Reverend Jerry Kyosei Hirano

MINISTER (KAIKYOSHI MINISTER)

Hirano Sensei was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in the year of the fire rooster. He attended the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple as a child and is now the resident minister. He graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S. in Speech Communication, followed by an M.A. in Buddhist Studies from the Institute of Buddhist Studies in Berkeley, California. He continued his studies at Chuo Bukkyo Gakuin (Central Buddhist Institute) in Kyoto, Japan from 1983 - 1987. After receiving Kyoshi ordination from Nishi Hongwanji in Kyoto, he returned to the United States as a Buddhist Churches of America (BCA) Minister. His first assignment was at the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin for 6 years before he returned to Salt Lake City as Kaikyoshi. Currently he is also the minister at the Ogden and Honeyville Buddhist Temples as well as at Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple.

He is married to Dr. Carmela Javellana Hirano, an integrative psychiatrist and founder of Sanctuary for Healing and Integration (SHIN) and also his minister's assistant at the Temple. At home, where he admittedly does not rule the roost, he is surrounded by hens, as well as Carmela, his daughters Kacie and Taylor, dogs Ponzu, Peanut and Miso, and cat Baby Blue.

"I find that as I grow older, I appreciate the fullness of what I am given, from the laughter of my children to the sound of my bones creaking in the morning as I awake. I am still alive! This realm of gratitude is the life of Nembutsu. It is in the impermanence of each moment of life - moving forward - that I am allowed to appreciate this life." Rev. Hirano — excerpt from Teriyaki Priest