Rev. Dennis Shinseki Delivers Stirring Eitaikyo Service Message

BCA Minister Emeritus Pays Homage to Past, Urges Leadership to Defend LBGTQAI+ Members

FYI: To view the BCA Eitaikyo Service, go to: bit.ly/431zTzo

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In a stirring Eitaikyo Service message, BCA Minister Emeritus Rev. Dennis Hosei Shinseki spoke from the heart on a variety of topics — including a tribute to past Sangha members and ministers and exhorting leaders to defend the BCA’s LGBTQAI+ members.

This year’s Eitaikyo Service was held March 2 and followed the BCA’s National Council Meeting (NCM). The service was held at the Berkeley Buddhist Temple and streamed virtually throughout the BCA and around the world. It’s the perpetual memorial service that honors the memory of deceased Sangha members, including past ministers and the contributions of all the previous generations. 

Rev. Shinseki reflected on his 73 years of life — including 30 years as a Kaikyoshi minister. He retired in June 2024. He served the Seattle Betsuin Buddhist Temple, White River Buddhist Temple, Mountain View Buddhist Temple, Monterey Peninsula Buddhist Temple, Salinas Buddhist Temple and the Watsonville Buddhist Temple. He also served on the Institute of Buddhist Studies (IBS) Board of Trustees and numerous BCA committees. 

He pointed out the downside of technology — singling out cell phones and social media like Facebook — and said they cause distractions that “prevent us from seeing the truth in life.” 

Important Day

Rev. Shinseki began his talk by quoting “one of my favorite passages” from Jodo Shinshu founder Shinran Shonin’s “Hymns of the Pure Land Masters”:

“My eyes being hindered by blind passions,

I cannot perceive the light that grasps me;

Yet the great compassion, without tiring,

Illumines me always.”

— “Hymns of the Pure Land Masters, “ No. 95, CWS, Page 385

“So, this year, or this moment, actually may be the most important moment of your lives,” Rev. Shinseki said. “And, I often say at memorial services, this is the year that you may die, so this is the year that you should truly begin to live your lives.

“I say it is the most important day for all of us because it may be our last opportunity to hear the Dharma. It is the one opportunity that you have to embrace the Nembutsu, to embrace its teachings and express your gratitude to your mothers, to your fathers, to your grandparents and your family who have returned to the Pure Land. And I hope that everybody who’s listening today understands the urgency with which I say this. It is the most important day of our lives.”

First of all, he said, “we need to remind ourselves that this is a memorial service since the beginning of Jodo Shinshu in America” in which “countless numbers of BCA members have returned to the Pure Land of Amida Buddha.

“Today, we honor all of them,” Rev. Shinseki said. “We don’t know all of their names. We cannot know all who they are, but we honor all of them today. I personally today think about my grandparents, my parents and other family members who have returned to the Pure Land and the many friends we’ve lost over the years. They were my teachers in life and in death. And rarely does a day go by when I don’t think of them and each of their deaths influenced me and has changed me, changed my life.”

Rev. Shinseki showed slides depicting Otani Hombyo Temple, known as Nishi Otanji or the mausoleum dedicated to Shinran Shonin in Kyoto, Japan. It’s near the nokotsudo or columbarium that contains the names of all of the BCA members who have returned to the Pure Land.

“So, when you visit the site, you can arrange to see your temple and the names of those family members who have died,” he said. “The history and the legacy of our BCA resides in this building, but more important, it resides here with all of us who are enjoying the service and enjoying this moment together at a Eitaikyo Service.”

Rev. Shinseki showed a slide depicting several BCA ministers who have passed away in recent years.

“I want to acknowledge our past ministers today,” he said. “How many past ministers we’ve lost over the last 100 years. BCA ministers have done their very, very best to bring comfort to families. By comfort, I mean that they have helped our Sangha members see the truth of life. And by opening our eyes to the truth of life, our thoughts today are directed to the Pure Land of Amida Buddha.

“When we focus on the Pure Land, we become more conscious of this life and what we have received,” he continued. “So, as we honor our past members who have died and brought the Nembutsu into our lives, let us also remember the many ministers who gave their lives to the BCA and our sanghas. They worked tirelessly to encourage support and to help us see the Great Compassion that shines upon us all equally and continually in their lifetimes and in our lifetimes.” 

In his lifetime, he said he’s seen human suffering — mass shootings, the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, government corruption, famines, civil unrest, wars and many natural disasters.

“In the midst of all this, we still want each other to be happy,” he said. “Suffering and sorrow continue to be in our lives, it continues to touch our lives. We watch the news and the sorrow around us and then we go back to our comfortable lives and we move on until it hits us close to home. We shake our heads in disbelief and then we move on with our lives. We’ve become so self-absorbed that we find ways to move on. We quickly move on. We like our lives to be expedient. We’re doing this with our memorials and our funerals as well. We want to keep moving on and then we are not able to see the truth of life and the thought of this causes us anxiety and guilt.

