Buddhist Discussion group meets on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month. It is typically held online using Zoom, though we also meet in person in the summer. Visitors welcom.  Please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with questions or to get the link to join. For information: Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Visitors, families and children are always welcome.

March 23, 2023 This question, “Can something can be both bad and good?” was running through my head last month when temple president Mike Iseri gave Rev. Jerry Hirano, Rev. Carmela, Rev. Kathy, Sandy (our temple treasurer),  and me a tour of the progress of the restoration of the temple building.               Photo: Temple Basement without Stage and showing new ductwork Photo: Rev. Jerry Hirano and Mike Iseri in front of  pass-through to the kitchen in basement   I clearly remember how my heart sank...

February 14, 2023  NOTE:  In this is a special guest article by temple member and friend, Linda Tanaka who lives in North Idaho, reflects on interconnection and all the relationships, causes, and conditions that make life in the country possible. Greetings from North Idaho or as my brother, David, calls it ‘the wilderness’.  Our fall season was short lived.  Snow arrived before Thanksgiving and didn’t let up until Christmas.  We were doing snow management for days in a row.  Toss in having to buy a new snow blower before Christmas and a low...

January 02, 2023 New Years Day Dharma Message 2023 "I hope that everyone will, deeply entrusting themselves to the  nembutsu and firmly embracing prayers [for peace in the world] in their hearts, together say the nembutsu."  (From the Collected Works of Shinran p. 560)   Happy New year! Happy 2023!  Akemashite Omededou Gozaimasu 今年もよろしくお願いします On December 31, members and friends joined us online from around the country for our New Year's Eve Joya No Kane service.  Traditionally for this service the temple bell is rung 108 times....

December 15, 2022   A special guest article by temple member and friend Melody Smit During November’s BWA memorial service (which I was able to attend remotely by Zoom from my new home in South Carolina) I was reminded of so many wonderful memories and ladies that I love in the temple and the many Nisei ladies that were so wonderful to me.  They took me under their wing, showed the ins & outs of temple life, and made it possible for me to be a true member of IOBT.   Photo: Several of our Buddhist Women's Association Members with Rev. Dennis taken in...

November 12, 2022 The past couple years, I’ve spent a lot of time in doctors’ offices and hospitals. Mostly that was with my mother, who died earlier this year after a long series of illnesses.  But I’ve also had some issues with my own stomach/digestion--likely the result of my own aging and the stress of helping care for my mother, grieving her death, and managing the estate.  I am sure many of you have been through similar challenges and I know that, as Buddhism teaches, life is full of challenges like this. A central teaching of Buddhism is that sickness, old age,...