WELCOME!

The Reedley Buddhist Church was established in 1936 with the Rev. Rijun Katsueda becoming the first resident minister. After World War II and the relocation of the Japanese residents, the church was rebuilt in 1952-53 and the Rev. Gibun Kimura became the third minister. In 1961, the Sunday School classrooms, conference room, office, and restrooms were started and completed in 1962. A boyhood statue of Shinran Shonin was donated by Mr. Seichi Hirose of Japan and placed in the U-shaped garden. The entire project was completed and dedicated on April 15, 1967.

Rev. George Shibata, our retired resident minister, began his association with the Reedley Buddhist Church in 1975 and completed 37 years in December, 2011. Rev. Hidehito Sakamoto was appointed as resident minister in March, 2012, until December, 2013. From January, 2014 through July 2015, the church was under the supervision of the Fresno Betsuin. In August, 2015, Reedley had three ministers under a shared system of the seven temples of the Central California District Council of the Buddhist Churches of America: Rev. Kakei Nakagawa, Rev. Alan Sakamoto, and Rev. Matthew Hamasaki. The shared system is coordinated by the Central California Ministers' Association, the CCDC Ministerial Advisory Committee, and the staff of the Fresno Betsuin. In December, 2016, Rev. Alan Sakamoto retired from the BCA. Rev. Matthew Hamasaki left in January, 2018, to become the minister in Sacramento, and Rev. Kaz Nakata was assigned to the Central California in August, 2019. At the present time, Rev. Nakagawa and Rev. Nakata are the supervising ministers of the Reedley Buddhist Church.

The church renovated the conference room and added a new kitchen facility in 2004. They added a new wrought iron fence surrounding the property in 2006, updated the hondo in 2007, and completed a storage building next to the small kitchen in 2008. The social hall bathrooms received an update in 2010 and in 2011 the grounds between the hall and the Japanese School building were graded and decomposed granite was added. In October, 2017 the church grounds between the hall the Japanese School building were cemented, and in January, 2018, a solar panel system went into service to minimize the utility costs.

The membership is approximately 110 members. The Buddhist Women's Association, the Reedley Dharma School, and the Jr. Young Buddhist Association remain active and support all activities sponsored by the church.

The Reedley Buddhist Church welcomes you to join us at any service and encourages new members to join our organization.

NEWS UPDATE:

Thank you for your support of the Online auction and the "A Taste of Bazaar" Fundraiser. Both were a huge success because of your support!

There are services online each Sunday at 10:00 AM. Please follow the link: https://mobile.twitter.com/fresno_nishi You can also watch the service afterwards since they are recorded.

Rev. Nakata and Rev. Nakagawa are providing Sunday Dharma Talks. Please go to https://mobile.twitter.com/fresno_nishi on Sunday at 10:00 AM to stream live.

Gotan-E Service

Memorial Day Service

Sunday, May 16, 2021

10:00 AM

In-person in Hondo

*Please note, this is the same service which will be Twitter LIVE for all of Central Cal.

*All Covid safety precautions will be observed. Please wear a mask and safe social distancing is encouraged.

Sunday, May 30, 2021

1:00 PM

In-person in Hondo

*Due to the anticipated heat, we will not have a service at the cemetery. It will be at the church only.

*All Covid safety precautions will be observed. Please wear a mask and safe social distancing is encouraged.

May Calendar

2 Monthly Memorial Service
(Shotsuki) Online from Fresno 10:00 am

9 Dharma Service Online from
Fowler 10:00 am

16 Gotan-E Service IN PERSON and
Online at Reedley 10:00 am

19 Reedley BC Board Meeting in
Conference Room 7:00 pm

23 Dharma Service Online from Parlier 10:00 am

30 Dharma Service Online from
Kingsburg 10:00 am

30 Memorial Day Service at
Reedley Buddhist Church IN PERSON 1:00 pm

SUNDAY SERVICE ONLINE LINK:
https://mobile.twitter.com/fresno_nishi (find the link here or go directly to the TWITCH TV site by clicking the

link below.)

https://www.twitch.tv/CCNishiHongwanji

Rev. Nakagawa's Message

May, 2021 Newsletter Article

Family “Hoji” Memorial Service Becomes a
Foundation of our Dharma Living

The American family of today is changing diversely; family and relatives are scattered in various places, and the time of the younger generation living alone is getting longer. There are fewer opportunities for “life” connections in recent years. In such an environment, it can be said that the significance of having the yearly “Hoji” Memorial Service, in which family and close relatives gather under the circumstance of remembering the beloved deceased, is great.

First, you can feel the deep vertical connection of "life" that has been handed down with the feeling of remembering the direct linage.

Second, by gathering related people, everyone will be embraced in remembering a great "life" and live together; that is the horizontal connection of "life" that will be enjoyed.

Here we have the phrase: "To listen to the Buddha-dharma is to wash away the dirt on your mind."

