Scholarships Awarded to Aki Rogers at Ryukoku University, Tokudo Recipients
Aki Rogers is one of the BCA’s newest aspiring ministerial scholars in Kyoto.
She grew up at Senshin Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles and at Orange County Buddhist Church and has been familiar with the BCA for a while, but didn’t really anticipate studying to be a minister in Japan.
On a recent trip, I got a chance to catch up with Aki in front of the Karamon Gate at Nishi Hongwanji-ha in Kyoto to learn how and why she came to study in Japan.
Aki has a passion and an appreciation for the opportunity to study in Japan. She is studying at ChuoBukkyoGakuin, a seminary school to learn the practical side of Shinshu ministry such as chants, rituals and doctrine. This is her second year in Japan and first year in the master’s program at Ryukoku University.
“The great thing about being here (in Kyoto) is that we have a wide range of teachers — professors at Ryukoku or affiliated with the Hongwanji research department, the soken; teachers with a lot of practical experience such as those with Fu’kyo shi, which is the certification to be official Dharma speakers,” Aki said. “There is just a wide variety of teachers and I really appreciate that because you get all kinds of different perspectives, a wide range of thought.”
Some of the professors come directly from “Kangaku,” the doctrinal heads of the Hongwanji-ha.
Another important point of being in Japan, she said, was the “direct connection to the history.”
There is a beautiful morning service at 6 a.m. at Honzan, the head temple in Kyoto. There is also Shinran Shonin’s family temple, Suminobo, where Shinran Shonin passed away; Ohtani Hombyo, the mausoleum where Shinran’s ashes are interned; and many other historical sites connected to Jodo Shinshu history in Kyoto.
“Eight hundred to nine hundred years of history that you’re connected with right here deepens and makes me feel closer to the history of our tradition,” Aki said.
She expressed her deep appreciation for the BCA, the Endowment Foundation and the Dharma Forward campaign.
“I’m a lucky recipient of the scholarship from Dharma Forward,” Aki said.
Not being distracted by the responsibilities of a part-time job allow Aki to focus on her studies, research, and to fully commit herself to all of the history and connection her studies and Kyoto offers.
Receiving the support from the BCA represents the generosity of the Sangha which “goes a long way in helping this mission of educating ministers and future Shinshu scholars to then be able to give back to our communities back home,” Aki said.
“One of the things I think about when I’m here in Japan, or back in the United States, is temple generationality, how this teaching is passed from one generation to the next,” Aki said.
“Even if you’re brand new to the temple system, you’re starting a new generation — you to your children, you to your friends — just this network that builds up because we share in these teachings together.”
With dedication and opportunity, students like Aki Rogers represent the continuation of sharing the Dharma Forward. We look forward to having Aki as a minister in the near future!
In addition to Aki Rogers, the Dharma Forward campaign also awarded scholarships to 10 Tokudo candidates who completed their ordination at the Hongwanji-ha in Kyoto in December 2023.
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