It has been a truly a momentous year: Go Blue! The University of Michigan Wolverines football team were the 2024 national champions over the University of Washington Huskies. The Kansas City Chiefs repeated as Super Bowl champs with an overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers and a total solar eclipse was seen across the United States. It was also the year of the Paris Olympics, the Emmy-award winning series “Shogun,” the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrating as World Series champs, and a new government voted in by a majority of Americans.
That was the backdrop for a year of celebrations by the Buddhist Churches of America and the Institute of Buddhist Studies (IBS).
Sept. 1, 1899, began the 125 years of the Jodo Shinshu tradition in the mainland United States with the San Francisco arrival of Rev. Dr. Shuye Sonoda and Rev. Kakuryo Nishijima from Japan.
In 1949, on the return from the incarceration camps of World War II, a small group of Shin Buddhist followers assembled in the living room of Mrs. Shinobu Matsuura in Berkeley to focus on Buddhist studies. Seventy-five years later, those meetings have grown to become the WASC-accredited Institute of Buddhist Studies, housed at the Jodo Shinshu Center within sight of its original founding location in Berkeley, California.
At the 75th anniversary celebration of IBS in November, the panel discussion of IBS students, alumni and faculty provided a powerful statement of the immense value that IBS has been in creating a legion of Buddhist practitioners: in ministry, as chaplains and as academics in Buddhist studies.
And, 125 years of perseverance, dedication to the Dharma and foresight can be seen today in the brick-and-mortar churches and temples and the World Wide Web presence of the BCA. We have so much to appreciate. I only hope that our efforts today lay out a future that can be as meaningful for generations to come.
As I am nearing the halfway point in my BCA presidency, I have to come to realize how quickly time passes and yet there is so much to do. In my role as BCA president, my efforts have been guided by the four defining principles that I was gifted through my University of California, Berkeley, experience. These defining principles are aligned with the principles I live by as a Jodo Shinshu Buddhist and inform my leadership ethos:
1) Students Always: seeking curiosity and lifelong pursuit of personal and intellectual growth;
2) Question the Status Quo: being a champion of bold ideas; willing to take intelligent risks and accept sensible failures; and speaking out even when it challenges convention;
3) Confidence Without Attitude: making decisions based on evidence and analysis providing confidence to act without arrogance and to lead through trust and collaboration;
4) Beyond Yourself: leading ethically and responsibly; taking the longer view in my decisions and actions; and putting larger interests above my own.
To those who have asked, “How is it going?” My answer is that I’m keeping my head above water and only because of the great team that surrounds me. As I reflect on the past nine months, it is only because of a phenomenal Executive Committee and dedicated BCA staff that we, as the BCA leadership, are able to tackle the many initiatives that we are working on.
As I look back on my writings for this column, I have tried to bring new ideas and perspectives to the Wheel of Dharma readership. I hope some of you have seen yourselves in these writings and have been forced to think more deeply about the issues that BCA is facing.
Several of you have reached out after the October article on “Who Is a BCA Member?” Thank you for your willingness to begin the discussion with your sanghas and share your thoughts with me. I have also heard from readers that my articles have been too lengthy, so I will strive for clarity and brevity going forward. But I will continue to have this column be a platform to open up our minds to new realities and new perspectives.
The future of BCA requires each of us to “question the status quo” and seek something “beyond oneself.” We owe it to ourselves and to our sanghas to do so.
In ending, thank you to everyone who finds new purpose through my musings. Let us all commit to a new year where we can promote peace and compassion through unity and acceptance.
よいお年を
Yoi otoshi wo!
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