Note: The original publication of this article was supported by a grant from the Membership and Outreach Committee of the Buddhist Churches of America and is also available at www.americanbuddhist.org

In 1951, Japanese–Americans were finally getting back to a normal way of life in the United States after the devastating effects of World War II and the interment camps. It was a good period for the BCA as Buddhist Churches were once again bustling with activities. To many Japanese–Americans the Buddhist Church was the hub of their social activities. As Tetsuden Kashima said of this period in Buddhism in America, “Until World War II, the Buddhist church was the sole social center for many Japanese communities… The need for a territorial center to escape discrimination and prejudice began to fade in the 1950’s and other Japanese–American organizations have come into existence to serve the non-Buddhists. Nevertheless, in the minds of its members and other Nikkei, the Buddhist church continues to be their institution, to be operated and controlled by and for the Japanese and their offspring” (Kashima, Tetsuden. Buddhism in America: The Social Organization of an Ethnic Religious Organization. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1977). However, there was a paradigm shift in the making and some like my father could see this kind of isolation within American could not and would not sustain itself in the coming century.

My father, Rev. Hozen Seki, along with two other BCA ministers, Rev. Yoshitaka Tamai of Denver and Rev. Gyodo Kono of Chicago, were thinking about the future of Jodo Shinshu and Amida in America. The group believed that even though the thriving bukkyokai communities were serving Japanese–Americans, they were isolating themselves and not welcoming outsiders to join. Why should they? These temples did not need membership drives or ministers in those days. In fact, many temples had more then one Kaikyoshi serving its Sangha members.

However, my father, Rev. Tamai, and Rev. Kono believed that if Jodo Shinshu were to survive in America, it would have to welcome all American nationalities to hear the teaching of Shinran Shonin. On January 31, 1951, the American Buddhist Academy was formally organized as a religious corporation in the State of New York. My father began conducting classes, inviting prominent Buddhist scholars to lecture, and developing seminar programs. Earlier in 1948, he went to Japan to ask for donations for the ABA and received encouragement and many Buddhist textbooks, sutras, and other Japanese cultural books for the ABA library.

The early years of the American Buddhist Academy was revolutionary for introducing Buddhism to Americans. A 13-part seminar, “Buddhism in the History of Japanese Culture”, was given by an American, Mrs. Percy Whiting, who spent 40 years in Japan. However, the most acclaimed scholar at that time was Dr. Deisetz Teitaro Suzuki, who gave a series of lectures that were transcribed and became one of the first books the Academy published: Shin Buddhism. That book has since been renamed The Buddha of Infinite Light and, with a new introduction by Dr. Taitetsu Unno and with permission from the ABA, the book is now printed and distributed through Shambala Publications.

Fifty-three years ago there was no IBS and no Dalai Lama. I mention the Dalai Lama because it is interesting that BCA has been around since the turn of the 20th century and remains unknown to many Americas. Tibetan Buddhism, on the other hand, is on the American radar screen because of high-profile celebrities like Richard Geer. Other popular Buddhist organizations are the new wave meditation centers around the country. Surprisingly, upon careful examination of their practice, we find that they practice some form of Pure Land Buddhism. The difference between these Buddhist organizations and BCA is marketing. Traditional thinking and the Japanese cultural background do not play well in our highly commercialized marketing society.

Last year, Gordon Bermant shared with me his paper Growing American Jodo Shinshu: Are There Lessons in the Christian Mission Model? It was well written and held some fascinating concepts and truths. We as Buddhists should be very happy that Gordon is Jodo Shinshu. Here is an individual with fresh ideas who is not afraid to express them and who flushed out some problems within our Shin Buddhist community.

Bermant wrote, “...we must change some of our organizational assumptions and practices, which lack the vitality and flexibility to meet the inescapable challenges that confront the church. ...The Buddhist Churches of America comprise an aging, slowly dwindling membership and a seemingly incurable inability to attract its sons and daughters into the ministry in sufficient numbers to provide each temple with a full-time pastor.” I read this and thought of my father and his friends, who foresaw the future and started to make change back in 1951 when few books on Shin Buddhism were published in English and champions like Alfred Bloom, Roger Corless, Dennis Hirota, Hsaio Inagaki, Hiroyuki Itsuki, Kenneth Tanaka, and Taitetsu Unno—to name just a few—were absent.

If my father were alive today and could see how Americans are turning to the Buddhist teaching, he would be so happy that the Nembutsu had taken root.

In 1981, my father retired from the NYBC and the American Buddhist Academy. He turned over the ABA to my brother Hoken to carry on. However, Hoken lived in Chicago, was a full-time attorney, and had little time to devote to the activities of the ABA. In a short time, due to a lack of funds and because many of the original board members were retired or passed away, the academy went into a dormant stage until 1999. In 1999, Hoken turned over the American Buddhist Academy to me. I formed a new board of directors, which included Taitetsu Unno, Brian Nagata, Isabelle Bernard, Arthur Vergara, and Josephine Seki. We soon discovered that we could no longer use the American Buddhist Academy name, so we changed it to the American Buddhist Study Center and re-incorporated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation, in the State of New York. We retrieved from storage more than 280 boxes of books, which we cleaned and restored on the academy library shelves. We sought to continue the work of Rev. Seki and wrote a new mission statement:

The American Buddhist Study Center mission is to provide Americans and others with the proper introduction to Mahayana Buddhism in particular Jodo Shinshu (Pure Land Buddhism) through seminars, lecture series, and discussion groups. The ABSC also publishes books, booklets, and a newsletter with Jodo Shinshu as its core subject matter. In addition, the ABSC will maintain a Buddhist research library for those to obtain greater knowledge, understanding and awareness of the Amida Buddha.

