Annabelle Midden
The Twin Cities Buddhist Sangha is a Buddhist community in Minneapolis, Minnesota, originally formed in 1946 by Japanese Americans migrating to Minnesota after WWII and their release from Japanese internment camps. They are followers of the non-monastic Shin Buddhism founded by Shinran Shonin (1173-1263), student of Honen (1133-1212). Jodo Shinshu in America traces its roots to San Francisco in 1898, when the first recorded devotees, a group of young immigrants, began to practice. Shin Buddhism, specifically Jodo Shinshu, differentiates itself from the rest of Pure Land Buddhism by being open to lay people, in fact being designed by Shonin specifically for lay people, so anyone, including parents and the working class, can seek rebirth in the Pure Land. Shin Buddhism entrusts itself to the Buddha Amitabha and emphasizes, as Shonin did, faith above all. Possessing the trust to let go is the only route to revealing one’s Buddha-Nature and lose all ideas of the self. Because Shin Buddhism exists under the umbrella of Mahayana Buddhism, they also follow the Bodhisattva tradition and subscribe to not only the seeking of Enlightenment but also the process of spreading the dharma to others. The Twin Cities Buddhist Sangha does a lot to connect their community members with the dharma.
They are a member organization of the Buddhist Churches of America, considered the largest Buddhist network in North America, including branches in Hawai’i and Canada. The BCA is comprised of 60 temples worldwide and 12,000 members, all based in San Francisco, where the first two Japanese Shin ministers traveled to in 1899. The BCA specifically practices the Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji-ha tradition whose head temple is in Kyoto, Japan. Uniquely the BCA, while it has respect for Shin Buddhism in Japan, cut ties with Japanese temples in the 1940s to maintain and protect Buddhist traditions in America. At that point in time, some level of assimilation would help ensure the better safety of Buddhist Americans. Originally referred to as the Buddhist Mission of North America (BMNA), the organization underwent serious change during America’s involvement in WWII, between the years 1941-1945, when Japanese Americans were interred in isolated camps under heavy suspicion by the government and other, majority white, Americans. Despite roughly two thirds of the interred population being natural-born United States citizens, most Japanese Americans were treated as spies and relocated to various War Relocation Centers (WRCs).
Ryotai Matsukage, the then-leader of the BMNA, was relocated to Topaz, Utah, where he instigated changes as an adaption method, many of which were met with mixed reactions from his community members. For instance, he changed the organization’s name to the Buddhist Churches of America; changed the terminology, adopting the terms “reverend” and “church;” and some groups even began singing chants in a hymnal choral style. The idea for many Japanese American Buddhists was interfaith exchange, which was common between Christian and Buddhist communities forced together in internment camps, to prove Buddhism and diverse religious expression could only benefit the United States. A lot of life in internment camps was designed to lessen suspicions of disloyalty. The Twin Cities Buddhist Sangha (TCBS) is an inheritor of this period, as it was formed by migrating families once interred on the West Coast. These families were drawn to Minneapolis by their husbands and sons, Japanese American soldiers working as translators at Fort Snelling in St. Paul, Minnesota. The community in the Twin Cities is comprised of their descendants and surrounding converted community members. Congregants original to the 1940s community remain, individuals and whole families that are still involved, mentioned by name in dharma messages where the history of the Sangha is given, including a history of communal events and fairs. Children at Sunday school participate in Hanamatsuri plays, or reenactments of the Buddha’s birthday. The community is still congregating via zoom, and so Hanamatsuri plays are not currently possible but are an aspect of Buddhist tradition in Minneapolis. The Sangha’s Sunday School classes held these reenactments, and such programs were setup to include and excite children in the community. They held small carnivals, Halloween parties, and served homemade Japanese food, a testament to the uniqueness of American Buddhism as produced by Japanese Americans.
