Temple leaders promote a ‘kamaaina’ approach

Every once in a while the demise of Buddhism in Hawaii and what to do about it comes up among religion scholars and temple leaders who look at dwindling attendance and aging membership.

A 2011 film, "Aloha Buddha," by Lorraine Mina­to­ishi-Palumbo, a local historical architect, aptly documented the shuttering of temples established by Japa­nese immigrants who came to work on island plantations in the late 1800s. Their crumbling facades were an indication of the fading interest in services characterized by sacred rituals that seem far removed from today’s computerized world or youth in search of truth.

But the film touched on a source hope for the faith, too. "There is also a movement underway to save the religion — by adding a little aloha into the practice," says the movie introduction at alohabuddhafilm.com.

Reviving the discussion recently was Jay Saka­shita, an assistant religion professor at Leeward Community College whose specialty is Japa­nese faiths. In the article "It’s Who’s Your Buddha" published Wednesday in MidWeek, he argued that conditions are ripe for creating a "kama­aina Buddhism."

"The forms of Buddhism transported to Hawaii from different places remain explicitly tied to their culture of origin. … The Buddhist temples in Hawaii don’t even worship the same Buddha. The religion is fragmented," wrote Saka­shita. As a result, it’s "difficult for Buddhists from different racial backgrounds to worship together. … Non-Asians will feel out-of-sorts at any temple," he continued.

"Japanese people and deities are worshipped at the altars at Japa­nese temples, Chinese personalities — historical and otherwise — are prayed to at Chinese temples, and Korean mythical figures are revered at Korean temples. The same holds true for the local Vietnamese, Thai, Tibetan and Laotian Buddhist temples," he wrote. There is no "Hono­­lulu Buddhist Temple" or the equivalent, a common temple with a universal name with which all Buddhists can identify.

"Yet diversity can be a powerful tool, but there is still to appear a local Buddhist visionary who can take the principal message of the religion and repackage it in such a way that is attractive and understandable to everyone, regardless of ethnicity," he wrote. (Read the article at www.midweek.com/hawaii-lifestyle-news-opinions/misfit-spirit/hawaii-whos-buddha.)

Sharing their views on Saka­shita’s argument in the articles below are Bishop Eric Matsu­moto of the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii, the largest Buddhist denomination in Hawaii; and the Rev. Reyn Tsuru, a leader since 1996 of the Shingon Shu Hawaii temple, former headquarters of the esoteric Buddhism Shingon sect in Japan.

Services and rituals are evolving to appeal to younger generations

As director of the Shingon Shu temple in the Ala Moana area, Reyn Tsuru broke off ties with the Shingon sect headquarters in Japan almost 10 years ago, realizing there was a need to teach Buddhism in a way that appealed to the local and younger population.

"How can we have rituals and services in Japanese when the kids don’t even speak Japanese anymore?" he asked. Tsuru added that a large number of members at most temples have grandchildren who are Christian, including his, which includes 300 families.

Tsuru agrees with religion instructor Jay Sakashita’s contention that "if we don’t develop our own kamaaina Buddhism, it will disappear because it won’t be relevant anymore."

The idea has been "promoted by a lot of people in Hawaii," said Tsuru, who estimates that two dozen temples "so small they’re off the radar screen" have also cut ties with Japan.

Over the last decade at Shingon, "we’ve made a lot of progress," combining English and Japanese languages in all services — the sermons and invocations are in English, and the sutras and chanting are in Japanese because of the difficulty of translation, he said.

Handouts, primers and prayer books are also translated into English, as in most Japanese temples in Hawaii, Tsuru added.

"Changes in any religion, but in Buddhism especially, are glacial at best," he said.

To quicken the process of making Buddhism more relevant to all locals, Tsuru said it is important for different denominations to form an association to work together toward this goal.

"Buddhism has adapted to every locale it’s moved into and has become part of the social fabric. … It’s a dynamic religion that’s changed and influenced thinking in all the different countries (it’s spread to), but we’re doing our best in Hawaii to keep it the same and static. In Hawaii we seem to be stuck into believing the Buddhism of our grandparents and great-grandparents is the Buddhism we need to follow today," Tsuru said.

With so many demands on people’s time today, "we have be flexible," he said.

"We have to make ourselves available to people’s needs."

Hongwanji’s values transcend ethnicity, nationality, bishop says

Bishop Eric Matsumoto’s Honpa Hongwanji headquarters has promoted interfaith collaboration and community outreach programs since Bishop Yoshiaki Fujitani led the way in the mid-1970s. The Jodo Shinshu sect includes 34 temples statewide.

Matsumoto points to Project Dana for senior care; support of marriage equality by the sect’s Social Concerns Committee; the Buddhist Study Center; the Junior Young Buddhist Association’s founding of Peace Day in Hawaii; and the Pacific Buddhist Academy. "These are some examples of local action based on basic Buddhist values which transcend ethnicity, nationality and religion."

Matsumoto added, "All major sacred literature of our denomination is available in English. Dharma messages/sermons at weekly Sunday services are predominantly given in English. Japanese-language services are available at some temples."

The Hongwanji is making strides toward the inclusion of non-Japanese from its ministerial staff to the Pacific Buddhist Academy (where one-third of the high-schoolers are Buddhist), Matsumoto said. The school curriculum emphasizes the Buddhist ideal of the interdependence of all human beings and nurturing the individual to have "the heart of compassion, not only being No. 1."

He said many articles written about the demise and fragmentation of Buddhism in Hawaii emphasize the negative and say nothing about its contributions to society. Though temples retain cultural elements of their original country, "I see it as diversity and serving the various groups of people living in Hawaii in a way that brings those individual groups the most assurance and comfort at whatever stage of assimilation they are at," Matsumoto said.