r/JodoShinshu

I was looking at some of the prior postings about Shin Buddhism in the USA. As a newer Shin Buddhist and a distance member of the Buddhist Temple of Chicago as well as individual membership in the BCA, let me share my thoughts.

I do not think removing "Japanese" elements is necessary or desirable. I am not of Japanese heritage, BUT I do not think they should reduce or remove the "Japanese" cultural elements. First, many of them help to promote mindfulness which is helpful to develop for nembutsu practice. Gratitude comes from being mindful of what one has been given. I'm thinking of such things as the tea ceremony, Ikebana, Obon dancing, etc. as they help to promote mindfulness. Taking those away removes such valuable ways to indirectly teach Dharma.

And I agree that chanting should remain in Sino-Japanese as it flows much easier and faster for that than English does (and yes I have tried English chanting in the past and it is twice as long and lacks the rhythmic elements). The translations are in the service book. Unless you go to the specifically Japanese service, the sermons are in English anyways.

There are several elements at play in my opinion. Participation in religious services has declined across the board. Mainline liberal Protestants, liberal Quakers, Unitarian Universalists (I have been UU for years and their numbers are also shrinking), and even Jewish synagogues are also seeing a decline. I have even seen it happen in other Buddhist communities.

It is even being seen in the more theologically conservative groups such as evangelical and conservative Christian denominations, Roman Catholicism (my wife's extended family were Catholic but most of the younger generation drifted away), LDS (aka "Mormons" - note I was raised LDS and most of my extended family still identify with them), Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. It is not as apparent in these due to having larger numbers to start with so they can more easily combine church congregations.

I would suggest instead that first consideration be given to finally getting rid of the "church" label and the leadership labels that have come from this. I understand why it was done historically but now I think it is not helping. The term "temple" is much better and more attractive, and Jodo Shinshu should more fully lean into that.

Of course these are my opinions and I could be completely wrong.

The other suggestion is to find ways to better get the word out about services online through YouTube, Zoom, etc. Obviously these services already exist through some Shin Buddhist temples, but most folks are not aware of them.

A Shin Buddhist temple that was primarily online would be great although I am not sure if the financial means are there to keep such an endeavor ongoing. There are people who might be attracted to Shin Buddhism but are unaware of ways to connect. Also putting up free intro to Shin Buddhism classes online might be helpful.

It seems to me that often the approach has been to let people discover Shin Buddhism solely through books or come across a Shin Buddhist Temple in their local community solely from "stumbling" across it on their own if they are lucky enough to have one relatively local and can get to it (I'm homebound due to illness). This is not the wisest course of action.

Much good work has already been done such as Bishop Harada doing articles in Tricycle, etc. But I would caution about overburdening the leadership, these efforts would require volunteers to make it work.