On Monday, August 6, 2007, the Calgary Buddhist Temple was honored to have the renown speaker, Rev. Dr. Kenneth Kenshin Tanaka of Japan, give an inspirational talk about his thoughts around:  Buddhism in North America: Growth, Humor and Shin Spirituality.

Those in attendance enjoyed a thought provoking, informative evening (and an excellent display of Buddhist humor too).  The Calgary Buddhist Temple would like to thank Dr. Tanaka and the other guest professors visiting from Japan who attended.  (Rev Tanaka also made a great "hockey" Flames Buddhist.)  We are indeed lucky and grateful that they were able to join us. 

Thank you to everyone for attending!

For those who were unable to hear Dr. Tanaka's talk, the overview is available in pdf format.

1)  Growth:  There are now over 3 million Buddhists, including Richard Gere and Tina Turner, and 25 Million people who say they have been "influenced" by Buddhism. The city with the most number of Buddhist schools in the world is not Bangkok, Kyoto or Taipei but Los Angeles. There are over 80 different schools of Buddhism in L.A. and close to that in many other metropolitan areas in North America, including Vancouver and Toronto. The talk hopes to throw light on the characteristics of Buddhism in North America and its reasons for growth.

2)  Humor:  One of the aims of Buddhism is to minimize  our attachments. Another way of expressing this is not "to take ourselves so seriously." We can gain some hints from a number of humorous tales from traditional Buddhism in Asia as well as jokes concocted by North American Buddhists, for example, "Why couldn't the Buddha vacuum under the sofa?" 

3)  Shin Spirituality:  The Jodo Shinshu teaching has evolved in North American for over a century, beginning in the end of the 19th century. While the traditional understanding needs to be kept alive, we need to explore and share the various ways of "accessing" the truth and the vitality of Shin spirituality. I hope to share a bit of my own appreciation of what Amida means to me.

Short Personal Background:  Dr. Tanaka’s first professional position was at the Inst. of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, CA, where he spent 11 years on its staff serving much of the time as Assistant Dean and Associate Professor. He then took a leave for 3 years to become the resident minister at the Southern Alameda County Buddhist Church in Northern California. In 1998, he was appointed professor at Musashino University in Tokyo, Japan, where he teaches a Buddhist class entitled “the Principles of Interdependence” to over 400 students a year.

Dr. Tanaka currently serves as President of the International Association of Shin Buddhist Studies, whose conference he is attending at Univ. of Calgary. He has also been active in program, inter-religious dialogues, having participated in two conferences this spring in Europe. In 2005, he produced and appeared in a weekly year-long Buddhist T.V. sponsored by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai. This program was aired in Los Angeles on 52 Sundays in 2005; its DVDs are now being distributed free of charge to religious and educational institutions throughout the world.

Dr. Tanaka's published books include:

1)      The Dawn of Chinese Pure Land Buddhist Doctrine: Ching-ying Hui-yuan’s Commentary to the Visualization Sutra. (The State     Univ. of New York, 1990).

2)      Ocean: An Introduction to Jodo Shinshu Buddhism in America.(WisdomOcean   Publication, 1997)　

3)      The Faces of Buddhism in America　(co-editor) (The Univ. of  Calif. Press, 1998)

4)      Engaged Pure Land Buddhism (co-editor) (WisdomOcean Publication, 1998)

5)      Shinshu-nyumon. translated into Japanese by Esho Shimazu. (Hozokan, 2003)

6)      Approaching the Land of Bliss (co-editor) (Univ. of Hawai’I Press, 2004)

7)      Pure Land Buddhism: Historical Development and Contemporary Manifestation (Dharmaram College, Bangalore, India, 2004).