Autumn Nanakusa

In the past, I’ve written about a certain obscure holiday in Japanese culture called Nanakusa (七草, “seven herbs”)1, which takes place every January 7th, just after the New Year.

While reading about the Diary of Lady Murasaki (discussed on my other blog) I discovered that there is a parallel Nanakusa tradition in Autumn as well. There is no designated holiday, but since antiquity, these flowers and herbs were prized during the season of Autumn.

Old Japanese NameModern NameEnglishScientific Name
女郎花 (おみなえし) 
ominaeshi		オミナエシ 
ominaeshi		Golden LacePatrinia scabiosifolia
尾花 (おばな) 
obana		ススキ 
susuki		Chinese Silver GrassMiscanthus sinensis
桔梗 (ききょう) 
kikyou		キキョウ 
kikyou		Balloon FlowerPlatycodon grandiflorus
撫子 (なでしこ) 
nadeshiko		カワラナデシコ 
kawaranadeshiko		Fringed PinkDianthus superbus
藤袴 (ふじばかま) 
fujibakama		フジバカマ 
fujibakama		–Eupatorium fortunei
葛 (くず)
kuzu		クズ 
kuzu		KudzuPueraria lobata
萩 (はぎ)
hagi		ハギ 
hagi		Japanese bush cloverLespedeza
Courtesy of Wikipedia

This page shows some really nice visuals of each flower.

Some of these plants aren’t necessarily well-known today, but even as a foreigner, I recoginize a few of them. Susuki grass (a.k.a. Chinese silver grass) is an important part of Otsukimi, and Nadeshiko flowers are frequently used as a symbol of femininity in Japan. The national soccer/football team is named Nadeshiko Japan in fact. Hagi is used in Ohagi treats as well.

Regarding the reference in Lady Murasaki’s diary near the beginning is written the following text:

I look out from my room at the head of the corridor into the light morning mist. Dew is still on the ground, but His Excellency [Fujiwara no Michinaga, her benefactor] is already out in the garden ordering his attends to clear the stream of some obstruction. Plucking a sprig from a large cluster of maiden-flowers that blooms there on the south side of the bridge, he peers in over the top of the curtain frame…

Translation by Dr Richard Bowring

The “maiden flowers” according to the Japanese text are ominaeshi (golden lace) flowers. So, even in the 11th century, a thousand years ago, these flowers were prized among the aristocracy of Japan. Immediately after, Michinaga challenges her to compose a poem about the ominaeshi he plucked (a common practice back then), and she composes the following:

JapaneseRomanizationTranslation
女郎花OminaeshiNow I see the
さかりの色をSakari no iro wocolor of this maiden-flower
見るからにMiru kara niin bloom,
露のわきけるTsuyu no wakikeruI know how much the dew
身こそ知らるれMikoso shirarurediscriminates against me.
Translation by Dr Richard Bowring

Michinaga is impressed by her quick wit (it’s basically why he hired her as a handmaiden to his daughter), he responds with:

JapaneseRomanizationTranslation
白露はShiratsuyu waIt is not the dew
わきてもおかじWakitemo okajithat chooses where
女郎花Ominaeshito fall;
こころからにやKokoro kara ni yadoes not the flower choose
色の染むらむIro no somu ranthe color it desires?
Translation by Dr Richard Bowring

Such a poetic exchange for a single flower.

In fact, the Autumn list of flowers dates much further back than the 11th century. Take a look at these two poems from the Manyoshu anthology, poem 1537:

Original Manyogana2Modern JapaneseRomanizationRough Translation
秋野尓秋の野にAki no no niIn the autumn fields
咲有花乎咲きたる花をSakitaru hana woif you count the
指折指折りOyobi-oriblossoming flowers
可伎數者かき数ふればKakikazo furebaon your fingers:
七種花七種の花Nanakusa no hanathe flowers of Nanakusa
Other source: https://manyoshu-japan.com/12041/

and poem 1538:

Original ManyoganaModern JapaneseRomanizationRough Translation
芽之花萩の花Hagi no hanaHagi flowers
乎花葛花尾花葛花Obana kuzu hanaObana, kudzu flowers
瞿麦之花なでしこの花Nadeshiko no hanaNadeshiko flowers
姫部志をみなへしOminaeshiOminaeshi,
又藤袴また藤袴Mata fujihakamaand Fuji-hakama
朝皃之花朝顔の花Asagao no hanaAsagao flowers3
Other source: https://manyoshu-japan.com/12040/

… as you can see, these two poems are linked. It’s interesting that even as far back as the 7th century, these seven flowers were celebrated in poetry, and this tradition still persists in Japan today, the 21st.

