Buddhist Faith Fellowship of Connecticut

Activities

Founded in 2001 by Rev. Senpai, of the Dharma Teacher Order, the Fellowship offers a full array of activities that include Sunday morning practice, courses, a children’s program, a 12 Step group,periodic retreats, mindfulness and meditation practice, and social and cultural events,

Affiliation

Being created independently of any sect or sub-sect of Asian Buddhism, it is considered the first indigenously established Shin Buddhist congregation in the Western hemisphere. In 2005, it subsequently established the North American Shin Buddhist Association that henceforth has served as its umbrella organization for its affiliated and autonomous communities across the continent. Two years later, in 2007, the Fellowship launched its New England Institute for Buddhist Studies that has acted as its direct educational arm. Most of its dharma teachers are alumni of the New England Institute for Buddhist Studies.

Shin Buddhism

Shin Buddhism, also known as Jodo Shinshu in Japanese, is the most widely practice form of Buddhism in Japan, and is a branch of the Pure Land School of the Mahayana tradition. Pure Land Buddhism is the most popular form of Buddhism in the world with adherents concentrated in China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and now in the West. Founded in the 13th century by the religious reformer, Shinran Shonin, Shin is known to be the Buddhism of the common man and woman who with hefty worldly entanglements of work or family are not afforded to time, resources or ability to engage the rigorous monastic practices. Its focus is on daily engagement with the dharma, the truth and teachings, through the contemplative practice, called deep hearing, and the voicing of the nembutsu, the name of the universal Buddha of Boundless Life, known as Amida Buddha.

Historical context

In the late 1800s, Shin Buddhism first arrived in the continental United States through Japanese immigrants who largely settled in California. Although it is the most preponderate form of Buddhism in Japan, for nearly a century, Shin Buddhism remained mostly unknown in the Western Hemisphere due to racial discrimination, forced internment of its members during World War II, and the subsequent ethno-religious isolation caused by this prejudice. Since the 1990s, through the publication of such books like River of Fire, River of Water by Dr. Taitetsu Unno, and the works of other Shin Buddhists like Dr. Alfred Bloom, Shin has consequently experienced an ever-growing interest with the American public. Since its founding in 2001, the efforts of the Buddhist Faith Fellowship have also been instrumental in opening the doors of Shin teachings to the average unchurched and non-Asian American.

Religious innovations

The efforts of the Buddhist Faith Fellowship have been instrumental in opening the doors of Shin teachings to the average non-Asian American. Taking the Mahayana Buddhist teaching of skillful means, known as upaya in Sanskrit, to heart, the Fellowship had made a number of important innovations to enhance individual and community practice that consequently has deepen the realization of its members and opened its outreach efforts to a wider audience. The impetus of these modernizing activities and its invigorating missionary spirit is based in it the ancient the ancient Pure Land adage, “Entrust in the Pure Land and share its message with the world.”

Its innovations in Shin Buddhism include an interactive liturgical format that includes mindfulness (sati), sitting meditation, prayer, and scriptural chanting in English. Furthermore, it successfully integrated the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path into regular daily Shin practice by aligning its eight practices with the Fellowship’s modern interpretation of Shinran Shonin’s teachings. Its efforts and invocations have been cited in an essay titled, Jodo Shinshu Practice: A Fork in the Road in the book Path No Path by the former President of the Buddhist Churches of America, Mr. Gordon Bermant, and the book, I Stumbled Upon A Jewel by Margaret Petersson.