Here are some highlights of ABSC activities over the past four years.

The Study Center holds monthly book discussion groups. Each month we pick a new book to discuss, among them River of Fire River of Water, by Taitetsu Unno; Tariki, by Hiroyuki Itsuki; After the Ecstasy the Laundry, by Jack Kornfield; The Buddha of Infinite Light, by Daisetz T. Suzuki; You Don’t Have to Sit on the Floor, by Jim Pym; and Naturalness, by Kenryo Kanamatsu. Whenever possible, the author of the book attends our discussion. We have had Robert Gunn attend our discussion on his book Emptiness: Dogen, Merton, Jung and the Quest for Transformation. We are also fortunate that Unno as well as Rev. Nakagaki have attended these discussions. They have provided us with a deeper understand to our readings.

Each fall the Study Center holds a series of lectures. Taitetsu Unno, Setsuko Yoshida, Sensei Shimon Aoki, Clark Strand, and Gordon Bermant have given lectures at the Center. It is rewarding to hear from the attendees how they really enjoyed the lectures and the opportunity to discuss with the lecturers any fine points for better understanding.

Recently, we started a monthly Poetry Reading Group, which we changed to a Readings Discussion Group. We ask those attending to bring some reading materials, such as a poem, a passage from a short story, or any writings that express their thoughts for the moment. Abe Yoshida facilitates the readings program. The last one was held on January 31, 2004. I truly believed that the Other Power had entered into the discussions that afternoon.

I would like to share an excerpt from an article Abe wrote for our newsletter:

The Readings discussion group is a small, quiet gathering of Dharma friends who come together in an informal setting to share fragments and expressions of real life as a way of pursuing a deeper appreciation of the Pure Land way as reflected in the teachings of Shinran. It is “Gutoku” Shinran’s honesty in facing the realities of his own being that remain the quintessential example that these discussions have attempted to follow. The depth and breadth of Compassion that Shinran realized is at once the question and answer that we are pursuing. This is not the way of academics. We only require clarity of our own bare reality.

What has been remarkable in the few gatherings we've had here at the center is that rather than indulging in conceptualizations or rationalizations a simple honesty has been shown by all who have been here in the face of personal darkness and ignorance. This is, and I say again, remarkable. Call it courage, call it honesty, call it a deep need to be who we are…

Seeing one’s own reality isn’t a given and the Pure Land way isn’t always clear...

If we want to discover who we really are, what is being indicated here is to travel in a certain direction, downward and in. In this spirit the readings discussions have followed a very non-technical, informal path to something deep and precious.

This to me exemplifies going outside the box in the propagation of Shin Buddhism.

Although we are a separate organization from BCA and the New York Buddhist Church, we are still a link in the great Pure Land chain. Among the many Buddhist temples in New York, and even a Buddhist Council, none of them have the same mandate and offering that ABSC has.

In closing, here is part of Dr. Daisetz T. Suzuki’s keynote address on the dedication ceremony of the Shinran Shonin statue that was given to the American Buddhist Academy. The date was September 11, 1955.

As far as I can see it must be in finding the living Shonin who is surely among us answering to the call of his name; only we have not been able to hear his response, our ears have not yet been fully opened internally as well as outwardly to the still small voice. Perhaps we can hear it, at least a little portion of Shinran's living voice, when the Buddhist Academy begins to operate properly equipped not only in externalities but in spirit and personnel. No doubt, Shinran Shonin will find many more things to do besides establishing a school. As it happens let him start with it and steadily go on doing things not only educational in its narrower sense, but more comprehensively social and spiritual.

We must realize that modern civilization is thoroughly oriented towards de-humanizing humanity in every possible way that is to say; we are fast turning into robots or statues with no human souls. Our task is to get humanized once more. In conclusion I wish to call out:

“O Shinran Shonin, here is your statue; and where are you?”

I like to emphasize that ABSC is not an outreach Shin Buddhist organization. To me, that is a function of New York Buddhist Church and other BCA temples around the country to build membership and encourage more people to become lay teachers and minister. Here is where the difference lies between BCA temples and the ABSC. At ABSC we reach out to those who want to bring Pure Land into their everyday life but who may not wish to commit to church membership. We provide information, informal discussions, and public lectures on Pure Land. We help individuals who want to learn and understand Pure Land. We are to many the first step in following the Jodo Shinshu path. We help encourage Shin follower to practice by going to service and doing the sutra chanting.

Reaching Out—Bringing together those who want to learn about Shin Buddhism.
Reaching Out—Showing the path for those that are ready to join a BCA temple.
Reaching Out—Building relationships to help spread the teachings of Shinran Shonin.

 Our mission is just beginning.

Thank you

Next article:
In-Reach, by Pieper J. Toyama

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