Evening+Discussion+Notes

In the evening, the participants had an opportunity to chat with each other and the ministers present. Fortunately, the BCA Board was also having a series of meetings at the CBE so some of the participants had an opportunity to chat with some of them as well.

In particular, the participants were able to talk to Rev Bhutia of Nepal Hongwanji who is the speaker for the Sunday session and get to know him better. The following are some notes from what he told the group.

Rev. Sonam Wangdi Bhutia of Nepal Hongwanji [|Nepal Hongwanji] [|Nepal Hongwanji Facebook]

According to Rev. Bhutia, the Nepal Hongwanji is relatively new (founded in 1995) and was founded by the late Mr. Hiromichi Mukaibo. When Rev. Bhutia met Mr. Mukaibo, Rev. Bhutia was a Tibetan Buddhist monk. Mr. Mukaibo was a quadrapelegic. However, he was a devout Jodo Shin follower who had made his way to Nepal alone to visit the historical Buddhist sites.

Rev. Bhutia found it very difficult to believe that Mr. Mukaibo believed that he was going to be re-born in the Pure Land despite the fact that he could not do any of the arduous practices that he was undertaking daily (e.g. Reciting "Namu Amitabha" 100,000 times). And he decided to listen and investigate this form of Buddhism himself if only to disprove this "false" Buddhism. However, he was also curious as to what gave Mr. Mukaibo such joy despite his physical situation. Eventually, through his listening and his research into the sutras and the realization of his own limitations, came to the realization that there was not only a sound doctrinal basis, but that this might be a path for him as well.

This led him eventually to learn Japanese and to enroll at the Chubutsu Academy in Kyoto. However, he was shocked to find out that many students smoke, drank and had "odd" hair styles. The smoking in particular was shocking since in Tibetan Buddhism it is ground for dismissal based on Nagarjuna's prediction of a "weed" that will poison the world (i.e. this was taken to be tabacco). Also he was not a great student and was quickly bored at lectures. ("laugh") However, slowly, guided by his own convictions and his growing comfort with the cultural differences (for example, Theravadan monks can smoke since although they recognize Nagarjuna's contributions to Buddhism, they are secondary to that of Shakyamuni), he returned to Nepal as the minister for the Nepal Hongwanji.

Currently, there are four ministers in Kathmandu, Nepal. Their temple even has a Facebook of members and one of its most popular activities is the Japanese Language class. Rev. Bhutia told the participants that the temple has some apartments which we are all invited to stay.

He says that although whenever he visits Japan, he is asked for the population and the elevation of Kathmandu, he still hasn't memorized it yet. (Thanks to the Internet and [|wikipedia], it's 949,000 and roughly 1400 meters (4500 ft).)

Several other "nuggets" from Rev Bhutia:
 * "All Mahayana Buddhist at the last moment of their lives invokes the name of Amidha Buddha. Even the Dalai Lama does this when at a bedside of such a person."
 * "You need to hear Dharmakara's hard work in the Larger Amidha Sutra. This is very similar to Shinkansen (Japanese Bullet Train), invented by many over many years. Would you ride the Shinkansen if it was built by one person in a month?"
 * "Nagarjuna's birth was prophesized and it was said that the dragon king kept the Mahayana teaching for safe keeping until 300 years after Shakyamuni's death until Nagarjuna was born."
 * "Nagarjuna was a son of a king's minister. A prophet upon his birth said Nagarjuna will only live for 7 days. When the parents asked for a way to save their son, the prophet tells the parents to give food to the poor, then he will live for 7 weeks. When the parents ask for a way to save their son some more, the prophet tells the parents to give alms to 700 monks, then the child will live for 7 years. Again, the parents ask for a different method to save him. The prophet does not give another way. After 7 years of alms giving, the parents decide to send their son to Nalanda University where he is ultimately saved when he hears Amida's name. However, at school he is brilliant but a big trouble maker. But eventually becomes the leader of Nalanda University."


 * "'Naga' = snake, dragon; 'Arjuna' = famous archer"
 * "Naga+arjuna because he spread Mahayana Buddhism and went to the Naga's kingdom and cured the dragon's ailment."
 * "Due to Nagarjuna's powers even the Nagarjuna's sponsor king became long lived and outlived most of the sons. The mother of one of the princes tried to convince the Prince to kill Nagarjuna so that the King will also die. When the Prince comes to Nagarjuna and threatens him, Nagarjuna looks directly at the Prince and when Prince tries to slice him, nothing happens. When the Prince tries to burn Nagarjuna, nothing occurs. When the Prince tries to drown Nagarjuna, the river brings hims back to the surface. Nagarjuna says the only way to kill him is to find a particular grass. He had killed a small insect on this grass in a previous life. Bring back that grass, the Prince will be able to cut my head. Hearing this the Prince obtains and grass and proceeds to decapitate Nagarjuna with it. However, instead of dying immediately, Nagarjuna's head speaks, saying "I can now go to the Pure Land now" The head and the body both became mountains promising that when they re-join, Nagarjuna will come again,"