“So, in other words, once we’re past our troubles, it’s easy to forget the favor of others and what they’ve done for us, even though they were of great help and assistance to us,” Rev. Shinseki continued. “This is the definition of ‘bonno.’

“Shinran said, ‘Though we may believe ourselves to be of the right Dharma age, we are fools, ‘bonno,’ deep in afflicting passions and utterly without a mind of purity or truth. How can we awaken the aspiration for enlightenment? We imagine that this is the age when we can hear the Nembutsu and it’s a perfect teaching for ourselves. Can we comprehend it? Can we fulfill it? We are but the least capable and most ignorant of common persons and have nothing of the heart of purity and truth.”

Rev. Shinseki said through Shinran’s life and his teachings, “we all have the opportunity to experience stability and peace of mind now in this life.

“Amidst all this chaos, we have the opportunity to awaken to truth in this life, you and me, with all my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual limitations,” he continued. “I may encounter infinite and boundless life. That sounds very nice, but think about it. Who needs stability? Who needs peace of mind? How many of you out there experience anxiety over the effects of your thoughts, words and actions, anxiety over the world events around us, about corruption in government? How many of you worry that you’re not understood, not loved? If you answer ‘yes’ to any of those, then you need peace of mind. We ordinary human beings cannot see the pure Dharma, so we must board the ship of the Nembutsu.”

Rev. Shinseki pointed to the impact of technology on our lives — “some good, and some not so good.

“In Shinran’s time, death and famine and war was in your face,” he said. “Today, technology allows us to meet virtually. And if what I say is not compelling, not interesting or not humorous, they’re going to be pulling out their phones, checking Facebook or checking whatever they check and not really being focused on what’s being said. 

“So, the distractions that we’ve created prevent us from seeing the truth in life,” Rev. Shinseki said. “We cannot have the total experience online. We cannot smell the incense burning here, we cannot get a feel for this beautiful Onaijin and the sights and sounds with our natural eyes.”

The danger of distractions, he said, is that they lead to deluded thoughts and distract us from what is true and what is real and create complacency.

“And it is complacency that allows megalomaniacs to take away our freedoms, to take away our civil rights,” he said. “When that happens, our right to religious freedom being taken away is not far away.

“At some point, we have to say ‘no’ and protect our rights to pursue happiness and love whomever we wish to love and be our true and real selves,” he said. “We have to stand united as a BCA — the BCA President, Bishop and all the ministers. It is our job to protect our members, especially our LGBTQIA+ members. 

(LGBTQIA+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual. The additional “+” stands for all of the other identities not encompassed in the short acronym.) 

“Shinran Shonin believed the Nembutsu teaching to be intended for everyone and he protected the right to practice the Nembutsu,” he said. “He stood for religious freedom and was exiled and stripped of his titles.”

Rev. Shinseki said the truth is not found in distractions.

“The truth is found within oneself,” he said. “Jodo Shinshu is about looking deep within the self.”

He reflected on his life and his message turned into a personal confession. 

“Since my retirement in June, I’ve had the time to reflect on my 73 years of life, my 30-some years of ministry,” he said. “My life is full and I feel fulfilled and I’m very fortunate. Over the years of my life, I made a lot of mistakes, caused a lot of pain, caused a lot of anxiety, and I try to convince myself that I have made up for them, but not really. And to those who have been wronged, to those who I have caused both pain and suffering, I’m truly sorry. But it’s not enough to say I’m sorry. Thankfully, the Dharma has allowed me to learn about myself as I reflect on my life.”

“I call this the three ‘Ds’ — desire, deception and discovery. Our desire is to hold on to things, to hold on to our careers, hold on to people, hold on to possessions, hold on to false images of the self. And in our desire to hold on, we lie, we cheat, we deceive and fool ourselves. 

“Eventually and hopefully, as we mature in age, we discover the self that Amida has selected to be saved. Shakyamuni Buddha called them “icchantika,” one who has evil desire, one who has cut the roots of goodness, one who has no need of attaining Buddhahood. It is for these icchantikas that the Primal Vow of Nembutsu is directed.” 

He said the theme of the NCM was “A Promise Shared,” and he elaborated on the theme.

“Our past ministers and past members — they shared the Dharma with us through their sermons, through their friendship, through their sacrifices and through their deaths.

“Our peace of mind can be found within the anxieties that we create for ourselves. As I said before, when our thoughts are directed toward the Pure Land of Amida, we become more conscious of this life and what we have received. This is why we listen to the Buddha’s teachings and that’s why we say Namo Amida Butsu. We listen to the Buddha’s teachings to cultivate the mind that realizes everything we do. One step, one smile, one frown, one thought affects my life and is taking effect upon my life and the lives of others right now.

“When we recite Namo Amida Butsu … it is to express the realization that I, with all my physical and mental limitations, have been embraced by infinite and boundless life. And this is expressed as Namo Amida Butsu. This is the promise of Amida that he shared with us today.”