Wishing you all a happy Nanakusa!

1 Not to be confused with the Colonel’s “eleven herbs and spices”. 😉 I have enjoyed Kentucky Fried Chicken in Japan, and we try to try to enjoy it for Christmas every year even in the US, per Japanese tradition.

2 Manyogana was an early Japanese script that used Chinese characters in a very phonetic way. This was eventually replaced by the simpler, short-hand form called hiragana. Only very early works of Japanese are recorded in Manyogana, but that does include the Manyoshu anthology.

3 A couple quick notes from the referenced website: the name Fujihakama has gradually changed pronunciation to Fujibakama. Also, apparently the Asagao flower referenced in the Manyoshu isn’t the same as the modern Asagao “morning glory” flower. It’s not clear what flower this referred to at the time. Finally, this flower isn’t the same as the kikyou flower that is now part of the seven flowers of Autumn Nanakusa.

Self-Mastery

A screenshot from Fire Emblem: Engage. I enjoy the game, though I am still a Three Houses kind of guy.

Out of all things the things one can accomplish in their lives, self-mastery is probably one of the most difficult.

As the Buddha said in the Dhammpada:

185. Not despising, not harming, restraint according to the code of monastic discipline, moderation in food, dwelling in solitude, devotion to meditation — this is the teaching of the Buddhas.

Translation by Acharya Buddharakkhita

Plain and simple, Buddhism is about restraint, non-violence, and devotion to the training. This can come in many forms, but if it leads to moderation, dignity, self-mastery, and goodwill towards others, this is in accord with the Buddha’s teachings.

Recently, we had a holiday work party at a local Brazilian steakhouse. I have never been to one before but it had many finely cuts meats, and they were served in large quantities over and over.

I am not vegetarian yet (work in progress), but I have been gradually reducing my meat consumption since early 2025. I definitely do not eat steaks and sausages very much. But everyone else was consuming in large quantities. I had a few samples and soon quit because I knew I couldn’t digest so much meat (it was kind of gross). I am really glad I did because although I missed out on some good food, I saved myself from indigestion, nausea and “meat sweats”.

Indeed the Buddha famous said:

186-187. There is no satisfying sensual desires, even with the rain of gold coins. For sensual pleasures give little satisfaction and much pain. Having understood this, the wise man finds no delight even in heavenly pleasures. The disciple of the Supreme Buddha delights in the destruction of craving.

Translation by Acharya Buddharakkhita

Indulging in a ton of food seems like a refuge for us, it makes us happy, but it is not a reliable one. Overindulgence leads to future health problems and misery.

As the Buddha warns through the sutras, there is no safe, reliable refuge. We still dwell in the “burning house” of the Lotus Sutra: death, old age, and disease are things we have to face, amusing ourselves with our toys, but the house burns around us nonetheless.

If you are a high-rolling CEO or a pleb, it is the same problem, just a different scale.

But the Buddha by his accomplishments and his awakening, and thus letting go, has reached safety:

I have already left the
burning house of the triple world.1
I am tranquil and peaceful
In a bower in a forest.

translation by Rev. Senchu Murano, chapter three of the Lotus Sutra

Hence, the Buddha (like all buddhas) seeks to lead people out of the burning house too, to the safety of the forest.

The first step in the Buddhist path (i.e. leaving the burning house) is, in my opinion (among others), taking the small steps toward moderation and self-restraint. Such things pay dividends in the short-term through having fewer hassles, a balanced personal budget, and provide mental well-being both through increased self-confidence and also fewer regrets.

In the long-term it provides far more.

Namu Shakamuni Butsu

1 This is a Buddhist term that shows up in the sutras a lot. It just means the cosmos, the Universe, the “Whole Enchilada“, etc.

A New Day

All my deeds and past days were dark and full of evil. But a new day is come.

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Children of Húrin

Within the Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien, is the tale (later edited and compiled as The Children of Húrin) of one human warrior named Túrin. The wicked father of dragons, Glaurung, has poisoned his mind and he goes mad with grief and (among other terrible crimes) mistakenly kills his elven friend.

