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Pure Land (Shin)

 Mahayana school whose central figure is Amitabha, Buddha of the Infinite Light
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    The Pure Land in the New World Paid Member

    By Taitetsu Unno
    Pure Land Buddhism in North America is represented by one of its Japanese schools, Jodo Shinshu or Shin Buddhism, incorporated in 1898 in San Francisco as the Buddhist Mission of North America. In 1944, at the Topaz Concentration Camp in Utah, this was changed to the Buddhist Churches of America (BCA) in order to make it sound less alien and objectionable to the general American public. Its history may be considered in two phases: from its founding to 1952, when Japanese immigrants became eligible for naturalization (Walter-McCarran Act); and from, 1952 to the present, during which time American society has undergone vast changes in the areas of both racial tolerance and religious pluralism. More »
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    The Great Compassion Paid Member

    Patricia Kanaya Usuki was born in Toronto, Canada, to an Anglican father and a Buddhist mother. Her parents brought her up in the United Church of Canada, one of the few Canadian religious institutions that welcomed people of Asian heritage. More »
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    "Shin Buddhism" by Taitetsu Unno Paid Member

    By Clark Strand
    Shin Buddhism:Bits of Rubble Turn to GoldTaitetsu UnnoNew York: Doubleday, 2002224 pp.; $12.95 (paper) Imagine entering a spiritual bookstore in Tokyo and encountering a book with the title Awakening Your Inner Francis: How to Become a Catholic Saint in Seven Weeks or Less, and you will have a pretty good idea of how a lot of Asian Americans feel about many of the Buddhist books that have become popular in America today. Even the ones written by Asian teachers (often with significant editorial coaching) sometimes leave them feeling queasy. And no wonder. Who wants to see the thing they hold most precious and beautiful reduced to paint-by-numbers? Were the situation reversed, I would surely feel the same way. More »
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    Jodo Shinshu: The Way of Shinran Paid Member

    (Japanese National Treasure; courtesy of Itsukushima-Jinja) Over the past few years, Tricycle has featured a number of articles about Jodo Shinshu, or Shin Buddhism, which developed from the insight of Shinran (1173-1263), a Japanese monk that Rev. Dr. Alfred Bloom calls a "towering figure" in Buddhism. Read the articles below to get a sense of Shinran and his teachings, and the modern practice of Jodo Shinshu. More »
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    Beyond Religion Paid Member

      (Japanese National Treasure; courtesy of Itsukushima-Jinja) More »