) Pure Land Thought with His Practice
Bettalo Education Institute
Principal：Jackson Cheng
Abstract
The study aims to explore the doctrine of the modern Chinese Pure Land patriarch
Yinkwan (1861–1940), who preached the Pure Land thoughts from the late Chin
Dynasty to the Early Republic Dynasty. Patriarch Yinkwan had passed down the
authentic Pure Land thinking by focusing on studying the Buddha Amitabha’s
spirituality, enlightenment and transcendence, and by advocating for the
Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva. This talk intends to show Yinkwan transition from
the Confucianism he learned in his young age to his specific practice where
Buddha’s chants (nei-fo) are central and necessary to reach the Pure Land.
Yinkwan’s main practicing methods will be examined as well as his objective to
persuade all the sentient beings to seek for the Pure Land. How one’s efforts in
training and amassing one’s enlightenment toward the afterlife is then going to
be discussed, with some indications about how could one attain the Nirvana.
[Keywords: Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva, Confucianism, enlightenment,
transcendence, nei-fo, nirvana]
| Rev. | Cirlea | Adrian | Peace of shinjin |
I think that in our days it became a fashion to talk about peace in the
world, environment, etc. Many V.I.P.es from Hollywood never forget to say a few
words about peace in the world, in the hope they will have a better image in the
eyes of their fans.
The world “peace” is on everybody’s lips, whether they are priests, lay,
politicians, V.I.P.s, etc, but is there a real possibility to be peace in the
world?
Can outside peace exist without inner peace?
What an unenlightened person, that is, one who cannot achieve complete peace of
mind, can do for himself and others?
What kind of peace do I receive through shinjin?
These are some of the questions I would like to give an answer in this more
personal oriented paper – “Peace of shinjin”.
| Mrs. | Evers | Ilona | The peace within |
One definition of peace is the absence of war.
Most of us fortunately never experienced war.
But what about the peace within?
Do we have a peaceful mind?
Is it actually possible to live with a peaceful mind in a surrounding without
war but full of problems, argument and struggle?
| Mr. | Gregg | Krech | Naikan:The Principles of Pure Land Buddhism as a Path to Self-Awareness and Faith |
| Rev. | Ishida | Hoyu | May Peace Prevail on Earth! - Shinran’s Letter to Shôshin |
May Peace Prevail on Earth!
—Shinran’s Letter to Shôshin—
In the final analysis, it would be splendid if all people who say the nembutsu,
not just yourself, do so not with thoughts of themselves, but for the sake of
the imperial court and for the sake of the people of the country. Those who feel
uncertain of birth should say the nembutsu aspiring first for their own birth.
Those who feel that their own birth is completely settled should, mindful of the
Buddha’s benevolence, hold the nembutsu in their hearts and say it to respond in
gratitude to that benevolence, with the wish, “May there be peace in the world,
and may the Buddha’s teaching spread!” [1]
With these words in a letter to Shôshin (1187-1275), [2] Shinran (1173-1262)
expounds on two kinds of nembutsu followers: those who are not sure about their
own birth (ôjô into the Pure Land), and those who feel certain about their path.
He then says that the latter people, who are assured of their ôjô, holding
nembutsu in their hearts, should wish the world to be peaceful and the Buddha’s
teaching to be spread.
This paper first deals with the issue that Shinran advises that those who say
the nembutsu should recite it for the sake of the court and for the sake of the
people of the country. Shinran was, despite this statement, critical about the
political oppression of the government or the emperor over the nembutsu sangha
community as related to the nembutsu suppression. This paper then examines the
criteria and the essence of Shinran’s wish for world peace and the spread of
Buddha-Dharma.
