Hongwanji
As part of the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist Temples of Canada (JSBTC), we are affiliated with the Nishi Hongawanji of Kyoto, Japan, the mother temple of the Jodo Shinshu (True Pure Land) sect of Buddhism.
The Gomonshu is the spiritual head of our denomination based in 
Kyoto, Japan. The current Gomonshu is His Eminence Monshu Kojun Ohtani, the 25th-generation descendant of Shinran Shonin to head the Hongwanji.
2022 New Year’s Greeting (Japanese Version)
Happy New Year, everyone! At the beginning of this New Year, I would like to extend my best regards to you all.
Over these past couple of years, we have had to adjust our lives in accordance with the scale of the spread of COVID-19. I would like to offer my deepest condolences to those who fell victim to the disease and express my sympathies to those who are undergoing treatment. I would also like to express my respect and sincere gratitude to the doctors, nurses, and frontline medical professionals who have been engaging in the treatment of infected people, as well as all essential workers who have made it possible for us to continue with our lives.
This infectious disease has not only greatly affected the life of each one of us, but also revealed many issues that had been contained in our society. Sakyamuni Buddha, who passed on the Dharma to us, made clear of the fact that we cannot see the truth because we are too attached to our own thought. Therefore, it is only natural that conflicts and divisions come about in a society in which those who like us, fundamentally self-centered beings, act in accordance based on one’s own thought.
In the following wasan poem, Shinran Shonin deeply reflected on himself and described what we humans are like,
Although I take refuge in the true Pure Land way,
It is hard to have a true and sincere mind.
This self is false and insincere;
I completely lack a pure mind. (Hymns of the Dharma-ages)
As the wasan shows, we are basically incapable of accepting the reality of this world, such as, dependent origination, impermanence, and no-self. And because of this we constantly suffer. Only through being aware of and appreciating Amida Buddha’s compassionate and salvific working, are we enabled to accept our true self. Shinran Shonin clarified that such ignorance is the very reason why Amida Buddha’s salvific working has reached every one of us. Keeping in mind that we are always embraced in Amida’s compassionate Light, let us live each day to the fullest, even though we have yet to see the end of the tunnel.
I feel truly assured hearing that many of you have been making efforts to share the Jodo Shinshu teaching within the greater society through various and innovative ways despite the current situation. It is my hope that your temples will continue serving as your spiritual home, and therefore, I humbly ask for your understanding and cooperation in support of your temples. I would like to conclude my new year’s greeting with my heartfelt appreciation to you all.
January 1, 2022
OHTANI Kojun
Monshu
Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha
Message on “Gratitude for the Jodo Shinshu Teaching” (Sep 12, 2021) – (Japanese version)
This year we will once again have the opportunity to observe the Commemorative Service of the Establishment of the Jodo Shinshu Teaching together. This service’s name, ‘Establishment of the Jodo Shinshu Teaching,’ refers to Shinran Shonin’s systematical presentation of the Jodo Shinshu teaching through his main writing, Kyōgyōshinshō, or The True Teaching, Practice, and Realization of the Pure Land Way. In this work, he clarified how Amida Buddha’s compassionate working, or Other Power, reaches and guides each of us. This annual observance is a great opportunity for us to deepen our gratitude for the teaching.
The founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni Buddha revealed the reality of this world as “everything is changing” and “all things are without self.” However, ordinary beings like us are not able to accept this reality, and that is why we struggle constantly. Typical examples are the four difficulties expounded by Sakyamuni Buddha, that is, birth, aging, illness, and death. We, who possess blind passions of greed, anger, and ignorance, cannot escape from suffering until the moment that life ends.
Shinran Shonin used the expression ‘foolish beings filled with blind passions’ to describe us, those who are not able to accept this reality. Amida Tathagata wishes to save us, who are drowning in the darkness of blind passions, and continues to work with compassion in the Nembutsu, “Namo Amida Butsu.” As Shinran Shonin wrote in a hymn,
Karmic evil is from the beginning without real form;
It is the result of delusional thought and invertedness.
(Hymns of the Dharma-Age, Verse 107)
The compassion of the Tathagata is grounded in true reality, which begins to work prior to human cognition, and thus embraces all life equally and takes it as it is without abandoning anyone.
Shinran Shonin described his understanding in another verse as “attaining Buddhahood through the nembutsu is the true essence of the Pure Land way.
Since shinjin [entrusting heart] arises from the Vow,
We attain Buddhahood through the nembutsu by the [Vow’s] spontaneous working.
The spontaneous working is itself the fulfilled land;
Our realization of supreme nirvana is beyond doubt. (Hymn of the Pure Land Masters, Verse 82)
Jodo Shinshu is the teaching that we will attain enlightenment beyond form and become buddhas in the “Pure Land of naturalness” through shinjin alone. In shinjin we accept without doubt the heart of Amida Tathagata’s Vow of “Namo Amida Butsu” – “Entrust yourself to me. I will liberate you just as you are”
When we are touched by this warm compassion and learn of Amida Tathagata’s wish for our life, we are empowered to live at ease, share joy and sadness with people, and a world of mutual respect and support opens up. With ease and joy, Shinran Shonin walked the path of gratitude for being saved by Tathagata’s compassion. Aspiring to learn from his way of living and transmit his teaching to the next generations, I would like to express the essentials of the Jodo Shinshu Teaching in the following passage.
Gratitude for the Jodo Shinshu Teaching
Namo Amida Butsu.