Later, in a flash of awakening, through an encounter with another friend, he realizes what Glaurung has done to confuse him and lead him astray. He can’t change the past, but his mind is clear and he resolves to start over and focus on the task at hand: defeating the dragon and the dark forces of his land.

The Buddhist archetype for this is Angulimala: a ruthless madman that inflicted great harm, but in a moment of clarity changed his ways. This is how the Buddha-Dharma often works.

Anyway, the reason why I mention all this is that like the quote by Tolkien, each day is a new day. That doesn’t mean the karma you’ve created in the past will magically go away, but today is a chance to start over and try again.

KIRK: [War] is instinctive. But the instinct can be fought. We’re human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands! But we can stop it. We can admit that we’re killers… but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! Knowing that we’re not going to kill – today!

Star Trek, “A Taste of Armageddon” (s3:ep15), Stardate 3192.1

We still have our debts to pay off, but today we can choose to be a better person.

Namu Shakamuni Butsu

The Flow of Time

SPOCK: “Change is the essential process of all existence.”

Star Trek, “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” (s3:ep15), Stardate 5730.2

It is that time once again as we celebrate a new year. It’s an exciting time: plenty to celebrate and look forward to, but some very difficult times too:

Mark Twain: “I come from a time when men achieve power and wealth by standing on the backs of the poor, where prejudice and intolerance are commonplace and power is an end unto itself.”

Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Time’s Arrow, part two” (s6:ep1), Stardate 46001.3

Nonetheless, time keeps moving on.

In my spare time, I have been avidly studying (re-studying) the Soto Zen text, the Shushogi. As I talked about before, this is streamlined collection of Dogen’s writings from the Shobogenzo, but with a focus on lay followers.

One of the themes repeated over and over is that time passes, and it only passes in one direction:

Time flies with more speed than an arrow; life moves on, more transient than dew. By what skillful means can you reinstate a day that has passed? To live one hundred years wastefully is to regret each day and month. Your body becomes filled with sorrow. Although you wander as the servant of the senses during the days and months of a hundred years — if you truly live one day, you not only live a life of a hundred years but save the hundred years of your future life…..true practice of the Law for one day is the seed of all the Buddha and their activities.

The Shushōgi, chapter five, fascicle thirty

A long life wasted in empty pursuits is nothing compared to a day spent in earnest practice. Even applying the Buddhist teachings a little bit, benefiting yourself and others, is still a great investment. Like exercise, a little bit goes a long way, and each day is an opportunity. Each one of us, just as we are now, is capable of doing something good and noble.

By the way, a quick blog update: I’ve been struggling in recent months to maintain a consistent schedule for posts (it was self-imposed anyway), so starting in 2026 I am going to try and be more flexible with posting. I am not sure how that will look, but you may see “bursts of inspiration” followed by some dry spells. We’ll see how things unfold. In the meantime, I’ve been adding more pages to the blog under the Buddhism section including the Letter on White Ashes, and the Shushogi above. Not the rest I intended,1 but something I enjoy doing. 🙂

Stay safe and happy 2026 to everyone!

1 I also played a lot of The One Ring RPG in my spare time, plus watching Star Trek: Enterprise for the first time ever. It is a terrific series, and I regret not watching it when it was on-air. So, I did have some downtime too. 😉

Joya no Kane: A Japanese New Year Tradition

When people ask me about Japanese New Year (o-shōgatsu, お正月), I like to describe it as melding both Christmas and American Thanksgiving into one three-day holiday. It has its origins in Chinese Lunar New Year, but because of the change in calendar, it now takes place on January 1st through 3rd.

But New Year’s Eve, called Omisoka (大晦日), also has lots of traditions of its own. One of them is a tradition called Joya no Kané (除夜の鐘) which means ringing of the large temple bell, the bonshō (梵鐘). You can see an example of a Bonsho here from my last visit to Zojoji:

The tradition is that the bell is run 108 times before midnight. Why 108 times? This reflects the Buddhist concept that the mind has 108 defilements (bonnō, 煩悩). According to Wikipedia, the tradition actually began in China in the Chan (Zen) monasteries there, and there is a parallel tradition in Korea too, though they ring the bell 33 times.

Typically the ringing of the bell starts around 11pm, the local temple members line up, and each one takes turns rining the bell once, but pulling on the large beam that strikes the bell using a rope tied to it. Many temples will save the very last (108th) ringing until just after midnight. For this reason, the ceremony is often also called ni-nen mairi (二年参り, “two year crossing”).