Every year, there is a ceremony for a baby’s first visit to encounter the Buddha Dharma, and every year without exception, every baby has clean and pure eyes. When I look at those beady eyes, I always feel shame myself. The reason why the baby's eyes are clean is that the baby has no malicious intentions in his/her mind. Entering adulthood, various malicious thoughts occur in our mind, and our eyes become dull. It's a sad reality, isn’t it?

That's why we must always wash away the dirt on our mind. We do wash our face and body every day. But isn't it unexpectedly easy to forget to wash our heart/mind? Just like washing our face and body every day, if we don't wash our mind every day, dirt will pile up immediately.

Wash away the dirt on your mind: Be sure to face the family “O-Butsudan” shrine once a day, put both palms together in Gassho, and say the Nenbutsu, reminding oneself of Buddha’s merciful wisdom and kindness.

It is an important way of life to wash away the dirt on your mind. Then listen to the Dharma and practice the Dharma on a daily basis. It is an occasion that we get treatment for the heart/mind disease from the Buddha. We all have a symptomatic disease in our heart/mind.

The diagnosis by the Buddha is below:

A disease that if we like it, we indulge in wanting it endlessly.

A disease that makes us get angry immediately if we don't like it.

A disease that makes us doze off immediately when we start to listen to important and serious stories.

A disease that makes us not pay attention to what we are eating and drinking; whether it is room temperature, hot or cold.

A disease that makes us stick to fame and fortune.

A disease that makes us speak evil of others but hesitates to praise them, etc.

There is no end to counting the diseases.

The only heart/mind (“soul” in English and “kokoro” in Japanese) that has no lie and no delusion is empathizing me, embracing me and fostering me. It is amitābhaḥ of the Śākyamuni Buddha. This true-and-real parental love heals our disease, washes away the piled-up dirt on our heart/mind, and even though our life lasts for merely less than 100 years, we will continuously be able to head toward the Buddha-realm. Only the Nenbutsu opens up the great path of unobstructed freedom without any lies.

No matter how I wash it or keep washing it, my heart will soon become dirty, so I have no choice but to live and practice Buddha-dharma for the rest of my life.

We can practice the Buddha-dharma by remembering our family members who have passed away. Family “Hoji” Memorial Service is an important opportunity to convey the life as a true-and-real human being who follows the path to Buddhahood to the next generation.

Please make your family reunion a reality through a Family “Hoji” Memorial Service.

There are Family “Hoji” Memorial Services at appropriate intervals; such as, the 49th day, 100th day, 1st year, 3rd year, 7, 13, 17, 25, 33, 50, and every 50 years thereafter; such as, the 100 year, 150, 200, and so on. These individual “Nenki Hōyō” (yearly services) are usually held privately by the family, relatives, and friends. Also there are O-Bon and O-Higan, which are the memorials for all of our ancestors.

If this is the year of an anniversary and a great opportunity for a family reunion, please choose a date and time that is easy for everyone to get together.

At the Buddhist churches, due to the current pandemic situation, we are conducting Zoom Dharma Hoji Services on the internet. The Dharma rituals for the hoji can be easily shared with families living in distant states and abroad, and now even a worldwide family reunion is possible.

For Jōdo Shinshū followers, the significance of having a “Hoji” Yearly Memorial Service is not for appeasing or consoling the spirits of the deceased, rather it is the opportunity to pay tribute to and recall cherished memories of the departed while listening the Dharma and for recognizing the true significance of your own “life” through them. And, an important by product of this custom is the reinforcement of family ties with everyone, beyond the immediate family, and a continuity of Dharma-heritages from generation to generation.

Rev. Nakata's Message

May, 2021 Newsletter Article

The Eight Essentials of our Jodo
Shinshu: No. 2 All sentient beings have their own nature as they are. (Ji Nen Ho Ni)

Hello, all Central California Sangha friends! Although we are still under some restrictions, Rinban and I actively serve our Sangha friends. Some CC churches have resumed in-person services, both outdoor and indoor. We also have many events via our Streaming service. In my last article, I did not have a chance to mention our Poston memorial monument site visit from where we streamed our Ohigan Service. Some Visalia Sangha members also participated in the service. After the service, I took them for a Poston camp site tour. We walked through some barracks and the Adobe-block structure which was used for school during camp. One Visalia member wrote an article about his trip experience and the article was submitted to the Wheel of Dharma, the BCA Newsletter. Hopefully, we will see his article and our group photo soon. I would like to thank Mr. Bob Shintaku for providing me with interesting information about Poston, prior to our trip!

My family moved to Central Cal in the summer of 2019. The front yard of our house has a rock and flower garden that was made by a previous owner. In the corner of the flower bush, there was a tiny vine crawling on the ground. It had thorns, so we guessed it was a rose vine. By last summer, it had grown to about 5 feet with multiple thorny vines which hurt my wife’s arm while she cleaned the garden. It has no flowers blooming and is dangerous to our family, so my wife asked me to remove the vines. I convinced her to wait for another season, and I promised to take care of excess vines, which I bundled and trimmed. One early April morning, my little daughter yelled “Dad!!” from the front yard. I asked her, “what happened?” and she said, “there is a red flower.” When I heard “red”, I assumed it could be a rose flower. There, in the corner of the flower bush, was a tiny but brilliant red flower. I told my wife, “It took a long time to see the flower. It was not just any vine, but a rose vine. It just took longer to bloom than average rose vines.”