“Entrust yourself to me. I will liberate you just as you are.” This is the calling voice of Amida.
My blind passions are embraced in the Buddha’s awakening,
So the Buddha calls to me “I will liberate you just as you are.”
Gratefully responding to the Buddha’s call,
I find that I am already on the path that leads to the Pure Land.
And the Nembutsu flows freely from my thankful heart.
Living with the Dharma as my guide
Softens my rigid heart and mind.
Gratitude for the gift of life I have received
Frees me from becoming lost in greed and anger,
And allows me to share a warm smile and speak gentle words.
Sharing in the joy and sadness of others,
I shall strive to live each day to its fullest.
In 2023 we are going to conduct a Joint Celebration of the 850th Anniversary of Shinran Shonin’s Birth and 800th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Jodo Shinshu Teaching. In gratefulness for the birth of Shinran Shonin and his expounding of the teachings of Jodo Shinshu, let’s recite “Gratitude for the Jodo Shinshu Teaching” together, work together, and live a life of Nembutsu together to spread his teaching. As for “Our Pledge,” delivered in my Dharma message at the 2018 Perpetual Memorial and Autumn Service, it is my hope that it will continue to be recited by everyone on various occasions, particularly by young people and those who are not familiar with Buddhism or Jodo Shinshu, and that it will lead to closer connections with the teaching.
April 15, 2021
OHTANI Kojun
Monshu
Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha
ご引用和讃
罪業もとよりかたちなし 妄想顛倒のなせるなり
心性もとよりきよけれど この世はまことのひとぞなき （正像末和讃107）
罪とはもとよりかたちのあるものではなく、誤ったものの見方からつくられるのである。
心の本性とはもとより清らかなものであるが、この世にまことの心をもっている人などいない。
Karmic evil is from the beginning without real form;
It is the result of delusional thought and invertedness.
Mind-nature is from the beginning pure,
But as for this world, there is no person of truth.
本願円頓一乗は、逆悪摂すと信知して
煩悩・菩提体無二と、すみやかにとくさとらしむ （高僧和讃32）
すべてのものを速やかに完全なさとりに至らせる唯一最上の本願は、五逆や十悪のものも摂め取ってくださると信じるところに、煩悩とさとりは別のものではないと速やかにさとらせてくださる。
Knowing truly that the Primal Vow
The perfect One Vehicle that brings about sudden attainment
Grasps those who commit grave offenses and transgressions,
We are quickly brought to realize that blind passions and enlightenment are not two in substance.
念仏成仏これ真宗 万行諸善これ仮門
権実真仮をわかずして 自然の浄土をえぞしらぬ （浄土和讃71）
念仏により仏のさとりを開くという教えこそが真実であり、さまざまな善い行いによりさとりを開くという教えは方便である。真実と方便を分けることなく、真実の浄土を決して知ることはできない。
Attaining Buddhahood through the nembutsu is the true essence of the Pure Land way;
The myriad practices and good acts are the temporary gate.
Unless one distinguishes the accommodated and the real, the temporary and the true,
One cannot possibly know the Pure Land that is naturalness (jinen).
信は願より生ずれば 念仏成仏自然なり
自然はすなはち報土なり 証大涅槃うたがはず （高僧和讃82）
真実の信心は阿弥陀仏の本願から生じるので、おのずと念仏によって仏のさとりが開かれる。そのはたらきは真実の浄土にそなわっているので、間違いなくこの上ないさとりを開くのである。
Since shinjin arises from the Vow,
We attain Buddhahood through the nembutsu by the [Vow’s] spontaneous working.
The spontaneous working is itself the fulfilled land;
Our realization of supreme nirvana is beyond doubt.
2021 New Year’s Greetings
Happy New Year, everyone! At the beginning of this New Year, I would like to extend my best regards to you all.
Throughout the last year, the world suffered from the pandemic of COVID-19, which brought tremendous hardship to many people, and we still are not able to see when normalcy would return to our world. On this occasion, I would like to offer my deepest condolences to those who fell victim to COVID-19 and express my sympathies to those who are currently undergoing treatment.
When social activities have been largely restricted as measures for preventing the spread of infection and protecting people’s lives, many temples have been struggling for continuing their propagation. It concerns me that many people have been left isolated in the midst of hardship.
‘Dependent origination’ is a universal truth that Buddha Sakyamuni presented. This fundamental Buddhist principle expresses that every thing, matter, and phenomenon arises from various causes and conditions. None of us lives by ourselves. We are living being interconnected and mutually supported by one another.
Here in Japan, a new type of lifestyle called the ‘new normal’ has been introduced to protect people, their loved ones, and communities from infection. Considering the reality that we cannot even fathom when the pandemic will decline, it is important that everyone deeply reflects on the principle of Dependent Origination that represents the true state of the world.
Even though having been introduced to the truth by Buddha Sakyamuni, ordinary people like us are still not able to accept it as it is. Therefore, to guide us to cope with the suffering caused by our own ignorance, Shinran Shonin clarifies Amida Buddha’s compassion that always embraces all of us. When the world is facing this unimaginable crisis, it is crucial that each of us experiences Amida Buddha’s great compassion ourselves, and live each day to the utmost, having that joy and sensation in our hearts as the basis of our life.
It is my hope that your temples will continue serving as your spiritual home, and therefore, I sincerely ask for your understanding and cooperation to allow them to be so. With my heartfelt appreciation for each one of you, I would like to conclude my new year’s greeting.
January 1, 2021
OHTANI Kojun
Monshu
Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha