The Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii is an umbrella organization in the district of West Hongwanji for Jodo Shinshu Buddhism. This is the one of the four large Honpa Hongwanji missions around the world, where others are located in mainland United States, South America, and Canada. The mission provides a two-way connection between the head temple in Kyoto, Japan and temples in Hawaii.
The first Hongwanji temple in the Hawaiian Islands was established by Reverend Soryu Kagahi in 1889, when Japanese immigrants moved to Hawaii to work on the sugarcane plantations. They introduced Jodo Shinshu Buddhism to the islands, and by 1897, the Nishi Hongwanji in Kyoto began sending ministers to establish temples for the immigrants in Hawaii and mainland United States. Soon, the mission grew into one of Hawaii’s most influential religious communities as well as the biggest Buddhist community in the United States. Reverend Soryu Kagahi, a Jodo Shinshu minister from Kyushu, was the first person to conduct Jodo Shinshu (Shin Buddhist) services in Hawaii. He was concerned for his fellow Japanese immigrants who had been seeking spiritual support; thus, he embarked on his journey to Hawaii in 1889. Later in that year, Kagahi established two Buddhist communities in Honolulu and Hilo before returning to Japan. Due to the reverend’s absence, the Jodo Shinshu followers became increasingly disorganized the following years. Desperate for help, they asked Honzan, the headquarter in Japan, to send over another leader figure to lift up the spirits of the disheartened people. Reverend Ejun Miyamoto was sent over to assess the situation, and he decided to send Reverend Shoi Yamada, who became the first official Hongwanji missionary in Hawaii. Following Yamada, Honi Satomi arrived in Hawaii and became the first Kantoku, also known as Superintendent of Missions (bishop). Bishop Satomi visited the islands of Maui, Kauai, and Hawaii to spread his teachings. His health soon failed as a result of all the traveling. He was succeeded by Yemyo Imamura, who had a powerful vision and boundless idealism. He was known for his qualities of wisdom, compassion, patience, non-discrimination, and positive outlook.
Since Honpa Hongwanji’s establishment, 36 temples have been built across the Hawaiian Islands. The main temple is the Betsuin Temple, which was built in July 1918. Its design blended Indian elements—representing the roots of Buddhism, with Chinese and Japanese features that were commonly seen in Hongwanji temples in Japan. The western forms were also incorporated to represent Jodo Shinshu Buddhism’s future in Hawaii and America. The construction took place during World War I. As proof of the Japanese immigrants’ loyalty to America, they facilitated the acceptance of Buddhism as an American faith tradition; wooden pews, high wooden pulpit, pipe organ, hymnals, and Sunday services were instituted in addition to traditional Japanese gold and brass altar decorations centering around an image of Amida Buddha. Although Hawaii is a state of United States, the mission is administered separately from the Buddhist Churches of America, the umbrella organization of Jodo Shinshu temples in mainland U.S. The reason for this is that Jodo Shinshu Buddhist institutions were established in Hawaii before Hawaii became a state of the U.S. When Reverend Soryu Kagahi built the first temple in 1990{?}, Hawaii was still its own sovereign kingdom. Furthermore, the high concentration of temples established to serve plantation communities in Hawaii is also another reason the Hawaii Mission, despite having over 30 temples, remain administratively distinct from the Buddhist Churches of America.
Hongwanji means “Temple of the Primal Vow.” The Primal Vow is Amida Buddha’s promised to save all beings. Jodo Shinshu, which is also known as Shin Buddhism or True Pure Land of Buddhism, is one of the many denominations of Mahayana Buddhism, and is practiced by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission. Although there are many traditions and paths of Buddhism, the most popular and widely practiced path is the Shin Buddhist path—the path of gratitude and humility. The purpose of Shin Buddhism is to listen and open one’s heart to receiving enlightenment as opposed to “attaining” or “realizing” enlightenment. They described the pursuit of enlightenment as chasing after a mirage in a desert. You think you’ve “arrived” only to find it disappear. Greed and impatience often lead people to chase after enlightenment like trying to grab a snowflake; thus, Shin Buddhists suggest that if you open your hand and allow the snow to fall into your hand, it will become yours without any effort.
Founder of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism — Shinran
By simply listening to the Dharma and receiving it, it allows the heart and mind to unfold. Unlike other traditions, one does not need to become a monk or meditate for hours in order to pursuit enlightenment. Listening to the Dharma could mean anything between listening to sermons or lectures to listening to another person talk, since you never know who your “teacher” of the Dharma might be. To put it simply, the Shin Buddhist path goes with the flow. A common misconception in the West is that people think humility means weakness or passiveness. However, in Shin Buddhist’s definition, humility is the true strength of life. A humble person is strong and unwavering, whereas a proud, stubborn person is fragile and weak. When one starts to look at life from the perspective of the recipient, then everything is a gift, whether it be knowledge, possessions, achievements. Nothing can be accomplished on one’s own and is always due to the help of someone else. This teaches the believers to live a life of gratitude. “The more one becomes grateful, the more one becomes humble. The more one becomes humble, the less one needs in life. The less one needs, the more one truly has.”
Chinese character for “to hear” is composed of characters for “gate” and “ear”.
Debbie Chen