Many Thanks for Success of Film, Lunch, and Discussion, Sunday March 24
From the Buddhist Education Committee comes these thanks for everyone’s support of our March 24 Ichi-Mi event. Upwards of 60 Sangha and Dharma Friends were able to attend.
To the answer of many questions, we expect to continue this dialogue with a proposed creation of an ad hoc advisory to the Temple with members of the LGQBT community and allies. More specifics will follow but any Sangha members or Dharma Friends can express interest if they would like to participate.
A formal thank you (see below) was sent to the Ichi-Mi presenters, Bran, Lauren, and Marie, and Sangha volunteers. Also from the Gardena Buddhist Church, Rev. Ko’e Umezu, with Marie, attended a follow up discussion in our Buddhism 1-2-3 Wednesday night class on Wednesday, March 27.
To Watch the Film
The video of A Profound Silence can be viewed free of charge on Vimeo. You may be requested to sign up to a free Vimeo membership to access the film. The link is https://vimeo.com/814468816.
The film itself runs just under 30 minutes with interviews of BCA ministers and families on avoiding unknowing older prejudices in our Temples against LGBTQ+ community.
“There’s nothing that makes life worse for human beings than prejudice. And I think the prejudice against gay, lesbian, trans-gender, nonbinary people is so deep in so many people, that by working on this, I think we can get near the core of the human part of the problem.”
Our Thank You to Participants
Hi Everyone,
Just a note inspired by the happy reminiscence of the film, lunch, and discussion with our friends from Ichi-Mi last Sunday.
It was heart-warming to see such a good turnout and a relaxed and honest discussion.
And there are so many to thank for the success of this event.
Thanks to all our attendees, for such a warm and welcoming environment.
Thanks to the encouragement and support of the BTSD Board and Ministerial staff in preparing for the event.
Thanks to all of you who supplied gochiso food and help with set-up, including Jaime & Peter Brown, Ichi-Mi Reps (Bern, Lauren, Marie), Jeff & Kimberly Kruse, LuAnn Lee, Yoshi Moritani, Kay Ochi, Brian & Lorin Sasaki, Margo Spears, Bill & Joyce Teague, Carolyn Wood, Greg Yonekura, and Laura Yoshida.
Thanks to Rev. Smitty for helpful suggestions and for moderating the discussion.
A very big thank you to the representatives of Ichi-Mi (Bern, Marie & Lauren) for allowing us to premier the film and to generously and thoughtfully answer questions after the lunch. They travelled from Gardena and 29 Palms to join us. Thank you to Rev. Ko'e Umezu who with Marie joined our Wednesday night discussion class, Buddhism 1-2-3.
Thank you to San Diego activist a.t. furuya for their support, especially on Wednesday night.
For other supporters if I left your names out, many apologies and thanks nonetheless.
We have some photos from Sunday that will soon be posted on the Website to celebrate the event.
In Gassho,
Bill Teague
Buddhist Education Team (Strategy Group)
About Ichi-Mi
Here is Ichi-Mi’s Mission Statement: .
We pledge our best efforts as Jōdo Shinshū Buddhists to provide a safe space for LGBTQ+ identifying people within the Sangha, their family members, and allies, in order to create conditions for everyone to safely hear the Nenbutsu teaching.
About the Name, “Ichi-Mi”
Ichi-Mi takes its name from the writings of Shinran Shonin in this passage from the Shoshinge. as written by Shinran Shonin.
When the one thought-moment of joy arises, Nirvana is attained without severing blind passions; When ignorant and wise, even grave offenders and slanders of the dharma, all alike turn and enter (the ocean of Amida’s Vow) They are like waters that, on entering the ocean, become one in taste with it.
Nō hotsu ichinen ki ai shin Fu dan bonnō toku nehan Bonjō gyaku hō sai e nyu Nyo shu shi nyu kai ichi-mi
Read more in Rev. Ko-e A. Umezu’s article on the BCA Website, “Illumined by the Wisdom Light of Amida Buddha.”
About the film, A Profound Silence
From the Vimeo website: “A short film produced by Gardena Buddhist Church Ichi-Mi that features Jodo Shinshu Buddhist voices from the LGBTQ+ community, family and allies. This video was made to be an educational resource for Buddhist communities who wish to promote LGBTQ+ awareness and acceptance.”
About This Image
Don’t these flags look similar? The image was created for our event. On the left is a version of the Pride flag. On the right is the Nepalese version of the Buddhist Flag, established in Sri Lanka almost 140 years ago.
Sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, San Diego was given this Nepal flag as a special gift from visiting Buddhists. In contrast, the standard Buddhist flag (see below) differs in the fifth vertical color band. The standard flag uses orange, and not purple.
