It is lamentable there are not more Nichiren Shu Buddhist temples in America or the world. It is lamentable there are not more Buddhist Temples of any kind in America. Very few cities or town have Buddhist temples accessible to practitioners. There is a solution though, sadly too many people find it easier to lament and do nothing living in a delusion and trying to create an illusion that somehow it is someone else’s fault, or that someone else should fix it.
It really is easy to have a Nichiren Shu temple in your community. There are a number of ways to make it possible for you to have close access to a priest or Sangha center.
One way is to take 8-10 years out of your life, train and study and become ordained. It shouldn’t be hard for you to do that, you just need the time and money. But mostly you need a real desire, a heart for Buddhism, and the self realization that our practice is not just for ourselves it is for other people to become happy and escape from suffering.
If that doesn’t suit you, and becoming a priest is not the path for everyone, nor should it be. There is another way though. Simply work with others in your community to collect donations to pay the salary for a priest who has dedicated their time, money, and effort to receive training. Of course you will need to provide a place for practice so either buying or renting a building will be necessary, not too terribly difficult.
None of those are impossible, there are several Nichiren Shu priests in America who have done that.
I have found though over the years that mostly people want to do nothing, or create expectations for others to fulfill without really making any effort themselves.
One such example of this is this blog. Over the past year I have not been able to put up new content on a regular basis. The reason for that is due to me taking 3 years out of my life to further my training so there would be one more Buddhist Chaplain in America and a single one in my community. I do believe that my efforts are in line with living my life dedicated to the spread of Buddhism.
Right now the daily average for page views on this blog is between 40 and 50 views a day. When I was creating new content on a daily basis, the count was 150 or more a day. The really strange thing is though, no one makes any donation to the temple, and yet they freely come and take advantage of the services offered. Strange.
Now if the content was not appreciated by anyone then you would expect that viewers would eventually trickle off to almost none. Yet even with content that isn’t being constantly replenished and refreshed there are still at least 40 views a day, every day. People come, they read, many probably come back, and yet there are no donations.
Right now there is one person who almost never makes a complaint that there is no temple near him. He works very hard, long hours and supports two children and his wife. I imagine he makes perhaps average income, yet for most people average isn’t really enough. Yet this person at least once a week, sometimes several times a week makes a donation through Pay Pal of a few dollars. Sometimes it is more sometimes it is less. It isn’t necessarily the amount of his donation that is remarkable or praiseworthy, it is the fact that he constantly does this. Not just recently but for several years now.
Yet most people come, they take, and they donate nothing, not even three dollars or five dollars. How does that really equate to supporting or even really making effort to have a temple in their community? If there is no support for what is available then how is it going to be possible to have something more?
I am not the only priest who experiences this. I hear from other priests who get email or communication complaining that the services that are streamed are interrupted by advertisements, or that they aren’t recorded for viewing at some more convenient time. And yet, there are no donations for that, yet there is the expectation the offerings from priests and temples should be greater.
Virtually none of the new Nichiren Shu temples has any steady reliable income on which to budget any expansion of services. This temple is virtually supported by one person, me the priest. What little donation that comes in doesn’t cover much, and there is nothing left to save for the future. So when I quit supporting it, it will vanish. This temple is not the only one.
Nothing comes cheaply or free. If you don’t believe me try it yourself.
Buddhism isn’t about money, society is about money and Buddhism exists within the context of society. Temples exist within the context of and under the requirements of society. All of those requirements and contexts cost money. Buildings cost money. Electricity costs money. Water costs money. Food costs money. Altars cost money. Training to become a priest costs money. If you don’t like that then work to change it, as many priests are currently doing.
Ask yourself as you read this content and others on this web page, when was the last time I made a donation to this temple to support this effort you are partaking of? It doesn’t need to be much, a couple of dollars. But it does need to happen and it needs to be regular. If it isn’t Buddhism will grow very slowly if at all noticeably.
Even if you don’t want a temple and want to practice on your own think of what it still costs you to do that? If you want it to grow then at the least it will take opening up your life, perhaps your home, most likely your wallet, to make it possible for others to practice.
If you are still reading by this point, let me say, that this is not some angry burnt out priest responding. I enjoy doing what I do. I have willingly dedicated time, money, and effort so that I could fulfill my personal desire to act according to my belief in the Lotus Sutra and desire to fulfill the Buddhas teaching of spreading the Dharma to others. But I am fully qualified to call B.S. to the illusion that the lack of a temple in a person’s community is somehow someone else’s responsibility. I am fully qualified to call B.S. to the delusion that somehow that is anything other than a selfish misguided attempt to call one’s practice anything other than selfish (for one’s personal gain).
Now it is fine if people want to live under their own delusion, but that isn’t what Buddhism is about. We are striving to live free from delusion and illusion. I will help you do that, buy not participating in either of them on your behalf. Just think about this, if you get mad, quit reading the blog, go someplace else, or what ever whose life does it affect? Please don’t think it affects anyone else’s but your own.
It is my hope though that by this point you will have generated a spark within your life to find it possible to make a donation to this temple and to continue to do so. I will continue to do my best to support your Buddhist practice and your growth of faith in the Dharma of the Lotus Sutra. I can tell you that in Buddhism there is really no wasted effort. Your donations while in the immediate sense help ensure the continuation of Buddhism, but in a greater sense they create within you and your life greater fortune. Gratitude is the easiest way to expand your life, giving does not contract your life it causes it to grow and become large to gain more fortune.
Thank you for reading this and for your support.
With Gassho,
Rysuho, Shonin