This is a news clip from 2023 showing the ringing of the bell at Zojoji temple:

The temple of Chion-in (another favorite of mine) also has a dramatic bell-ringing ceremony too:

As for me, I’ve only attended one Joya no Kane in Japan in 2007, back when we used to visit family for New Years,1 my second visit there. My father in law owns a business that makes gravestones in Japan, so while he is not part of a particular Buddhist temple, he has many business partners that are Buddhist temples.

That particular year, he was invited to attend the Joya no Kane ceremony at a certain Jodo Shu-sect temple in the city. Because I was newly introduced to Jodo Shu Buddhism a few years earlier, I was excited to go. My father in law gave me this sutra book for Jodo Shu Buddhism, which I wrote about here. It was the first sutra book I ever owned, as far as I can recall.

I don’t remember which temple it was, but it was fairly large temple, and there were many people in attendance. The rest of the family wasn’t interested and stayed home to watch Japanese TV. My father-in-law and I sat for a brief Buddhist service, and a small sermon, then we started to line up for the temple bell ringing. I remember being somewhere near the middle of the line, maybe second half. The process took nearly an hour. It was late, cold, and waiting in line so long was a little tiring. When it was finally my turn, the moment went super fast so I barely remember what happened. The hanging beam was heavier than I expected, so I didn’t get a very good swing. Just enough to hit the bell and that was it.

We drove home after that, where my wife, daughter, and in-laws were all watching Kohaku Uta Gassen. All in all, it was a good night.

So, that’s my only memory of Joya no Kane, but I think it’s a near tradition and well worth attending if you ever get the opportunity.

Happy 2026 everyone and wishing you a wonderful new year.

1 When our firstborn was a little girl, we liked visiting in winter because there’s lots of fun things to do, but once she started grade school, we moved to summers. In either case, the winters in Japan are very cold, and the summers are extremely hot and humid.

Person to Person

Some years ago, I received a tenugui (手ぬぐい), a kind of cotton cloth traditdionally used in Japan, with the following calligraphy on it:

我逢人
gahōjin

“self meets person”

I have briefly mentioned here this notion, but today I wanted to delve into it more. I have struggled to find a clear reference, but according to one story I found, these were the words uttered by founder of Soto Zen in Japan, Dogen, after first encountering his new teacher Rújìng (如淨, 1163–1228) in China.1 Dogen had studied under the Tendai sect in Japan for years, but he was dissatisfied with the lack of rigor, and journeyed with his mentor to Song-dynasty China to learn more there. At the Tiantong Temple (天童寺, Tiāntóngsì) he met Rujing, and after their first meeting, Dogen was said to have uttered these words meaning “At last, I have met someone”.

The sentiment here is that even though we might be physically in a room full of people, we may not really connect with them. We all go through this feeling. In modern society, that sense of isolation in a crowded room may feel even more acute. It is indeed a noisy yet lonely world we live in, and as the Buddha described it, a world of aimless wandering.

Only when you connect with someone does it really feel like you meet them. This could be someone romantic, or someone like a mentor, or just a really good friend. When you connect with that person, you can speak your mind 100%, and they will understand you. Such encounters are indeed rare (I can probably think of maybe 10-15 people in my own life), but it’s an example of how karma can work in mysterious ways, maybe across many lifetimes.

It is also why, in my opinion, when one encounters the light of Amida Buddha, or the Dharma in general, it subtly alters one’s aimless trajectory. Imagine an asteroid hurtling through the void of space for eons, then one day it’s finally caught within the gravity of a star. It’s still moving, but now its trajectory gradually bends more and more toward the star. I like to think of encountering the Dharma like that.

It’s also a great example of how Zen phrases and idioms proliferate Japanese language.

Namu Shakamuni Butsu

P.S. Please enjoy the Maha Santa Claus Sutra, an old classic I wrote 6 years old (!). Happy Holidays!

1 In Chinese, he is known better is Tiāntóng Rújìng (天童如净, “Rujing of Tiantong [temple]”).

The Many Names of The Nianfo

The nianfo (念佛) is widely recited across many cultures and languages by people who follow the Pure Land Buddhist tradition. In Japanese it is called the nembutsu (念仏), and that is the name I most often use on this blog. In Korean it is the yeombul (염불), and in Vietnamese it is the niệm phật. Just as the name differs by language, the phrase itself has changed pronunciation as it is adopted in other cultures and languages, just like the sutras did.

