A basic teaching of Buddhism is: Everything changes.  Nothing stays the same.  Our temple’s experiences over the last 5 years really demonstrate this principle of impermanence! In 2020, our temple, like millions of institutions around the world, had to rethink how we operated to reduce the risk of spreading COVID in our communities.   For us, that meant moving to online services.  In the beginning, we had just one service a month online, but we gradually moved to online services twice a month. And once a month we would have take-out lunch...

For a week each July, our ministers and members of the community gather at cemeteries around our region to offer short Buddhist services of sutra chanting, incense offering, and a short Dharma message. This year, with the assistance of our temple president, Mike Iseri, we have visited 16 cemeteries between Boise, Idaho and Baker City, Oregon.  Because it is hot this time of year, we often look for trees to gather under while we hold these services cemetery.  The shade is very much appreciated by all of us, as we stand there together in the heat for the service.   The trees...

In 2008, I was certified as a Minster’s Assistant—a first step in a long and often surprising journey to ordination and my current position as an Assistant Minister here at IOBT.  At the time of my certification,  I received my Homyo or Dharma name.  The name I received was Ren Sho 蓮生 “to live as a lotus.” The first character “ren” means “lotus” and the second character “sho” means “to live.”  The lotus is known for its beautiful flower, but what is especially impressive about the lotus is that the vibrant beautiful flower grows out...

The Package is The Message: A Guest Message by Keith B. Hopper NOTE from Rev. Anne Spencer: We always enjoy sharing insights and experiences from our diverse IOBT community. This month we are happy to share a reflection from Keith Hopper. Although Keith now lives in Florida, his early years were spent in Vale, Ontario, and parts of western Idaho. He graduated from Ontario High School. In 2022 he received a tip from a friend about our twice-monthly Tuesday evening online discussion groups and he decided to join us.  He has been a regular at our meeting ever since. Let us...

“I will gather the true words so they may help others to practice the way for Birth. My wish is that those who have attained Birth may lead those who come after them and those who aspire Birth may follow their predecessors, thus following one after another, endlessly and uninterruptedly, until this boundless sea of Birth-and-Death is exhausted.”  From Doshaku’s Anraku Shu quoted by Shinran Shonin toward the end of his Kyogyoshinsho) I think of this quote from Shinran Shonin’s Kyogyoshinsho when I think about our Issei (1st generation Japanese immigrants) and our...