The Youth Are the Present

As part of the BCA’s National Council closing program on March 2, the Bay District arranged to have two young Jodo Shinshu Buddhists, KC Mukai and Zora Uyeda-Hale, discuss the future of the BCA.  

We often put the weight of the future on the shoulders of our young people — and I am just as guilty of this. I believe it was Zora who said the youth are not just the future of the BCA — but are part of the present.  

I really thought that was a profound statement. The youth are the present. 

We older members (I am now 71) are also the present. Young children in Dharma School are also the present. We are also all collectively the future as well.

As a senior citizen, I can’t just pass the buck to the young people and say, “Well, it’s all up to you people.” I am part of the present and what I do in my remaining years of life will also have an impact on the future. It is part of my responsibility to nurture young people to be an integral part of the BCA’s future.  

Almost all of our churches and temples are lacking young people in our Sanghas, whether it is people in their 30s and 40s, college-age individuals. the YBA, or young Dharma School children.  

Maybe we have been guilty of not nurturing young people over the years.  Maybe my messages as a minister have not resonated with young people over the years. Maybe we have not presented the teachings in a way that connect and resonate with young people today.  

That must be our challenge, going forward. Listening to Zora and KC gave all of us much encouragement and a sense of hope that there will be other young people as involved as they are.

When I was in YBA, our longtime Jr. YBA adviser,  the late Connie Shimojima, kept bugging me to go to a summer session at the Institute of Buddhist Studies. Little did I know at that time that Connie Shimojima would become my father-in-law.  

Every year, Connie would receive a brochure in the mail about the IBS summer session. He would show it to me and say, “Hey, why don’t you go to this? It looks really interesting.”  

It was a monthlong session on Buddhism. I thought, “Wow, a whole month?” I kept putting him off every year, but he persisted. Finally, another young person at our temple, Kathy Chatterton, agreed to go as well, so I felt better about going. 

Both of us had a tremendous experience. It was one of the first stepping stones to my becoming a minister. Kathy went on to become a Minister’s Assistant, and received the first level of ordination, Tokudo. I doubt if either one of us would have attended the IBS session if it wasn’t for Connie Shimojima’s persistence and encouragement.  

My in-laws, Connie and Glo Shimojima, served as YBA advisers for 15 years or more. My own parents also served as YBA advisers. 

We have many YBA advisers who served for many years, nurturing hundreds of young people and who all have fond memories of their YBA days.  

As we look to the future of our temples and the BCA, may we remember that our young people are also the present, and that we too are also the present. 

We must do all we can to nurture our young people in the Buddha-Dharma while we have this life.