Let’s look at examples.

The original form of the nianfo (as far as I can tell) comes from Sanskrit language in India. In Sanskrit, “nianfo” was buddhānusmṛti (buddhānussati in Pāli language). The venerable site Visible Mantra states that it was recited like so:1

namo’mitābhāyabuddhāya

In the Siddham script, still used in some esoteric practices, this is written as:

𑖡𑖦𑖺𑖦𑖰𑖝𑖯𑖥𑖯𑖧𑖤𑖲𑖟𑖿𑖠𑖯𑖧

From here, Buddhism was gradually imported into China from India (a fascinating story in and of itself), and because Chinese language and Sanskrit are so different, this was no easy task. Nevertheless, the buddhānusmṛti was translated as nianfo (念佛) and written as:

南無阿彌陀佛

This was how the Chinese at the time approximated the sound of the Sanskrit phrase. In modern, Simplified Chinese characters this looks like:

南无阿弥陀佛

But how does one read these characteres? That’s a fun question to answer.

You see, Chinese has many dialects because of geography, regional differences, and migration of people. Thus, even though Chinese characters are written the same (with only modest regional differences), the way they are read and pronounced varies. Thanks to Wiktionary, I found a helpful list to illustrate:

Dialect or writing systemPronunciation
Mandarin, Pinyin systemNāmó Ēmítuófó or
Námó Ēmítuófó
Mandarin, Zhuyin (Bopomofo) systemㄋㄚ ㄇㄛˊ ㄜ ㄇㄧˊ ㄊㄨㄛˊ ㄈㄛˊ, or
ㄋㄚˊ ㄇㄛˊ ㄜ ㄇㄧˊ ㄊㄨㄛˊ ㄈㄛˊ
Cantonese, Jyutping systemnaam4 mo4 o1 mei4 to4 fat6
naam4 mo4 o1 nei4-1 to4 fat6
naa1 mo4 o1 mei4 to4 fat6, or
naa1 mo4 o1 nei4-1 to4 fat6
Hakka, Sixian or Phak-fa-su systemNà-mò Ô-mì-thò-fu̍t
Nà-mò Ô-nî-thò-fu̍t
Nà-mò Â-mì-thò-fu̍t
Eastern Min, BUC system
Nàng-mò̤-ŏ̤-mì-tò̤-hŭk
Puxian Min, Pouseng Ping’ing systemna2 mo2 or1 bi2 tor2 hoh7, or
na2 mo2 or1 bi2 tor2 huoh7
Southern Min (a.k.a. Hokkien), Peh-oe-ji systemLâm-bû O-bí-tô-hu̍t
Lâm-bû-oo-mì-tôo-hu̍t

Of these dialects, I am only familiar with Mandarin and (to a much lesser extent) Hokkien, so I can only trust the others based on Wikipedia.

Anyhow, China was a powerful, dynamic culture at the time, and it had a profound influence on its smaller neighbors such as the Korean peninsula, Japan, and northern Vietnam (a.k.a. Dai Viet). Just as the neighbors of the Romans (including the Byzantines) absorbed Roman culture, the neighbors of China did the same even though the languages were very different.

Thus, the nembutsu in these languages became:

LanguageHow to Recite
JapaneseKanji: 南無阿弥陀仏
Romaji: Namu Amida Butsu
KoreanHanja: 南無阿彌陀佛
Hangul: 나무아미타불
Romanization: Namu Amita Bul
VietnameseChữ Hán: 南無阿彌陀佛
Quốc ngữ: Nam mô A-di-đà Phật2

What about Tibetan Buddhism? I am really unfamiliar with that tradition, so I might be wrong here, but my understanding is that Tibetan veneration of Amida Buddha stems from a different tradition, so instead of the nianfo, they recite appropriate mantras instead. Beyond that, I don’t know.

Anyhow, this is a brief look at how a simple Sanskrit phrase has evolved into so many traditions and ways to express veneration to the Buddha of Infinite Light. Thanks for reading!

𑖡𑖦𑖺𑖦𑖰𑖝𑖯𑖥𑖯𑖧𑖤𑖲𑖟𑖿𑖠𑖯𑖧
南無阿彌陀佛
Namu Amida Butsu

P.S. Another post despite my intended rest. The time off really has helped, so it’s been well worth it, but now I am eager to write again. 😌

1 As I’ve written before, writing Sanskrit in the more modern Devanagari script is kind of pointless since Sanskrit was never written in that until late in history, long after Buddhism in India was gone. Sanskrit does not have a native script either, so the Roman Alphabet is as god as any.

