"You May Call it a Miracle, but That's Nembutsu Doing Everything:" Newton Ishiura and the Creation of the Toronto Buddhist Church

“YOU MAY CALL IT A MIRACLE BUT THAT’S NEMBUTSU DOING EVERYTHING”NEWTON ISHIURA AND THE CREATION OF THE TORONTO BUDDHIST CHURCH

All photos of Rev. Ishiura in this presentation provided by Asoka Ishiura

THEMES

• Jōdo Shinshū (BCA, BCC/JSBTC, HHMH) as the “Ethnic Fortress”

• Two Buddhisms/Three Buddhisms• Buddhist Studies

TAKASHI NEWTON ISHIURA (1918-2008)

• Born in Kilauea, Kauai, Hawai’i

• “Americanized in his thinking and actions”

• White Sheep Society• Ryukoku University, Kyoto (1938)

• Tajunga Detention Center, La Crescenta, California

• Buddhist Brotherhood of America

• “You may call it a miracle, but that’s nembutsu doing everything”

• Army Specialized Training Program• Eastern Young Buddhist League (EYBL)• Bukkyō Shō / Sangha Award• Wheel of Life, 1958• 22 January, 1953 Mary Matsuura• Takashi Kenryu Tsuji• Engaged Buddhism

TORONTO BUDDHIST CHURCH (TBC)

• Toronto Young Buddhist Society, Dana Group, Fujinkai (Women’s League), Issei Bukkyō Kai

• Obon Odori• Camp Lumbini (1967)• Sunday School• Buddhist Churches of Canada (BCC) -1968

1967 CANADIAN CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS AND CANADIAN INTERFAITH CONFERENCE

• Canadian Interfaith Centennial Committee (1967) - Lester Pearson

• Gary Miedema, For Canada’s Sake: Public Religion, Centennial Celebrations, and the Re-Making of Canada in the 1960s

• “Unity Through Diversity”• Pierre Trudeau, “other cultural communities…too, are essential elements in Canada and deserve government assistance in order to contribute to regional and national life in ways that derive from their heritage yet are distinctively Canadian”

• “My Sunday sermons at the Center were patriotic, that I am American, that this is my country.”

JŌDO SHINSHŪ BUDDHISM AND THE “ETHNIC FORTRESS”

• Kenneth K. Tanaka• Mark Mullins- “Foreign-Oriented” Versus “Native-Oriented

• Religious Acceptability

TWO BUDDHISMS/THREE BUDDHISMS IN MODERN SCHOLARSHIP

• Two Buddhisms - “Ethnic/Traditional” Versus “Western/New”

• Three Buddhisms - Baggage, Import, Export

Reverend Ishiura• American

• Second-Generation• Engaged

• Adaptation• Inter-Faith, Secular

Civil Celebrations

BUDDHIST STUDIES

• Between Buddhist Studies and American Studies

• Buddhist Studies as Self-Contained• Studies of Canada as self-contained• Jeff Wilson, Dixie Dharma: Inside a Buddhist

Temple in the American South

CONCLUSION

• Nathan O. Hatch, The Democratization of American Christianity

• Completely disregard Two Buddhisms?

Thank You for Your Time and Attention