[1] The Collected Works of Shinran (hereafter abbreviated CWS) 1, Shin Buddhism Translation series (Kyoto: Jôdo Shinshû Hongwanji-ha, 1997), p. 560
[2] Shôshin is said to have become a disciple of Hônen at the age of 18 and later have received guidance from Shinran.
| Rev. | Kashiwahara | Nobuyuki | Covered with the light of Amida |
Many wars and conflicts are found in the world. Mass-media has given the
reasons of them while no one fights because of the religion. All the wars and
conflicts are caused by defilements of human beings. We are covered with the
clouds of the defilements. Still we are covered with the light of Amida. We are
not in the darkness according to Shinran's teaching. This idea must be common to
all the religions. It is expected that all the people should be saved and will
be in peace in the near future.
| Prof. | Kobai | Eiken | Establishing Shinjin: The premise of peace and tranquillity |
| Mr. | Kobs | Frank | The day Amida meet me or better hit me |
| Mr. | Kósa-Kiss | Sándor | Peace in the mind, peace in the world |
| Mr. | Martens | Fons | Building a sangha: professionalising tips |
Being responsible for building and/or running a sangha, probably demands
several skills from you.
In this discussion session we use the Report of Activities 2000-2007 from jikoji
as a tool to offer you helpful tips, based on the following topics: real estate;
library and publications; internal contacts; external contacts; Euroshinshu and
financial data.
You also receive a planning table with the progression, over the 8 years, in
each topic.
Here are some tips as a warming up for the meeting: formulating a strategy
for the sangha, building a central contact database for keeping record of
prospects, distributing leaflets with translated hymns, organizing activities
for the general public, strengthening internal and external networks through
meetings and courses, engaging sangha members in several tasks.
top
| Rev. | Moser | Thomas | introduction and conclusion |
“May peace and tranquility prevail throughout the world” is in fact a prayer.
One of the basic sayings of the Buddha is the law of karma, the law of cause and
effect.
This world is a place of cause and effect without exception.
If we realise this, we get the clear insight, that the announcement of “May
peace and tranquility prevail throughout the world” is not a real desire, but a
longing for being embraced by Buddha Amida’s Compassion.
Imagine the following scene: An animal eats another one and after it lies in the
shade, totally satisfied and in peace and tranquility. The announcement of “May
peace and tranquility prevail throughout the world” has been fulfilled for it
for a moment.
“Peace and tranquility are a matter of standpoint ----- for animals! “To eat or
to be eaten,” -- but not for humans. If we send out the prayer: “May peace and
tranquility prevail throughout the world” then we are doing the first step to
rip the curtain of darkness. By saying this aloud, we pray for “Pure Land,” we
pray for Amida’s compassion and we clear our standpoint of view.
| Dr. | Mullen | Kenneth | Shinjin: Buddhism and Addiction |
Buddhism has increasingly focussed on the problems of the addictions and from within its own tool-bag produced methods, or skilful means, which might be used to solve these. This paper considers the general theoretical approach which can be found within most schools and also the recent moves (in the Western Buddhist Order, Tibetan and Zen schools) towards developing a specialised set of methods to specifically deal with the addictions in their modern commonly understood form. Within the context of Shin Buddhism a lot of these therapeutic approaches would be categorised as self-power. The paper thus moves on to a consideration of those Japanese therapies originating from Shin Buddhism that have been used as possible cures for addictions, and how these relate to the central concept of Shinjin.
| Dr. | Nasu | Eisho |
Fluidity of Shinjin: Personal Reflections on Ways of Talking about Shinjin for Contemporary Buddhist Living |
Shinran teaches that the truly decisive cause of ordinary beings’ enlightenment is shinjin that is to be realized naturally and swiftly. He also describes this shinjin as the mind hard to realize by the beings filled with blind passions. In order to explain this seemingly contradictory situation, he applies the metaphor of water to demonstrate the process of how the mind of unenlightened beings are to be embraced by the wisdom of enlightenment, which he calls the working of Other Power. The Wisdom of shinjin is, very hard to comprehend. But compassion of shinjin flows into the mind of ordinary beings “easily” like water. In this presentation, I will introduce Shinran’s use of the metaphor of water, then examine the sayings of Rennyo, the eighth abbot of Hongwanji, and a few modern Japanese Shinshū thinkers, who skillfully adopt Shinran’s metaphor of water to express their experiences of shinjin in everyday living.