2 Brushing off my college Vietnamese, this is pronounced as “Nam-moe Ah-zee-dah-fut”.

The Pure Land and the Lotus Sutra

Years ago, I used to write down sutra verses I’d find (in English) into my little sutra book, but after a while I often forget what I wrote down. Recently I found this really fascinating verse from the twenty-third chapter of the Lotus Sutra, which I had apparently written down:

The woman who hears and keeps this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva will not be a woman in her next life. The woman who hears this sutra and acts according to the teachings of it in the later five hundred years after my extinction, will be able to be reborn, after her life in this world, [as a man sitting] on the jeweled seat in the lotus flower blooming in the World of Happiness [the Pure Land] where Amitāyus Buddha lives surrounded by great Bodhisattvas. He [no more she] will not be troubled by greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, jealousy, or any other impurity. He will be able to obtain the supernatural powers of a Bodhisattva and the truth of birthlessness. When he obtains this truth, his eyes will be purified. With his purified eyes, he will be able to see seven billion and two hundred thousand million nayuta Buddhas or Tathāgatas, that is, as many Buddhas as there are sands in the river Ganges.

Transalation by Rev. Sencho Murano

There is a lot to unpack here.

In Indian culture, it was felt that birth as a women was disadvantageous. This was probably due to the realities of the time: patriarchal society, extreme risks of childbirth in a pre-modern society with medical technology, dowry customs, etc.1 So, the idea was that rather than being reborn again as a woman in the next life, the sutra promises that such a woman could be reborn as a man by being reborn in the Pure Land of Amitāyus Buddha.

Amitāyus Buddha is one of the names of Amida Buddha. It is also used in the Immeasurable Life Sutra, where one of the vows of Amida Buddha is the following:

(35) If, when I attain Buddhahood, women in the immeasurable and inconceivable Buddha-lands of the ten quarters who, having heard my Name, rejoice in faith, awaken aspiration for Enlightenment and wish to renounce womanhood, should after death be reborn again as women, may I not attain perfect Enlightenment.

Translation by Rev. Hisao Inagaki

Here, we see essentially the same thing: if a woman is weary of the challenges of womanhood, she can choose to be reborn as a man in the Pure Land of Amida (Amitāyus) Buddha in accordance with his vow. Should his vow fail, the Pure Land would not be. Since it does exist, the vow is certain.

You can read this in two ways, I think:

  1. This reaffirms a patriarchal attitude that woman are inferior, and therefore being a man is better on the Buddhist path, or
  2. Buddhism was realistic about the challenges of woman in a patriarchal society of the time, and therefore offered something not found in other religious paths.

I think it is up to the reader to decide. To be honest, in light of other aspects of the Lotus Sutra, such as the Parable of the Dragon Princess, or Shakyamuni’s prophecy of Buddhahood to his nun disciples, I am inclined to think that the latter interpretation is what the authors of the Lotus Sutra intended. The Lotus Sutra reads as something (relatively) progressive for the time.

Separately, it’s interesting that the Pure Land of Amida Buddha is even referenced in the Lotus Sutra at all, and both sutras use the same name, Amitāyus, not the more common Amitābha. Typically, Buddhism tends to treat the Lotus Sutra and the Pure Land as separate traditions. They overlap because they are both Mahayana-Buddhist traditions, but often people focus on one or the other.

Further, the Pure Land of Amida Buddha is not prominent in the Lotus Sutra. Instead, the “pure land” of Shakyamuni Buddha in chapter sixteen is the big reveal. So, Amida Buddha’s Pure Land is more like a backup singer in the band, or a spinoff character.

But, having had some exposure to Tendai-Buddhist thought, and seeing overlapping texts like these, I feel it’s clear that they were meant to be one tradition, not two. From the Lotus Sutra perspective, the Pure Land path is part of the larger progression toward Buddhahood. From the Pure Land perspective, Buddhahood is all but assured if you are reborn there because of the radiance and magnetism of Amida Buddha. So, it feels like they are two sides of the same coin in a way. If you add the Zen perspective of the Pure Land, things get even more interesting.

How one approaches all this is up to you. If nothing else, the Lotus Sutra shows that there are many gates, and many ways to approach the Buddhist path, but they are like rivers all feeding into the same ocean.