If you grow plants, you know their growth varies. I have tried to grow a watermelon from seeds for several years. The package says “it is easy to grow. Sweetness is guaranteed.” I have yet to see or taste SWEET watermelon from my back yard. I only had several green golf balls growing from the stem.

Do you have siblings? How similar or different are your personalities? I have three daughters. They are living in the same house, eating the same food, and watching the same YouTube channels but their personalities are quite different. I sometimes wonder if they are really siblings.

These are my personal examples showing the wonder of nature (human nature). Our Jodo Shinshu, Nishi Hongwanji founder, Shinran Shonin observed nature carefully, and he wrote an article “Jinen Honi” at the age of 86, four years prior to his passing. He considered Jinen Honi as an ultimate state of Jodo Shinshu teachings at his very last moment. Although Jinen Honi is a very essential word, it is not widely known among our Sangha members, so I would like to introduce it to you.

You can find that Jinen simply means “natural” in the Japanese-English dictionary. When we say something is natural, it often indicates the opposite of “artificial”. But Buddhism does not treat nature and human beings (who creates artificial objects) as two separate entities. Some people consider that the human being is above nature because humans try to (or can) manage nature by various technologies and knowledges. Buddhism sees human beings as a part of nature.

In the article, Shinran Shonin explains what Jinen Honi really means.

Ji means “Nature itself naturally acts.” Nature does not have will or intention. Things happen naturally in nature. There is no human will or intention (such as good or bad) in it. Nen means “things as such exist as they are.” There is no human will or intention in it. Things exist uniquely and their existence is supported by the act of interdependence without any boundary or distinction. (Shinran Shonin explained it in Japanese as the act of Amida Tathagata’s Primal Vow. The Vow is a symbol of inclusiveness, and awareness of interdependence. It does not create boundary or distinction. In other words, we can see things exist as they are by the great compassion through Jodo Shinshu teaching).

The act of Amida Tathagata’s Primal Vow is also called Honi. Things exist as such as they are by the act of Amida Tathagata’s Primal Vow. There is no human will or intention in it. The act is also called Virtue of Dharma. We should know that the essential of Jodo Shinshu does not ask for your will or intention, just like Jinen, to lead you to be enlightened. All things naturally act accordingly.

Shinran Shonin treats Jinen and Honi as synonymous words. Jinen - Nature itself naturally acts and things as such exist as they are. Honi - Just like Nature, Dharma itself naturally makes sense to us, and it teaches us awareness of “as it is” or “suchness”.

When we attempt to control or manage Nature, just like my story above, things do not go the way as we expect. It is simply because Nature itself naturally acts and things as such exist as they are. Such situations, we call dukkha in Buddhism. When we encounter such situations, we may become frustrated or even get angry. Thus, dukkha is often translated as suffering.

Do you know the teacher of Shinran Shonin? The teacher’s name is Honen Shonin. He is a founder of Jodo Shu school. His name Honen is borrowed from Jinen Honi. Sometimes the word Jinen and Honi flips as Honi Jinen. Honen Shonin’s name came from “Ho” ni Ji “nen”. Now you know how this idea is so essential to both Jodo Shu and Jodo Shinshu teaching.

By knowing Jinen Honi, and without knowing it, our course of life will be very different. Instead of challenging Nature, when we live as a part of Nature, we can be more appreciative to Nature and ourselves as a part of Nature, by seeing a red rose blooming from unknown vines, harvesting green golf balls from sweet watermelon seeds, and growing precious but unique three girls.

Gassho.

The 2021 Crab Feed and Silent Auction

will not be held due to Covid-19.

We hope to return the following year on
Saturday, March 5, 2022

The annual Reedley Buddhist Church

Food Bazaar

is tentatively scheduled for

Sunday, November 7, 2021

We hope you will mark your calendars

and come out to support us!

Reedley Board Meetings

The Reedley Buddhist Church Board has been having their meetings online using Zoom. They have met each month and discussed ways to improve procedures when we return to on site church services and activities.
The restrooms have been updated with touchless faucets, soap dispensers, and paper towel dispensers. Doors to the restroom do not have any handles as they are being changed to push only. An AED defibrillator was purchased for any emergencies as well.
When church services resume, we may be sitting further apart, but at least we'll be together to listen to the Dharma.

Websites for Dharma Talks

Just click a church/temple below for the link.

Berkeley Buddhist Temple

Ekoji Buddhist Temple

Fresno Buddhist Temple (Twitter)

Midwest Buddhist Temple

Monterey Peninsula Buddhist Temple

Mountain View Buddhist Temple

New York Buddhist Church (YouTube Channel)

Oakland Buddhist Temple (YouTube Channel)

Orange County Buddhist Church (Online School: Everyday Buddhist)

Orange County Buddhist Church (Homepage)