| Mr. | Nottelmann-Feil | Jan Marc | Some reflections on the term “peace” |
| Rev. | Sasaki | Esho | "A reflection on "May Peace and tranquillity prevail throughout the world" : Shinrans letters and his Buddhist spirit" |
| Prof. Rev. | Sato | Taira | The Notion of Buddha-nature in Shin Buddhism |
The correct interpretation of the famous statement in the Great Nirvana Sutra that all sentient beings possess Buddha-nature has always been a major problem in Mahayana Buddhism, and especially in Pure Land Buddhism. In the Great Nirvana Sutra are likewise to be found repeated references to the notion of iccantika, or those seen as devoid of all roots of goodness. In my proposed talk I would like to discuss both iccantika and the notion of Buddha-nature (buddhadhātu) from the perspective of the Shin Buddhist outlook on faith (shinjin).
| Mr. | Takayama | Hidetsugu | Otani Kozui and Europe |
| Rev. | Teramoto | Tomomasa | Conflict and Diversity of Religions - Christian Theology of Religion(s) and Buddhist View of Religion(s) |
Since the late twenty hundreds various peace conferences have been held by
inter-religious commissions such as World Conference of Religions for Peace.
Individual religious organizations also have been hosting peace gatherings of
representatives from different major religions for the realization of world
peace, for instance, Religious Summit Meeting on Mt. Hiei. Back in 1960’s
Vatican Council Two was held from 1962-65, inviting representatives of
Non-Catholic Churches as observers, and, in 1948 World Council of Churches was
established, constituted of various Protestant Churches, Eastern Orthodox Church
and Anglican Church.
Behind both councils, there is an earnest confession of their fault in the
Second World War that they should have cooperated with each other against human
tragedy beyond the conflict between different churches. Furthermore, in 1965
Pope Paul 6th proclaimed Nostra Aetate – Declaration on the Relation of the
Church to Non-Christian Religions -, stating ‘The Church, therefore, exhorts her
sons, that through dialog and collaboration with the followers of other
religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian
faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual
and moral, as well as the socio-cultural values found among these men.’ And, at
the 5th general assembly of World Council of Churches in 1975, dialog with the
other religions and ideologies was taken up as a main theme and established the
Sub-Unit on Dialog in 1979. Coexistence, mutual understanding and collaboration
of religions became a serious subject which can’t be kept away for the world
peace. Especially, after 911, the frequent suicidal attacks in the U.S. in 2001,
a question of how religions can sincerely be related each other is argent issue.
| Prof. Rev. | Wu | Chao Ti | Tan-Luan's Pure Land Thought and Practice |
Tan-Luan's Pure Land Thought and Practice
Chin Min Institute of Technology
Commission of General Education
Chao-Ti Wu (Dharma name: Hsin Chien)
This research will investigate a famous patriarch of Pure Land Buddhism, master
Tan-ran (476—542 or 554?), in China during the North Wei Dynasty. Buddha said
everything has its co-arising even master Tan-ran followed his own co-arising.
He studied Nagarjuna’s Four Treatises and wrote “The Great Collection Sutra”.
However, he stopped writing The Great Collection Sutra when he became ill. One
day he met master Bodhiruci (菩提留支) who inspired him and helped to solve his
problems. After that auspicious meeting he changed from practicing Taoism’s idea
to practice the Pure Land Buddhism. In this research study paper will discuss
how he adopted Nagarjuna’s easy way and Bodhisattva Teichei’s (天親) treatise of
Pure Land, combining them together for practice, and how he spread this Pure
Land idea to cultivate sentient beings.
[Keywords: co-ordination, treatises, sutra, pure land, bodhisattva, Buddhism]
last update: 12/08/2008