Join Our Live Gotan-E Service on Zoom
We welcome Rev. Dennis “Jay” Hosei Shinseki to be our guest speaker for our Gotan-E service.
Gotan-E is our annual observance to express our gratitude for the birth and life of Shinran Shonin. This major service will be presented as a live Zoom event (with video recordings) to allow us to join in real time and as a community to share our thanks for the Shin teachings.
Best of all, Sangha members will be able to meet and catch up in breakout rooms of other Sangha members.
Log in early (9:45 a.m.) for a slideshow of images of Shinran Shonin at our Temple and around the world.
About Shinran
Shinran Shonin (1173-1262) is the founder of our Jodo Shinshu sect. In our annual calendar we hold major services both celebrating his birth (Gotan-E) and in holding his memorial (Ho-onko). His birthday celebration is sometimes also called Fujimatsuri or Wisteria Festival. The Wisteria flower represents our sect and is based on the mon or family crest of Shinran's family. This is why you see the wisteria image across Temples in our national organization, Buddhist Churches of America.
The Buddhist significance of the symbol is that while other flowers grow upwards on upright stalks, the wisteria hangs down expressing its humility. The symbol reminds us that in our true nature we can live a life of simple and modest gratitude.
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About Shinseki Sensei
Reverend Shinseki was born in Mountain View, California where he attended the Mountain View Buddhist Temple. He is a graduate of California State University with a Liberal Arts degree. He received his M.A. from the Institute of Buddhist Studies in 1978. He furthered his studies at the Chuo Bukkyo Gakuin(Central College of Buddhism) in Kyoto Japan from 1978 to1981. After receiving his ordination from the Nishi Hongwanji he returned to the United States and served at the Seattle Buddhist Temple, White River Buddhist Temple, Salinas Buddhist Temple and the Mountain View Buddhist Temple.
Reverend Shinseki is currently the resident minister of Monterey and Watsonville Buddhist Temples. He has been the supervising minister of Salinas from April 2020.