Kenji Sensei Quoted in San Diego Union Tribune on Increase in Asian Violence
Our Temple’s Rev. Dr. Kenji Akahoshi is quoted in a recent commentary on the plight of Anti-Asian violence in San Diego.
The Rev. Kenji Akahoshi, resident minister of the Buddhist Temple of San Diego, was 2 weeks old when his family was taken to one such [World War II relocation] camp. His father lost his grocery store in San Jose, along with the family’s home and other belongings.
“The struggle for equality is long and difficult, as other minority communities have experienced,” says Akahoshi, who was a dentist before becoming a Shin minister. “Some progress has been made, but there is a long way to go.”
The answer?
“Ignorance and hate must be balanced by wisdom and compassion,” he says. “Wisdom involves the seeking of truth. One meaning of compassion is to open ourselves up to feel the experience of another.”
Kenji Sensei is among many Asian-American clerics quoted in the article, and is joined by at least one more Buddhist. Comments also appear from Sister Dang Nghiem, a Zen Buddhist nun at Deer Park Monastery in Escondido Sister D noted that seeds of discrimination and racism need to be watered for them to flourish, and laments comments from former President Trump and others that have done just that.
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