Progressive Buddhism: Crying at a Buddhist Funeral, by Adam Goldberg

Progressive Buddhism: Crying at a Buddhist Funeral, by Adam Goldberg: 

Crying at a Buddhist Funeral

The room is a blurry haze; the bright orange of monastic robes saturate her vision and her feet seem to hover as she moves to an open chair. Her mind is distant and she can’t feel a thing but for a sensation of cold emptiness that presses against her chest, growing and growing, threatening to freeze her. She raises her eyes – they are heavy and wet with tears – but the faces of those around her are tranquil; at ease, as if someone has not just died....

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Echo of the Dharma - A Bilingual Blog on Shin Buddhism 日英両語による浄土真宗ブログ

The Year’s First Visit to Shinto Shrines 初もうで

Blog Theme

On this blog, I would like to discuss different issues of the world in the light of the teaching of Pure Land master Shinran (1173-1263). このブログでは、世間折々の問題を浄土真宗の宗祖・親鸞聖人の教えに基づいて考えてみたいと思います。 (a stone image of a small boy and a girl on the street in Arashiyama, Kyoto)

The Year’s First Visit to Shinto Shrines

In Japan, many people visit Shinto Shrines during the first three days of the New Year's holiday in order to pray for a good and happy life throughout the year - for happiness and lack of misfortune in the household, traffic safety, success in business, success in learning, good health, good fortune, longevity, encounter with an ideal husband or wife, safe and easy delivery of a baby, and so on. Those wishes represent our selfish desires, and if gods were to listen to the millions of wishes thrown at them and fulfill them, they would go totally crazy.