The TCBS continues the terminology adopted during WWII, and is currently lead by Rev. Chiemi Onikura Bly, Rev. Dr. Todd Tsuchiya, Rev. Debra Ting, Minister’s Assistant Gail Wong, and President Cheral Tsuchiya.
Today the BCA and the Twin Cities Sangha participate in education efforts to expand the American Buddhist Dharma, raise up their leaders, and bring information about Buddhism to their communities. The BCA houses the Jodo Shinsu Center’s Institute of Buddhist Studies, Center for Buddhist Education, and national seminars throughout the year. Their website page, as well, is full of brief but effective summations of first Buddhism, then Shin Buddhism, and finally how Buddhism exists and relates to the reader’s life. They compile their dharma messages online, provide editorials, art exhibits, Bishop’s messages, and music and chanting videos to the public, as well as a Temple locator, welcoming curious readers to seek out nearby Shin Buddhist communities. The website and services are clearly designed to modernize the Mahayana goal of spreading the dharma. The TCBS, for its part in Minnesota, provides digital dharma messages via zoom and YouTube, twice monthly services, and communal activities, which are aimed at engaging their children in Japanese American cultural heritage. The BCA’s programs succeeded in providing the Jodo Shinsu Correspondence Course, that can be taken digitally over the course of two years and which the Reverend Bly and Minister’s Assistant Wong used to educate themselves as leaders. Rev. Dr. Tsuchiya also received an education from the BCA, getting his masters in Shin Buddhism at the Institute of Buddhist Studies.
An example of a service provided by the TCBS is its Eitaikyo Perpetual Memorial Service, given in this case by Ministers Assistant Wong only two weeks ago. Eitaikyo dates back hundreds of years, developed during Japan’s Edo period, and means to “perpetually recite the Sutras.” The tradition was formed to appreciate the chanting of the ancestors which kept the Sangha alive for their posterity now alive today. It emphasizes the importance of memorializing the ancestors and continuing to chant the Sangha for the generations to come.
The community is funded via donation and congregant support and has periodically been supported the Unitarian Church in the Twin Cities, which provided a space to practice and provide dharma school (also referred to as Sunday School) during periods without a main communal building.
The Twin Cities Buddhist Sangha is a proud inheritor of Japanese American resilience during persecution and represents the diverse traditions which developed during the mixing of Japanese culture, Shin Buddhism, and American cultural norms. They are a prime example of how and why American Shin Buddhism is a living, breathing tradition separate from its Japan-based ancestors. The community has remained in contact with each other since the war; many families are still living in the same area and connected to each other through the Sangha. They continue the chanting of the Sangha in Minnesota.
Twin Cities Sangha 2022 Schedule
January 2 & 16
February 13 &27
March 13 & 27
April 10 (Hanamatsuri – joint service with Midwest Buddhist Temple – 10:30am)
April 24
May 8 & 22
June 5 & 19
July 10 & 24 (in person outdoor Obon Service)
August 7 & 28
September 11 & 25
October 9 (joint event with Minnesota Zen Meditation Center) & 23
November 6 & 20
December 4 & 18
* subject to change *
At this time, all services are being conducted via Zoom.
Bibliography
“Buddhism under Japanese Incarceration during WWII (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 1 Sept. 2022, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/buddhism-under-japanese-incarceration-during-wwii.htm?utm_source=article&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=experience_more&utm_content=small.
“Shin Buddhism.” BCA, Buddhist Churches of America, 2020, https://www.buddhistchurchesofamerica.org/shin-buddhism.
Twin Cities Buddhist Association. Twin Cities Buddhist Association, The Twin Cities Buddhist Sangha, 2022, https://tcbuddhist.org/.
Wong, Gail. “Ma Gail Wong 11 20 2022.” YouTube, The Twin Cities Buddhist Sangha, 20 Nov. 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UDz7F2NfOc.
*Some information came from a emailing with the President Cheral Tsuchiya of the Twin Cities Buddhist Sangha