Namu Shakamuni Butsu
Namu Amida Butsu

P.S. Despite my “break” in December, I decided not to wait on this one. 😅

1 One could make the argument that even now in 21st century modern society, life as a woman is still not an easy one. But imagine life when you were expected to have many children, and the average childbirth had a 10% chance of killing you each time, so many women did not live past their 20s and 30s. Further, if your husband was a terrible person, you had little if any recourse.

Happy Holidays 2025

SPOCK: On my planet, to rest is to rest — to cease using energy.  To me, it is quite illogical to run up and down on green grass, using energy, instead of saving it.

Star Trek, “Shore Leave”, stardate 3025.2

Unlike my 2024 post, I intend to really take time off this time.

The truth is, is that I am deeply burned out. My wife and discussed this recently, and the chaos of preparing our firstborn for college, and our second-born ready for middle school, plus work demands have left us deeply exhausted. When we described it to one another, we quickly concluded that we were not depressed, just burned out. As parents, we had been running at full speed for almost two years, and now that things have quieted down, the fatigue finally caught up to us.

So, for the rest of 2025, I want to just sit around and do nothing: no personal projects, blogging, etc. I do plan to do some light reading (including some new books I picked up), play more solo The One Ring RPG, watch more Star Trek,1 maybe finally finish painting some figurines that have sat half-completed for a year. I have one more blog post in the works, but otherwise, I’m taking some much needed personal downtime.

Just some of my unfinished painted figurines…

Thank you all for your understanding, and I wish you both a happy holidays and a wonderful new year!

1 I also recently picked up the Star Trek Adventures role-playing game from Modiphius as well, but I haven’t progressed very far in learning the game yet.

Countdown to Bodhi Day

A sample “Bodhi Day” shrine we setup in years past…

Buddhist holidays are few and far between, especially in overseas (non-Buddhist cultures), but since we raise our kids both through Japanese and American culture, I try to give them a unique, memorable tradition for the holidays. So, when the kids were young, I borrowed the Japanese-Buddhist holiday of Jodo-é (成道会) and adapted it for American Christmas culture. This holiday is better known in English as Bodhi Day and is observed on December 8th every year.1

Bodhi Day, sometimes incorrectly called Rōhatsu (臘八) in Zen-specific contexts,2 celebrates the awakening of Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical founder of Buddhism. It is the day where the Buddha is said to have meditated under the Bodhi Tree, saw his past lives laid out before him, resisted the temptations of Mara, and in the early morning broke through the wall of ignorance to see things as they were. By awakening thus, he is called a buddha (lit. “an awakened one”).

So, at the time, I took inspiration from our local Japanese-American temple (which had a great kid’s program), and made a “Bodhi Tree”: a miniature Christmas tree that a statue of the Buddha sits under. After that, I setup a small Buddhist-style shrine with an offering plate, water, bell, LED candle, etc. You can see an example above from years ago.

Also, to make it fun for the kids, I always give a gift on Bodhi Day, usually books they like. Such gifts don’t have to be Buddhist books, just something they would enjoy reading.3 Also, we usually have a fun family dinner together, and I usually read the story of the Buddha from an old Japanese-manga I found years ago. These celebrations are not strictly “Buddhist”, but it’s something festive and wholesome with the family, while celebrating the enlightenment of Shakyamuni Buddha,4 in a way that blends American traditions with Japanese ones.

Anyhow, Bodhi Day is 8 days away, so until then, hoping you all have a great week!

Namu Shakamuni Butsu

1 Many other Buddhist traditions still use the lunar calendar, so the dates will vary. I like using the Japanese version with the solar calendar because it’s easier to predict and blends into holiday season more easily.

2 The problem with the term Rohatsu 臘八 is that is refers only to the Zen practice of sesshin or dedicated meditation practice (i.e. a kind of austere retreat). This is obviously unsuitable for kids, and even in Japanese Zen, the holiday is called generally called Jōdō-é (成道会) among lay followers. So, calling it Rohatsu is misleading, and too narrow to be useful anyway.

3 When you are a kid, the last thing you want is religious books. So, I give fun books, comic books, etc.

4 The enlightenment story of Shakyamuni Buddha also serves as a template for other Buddhas and their enlightenment stories in Buddhist literature, too. See the preamble for the Larger Sutra of the Buddha of Immeasurable Life as an example.