Wednesday, September 15, 2010

October - November Meetings - Revisions

Because we had to have a replacement meeting for September, the original schedule for September/October will be shifted to October/November (barring further emergencies)


Next fellowship meetings : International House (Roppongi) 3:00 Second Sunday of Month

October 10th Stan Yukevich will present on 'Raymond Aron and Enlightened Pragmatism'

November 14th Peggy Kanada --Liberal Religions and World Peace-- Where does the Dalai Lama fit?

Supplemental note:
Raymond Aron was a French philosopher, journalist and political scientist. He is discussed in "The burden of responsibility: Blum, Camus, Aron, and the French twentieth century" by Tony Judt

Peggy attended a lecture of the Dalai Lama earlier this year, and may get another chance at one of the conferences she is attending in India.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Religious Education for Children - New Sept speaker

Our scheduled speaker for September had to postpone, but we are very happy to have an interesting replacement. The topic for September 12th at the International House in Roppongi will be:

"The Spiritual Lives of Children: Biblical, Unitarian and Buddhist Perspectives"?

The biblical Book of Proverbs says: "Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old he will not depart from it." [Proverbs 22:6] But how much and what kind of religious education should we give children? Can we give children a religious training without indoctrinating them unduly, depriving them of freedom as adults? These questions are faced today by Buddhists as well as by Unitarians and members of biblical faiths. What kind of religious education have Buddhist groups provided, and what are they thinking about religious education today? What do we ourselves think? Prof. Miriam Levering of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee and International Advisor to Rissho Kosei-kai will give a short talk and facilitate a discussion on this topic.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

September October Meetings

Next fellowship meetings : International House (Roppongi) 3:00

September 12 Stan Yukevich will present on'Raymond Aron and Enlightened Pragmatism'

October 10th Peggy Kanada --Liberal Religions and World Peace-- Where does the Dalai Lama fit?

Supplemental note:
Raymond Aron was a French philosopher, journalist and political scientist. He is discussed in "The burden of responsibility: Blum, Camus, Aron, and the French twentieth century" by Tony Judt

Peggy attended a lecture of the Dalai Lama earlier this year, and may get another chance at one of the conferences she is attending in India.

Lunch with Peter Morales, UU President



In late August, Peter Morales, newly elected president of the Unitarian Univeraslists visited Tokyo with his wife and several members of our dicussion group gathered to have sushi with him in the Ginza. Peter was elected president of the global organization in 2009 works out of a historic building in Boston. However, was on a round the world to trip to visit Japan, the Philippines and India. The spread of the Internet is helping to spread interest around the world and he said headquarters is frequently being contacted by groups around the world, some which have become quite sizable. (Our little discussion group is not there yet). In India he will participate in various International religious conferences.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

June speaker - Azby Brown on Living Green in Edo

Dear friends and members of the Unitarian fellowship,
At our May meeting we had an interesting talk with great visuals presented by fellowship member, Chuck Olson, on the topic of "Uncertainty". He anchored his philosphical exploration with his story of growing up in the desert, with casinos and open air nuclear testing, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Next meeting:
June 13th, International House 3:00-5:00

Our speaker will be Azby Brown, originally from Louisiana with degrees from Yale and Todai, architect.
He is now director of the Future Design Institute (field of Media Informatics) , at Kanazawa Institute of Technology.
He is also the author of a new book (which he illustrated) from Kodansha, "Just Enough: Lessons in Living Green from Traditional Japan".
His topic will be: ' The Edo approach to acheiving sustainability.'

The September fellowship meeting (Sept 12) WILL BE AT International House.
Our tentative speaker is Stan Yukevich, fellowship member.

Peggy Kanada, moderator

PS Because our new Unitarian member Miram Levering will be giving a lecture on Buddhism on July 11th (all interested are invited), the date for Peggy's OPEN HOUSE and Pot Luck has been changed to JULY 4TH (Sunday).
Please let me know if that date is NOT good for you.
Details about the Pot Luck will follow once the date is reconfirmed.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

May Topic - Life with Uncertainty

Life and Uncertainty

“For our May 9th speaker, Chuck Olson will be talking about Thoughts on Life with Uncertainty. It will be based on lessons learned from being raised in the desert, exposed to casinos, atomic bomb tests, magic (sleight of hand), hypnosis and the 60’s in general, as well as a career as a journalist, teacher, engineering assistant, stock analyst and CFO, and insights picked up during 35 years in Japan.”

The meeting will be held as usual at the International House in Roppongi from 3-5 p.m. with the usual dinner afterwards for those who want to join. Everyone is welcome.

In April, several members enjoyed the beautiful weather, singing and dancing at the International Hanamatsuri of the Rissho Kosei-kai, with Bonnie's Gospel singing sharing the outdoor stage with singers and dancers from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and Gene Reeves gave the Darma Talk. It was a beautiful day to celebrate a birthday, the Buddha's or anyone else's.

Moderator Peggy Kanada

Friday, April 9, 2010

Easter Reminder - Hanamatsuri

Dear Unitarian Fellowship members and friends,

Greetings at Easter-time, may it be a time of renewal and hope for you.

April 11th (Sunday) Hanamatsuri
(Ceremony and festival for world peace in celebration of the birth of the historic Buddha, Shakyamuni)

Sponsored by International Buddhist Congregation of Rissho Kosei-kai (all in English),
------several South Asian Buddhists will also join, Rev. Gene Reeves will speak
------our member Bonnie McClure plans to sing
Lunch and cultural activities (all free, with a donation)

From 11:00
Former Risshokai Headquaters, 1-15-1 Wada, Suginami-ku,
Place: 5 minutes from Nakano-Fujimi-cho station on Marunouchi Subway Line (about ten minutes from Shinjuku)
Be sure to take the train to Honan-cho NOT THE TRAIN FOR OGIKUBO (change at Saka-no-ue)

No meeting at International House in April.

Out next meeting will be May 9th, 3,00 at International House

Peggy Kanada, moderator Unitarian Fellowship of Tokyo

Sunday, February 28, 2010

The Nature Of Qi (Ki) March 14 at Intl House, Roppoing

March 14th 3:00 at International House (4th fl seminar room)
Speaker: Dr. Yamamura "The Nature Of Qi (Ki)"

YAMAMURA Masaichi taught biochemistry at Tokai U Medical school from 1981 until his retirement last year. Besides being a medical doctor, with another degree in pharmacology from Osaka Univ., he rec'd a Phd from the Univ of London where his research included bone transplantation. His talk will be an intellectually stimulating introduction to scientific research that touches on alternative Asian medicine, aging, and mind/body connections.
Please invite a friend or student to join us.

NOTE: In April there will be NO MEETING at 3:00 at International House.
Instead we will be guests of the International Buddhist Congregation in a celebration of Buddha's birthday (Hanamatsuri)
Sunday April 11th 11:00 Service (in English)
Followed by lunch and cultural programs (including a tea ceremony,activities for children, music)
Place: Original Main Hall (and co-founders garden) Rissho Kosei-kai
5 mins from Nakano-Fujimicho station on Marunouchi subway line (about 15 mins from Shinjuku)

Camii Mosque Visit February 21, 2010




On Feb 21 Fellowship and CWAJ members and other guests (38 people) joined Vivek Pinto to visit the Turkish founded Camii Mosque (in Yoyogi-Uehara). The new building (rebuilt in 2000) is a beautiful example of Turkish/Ottoman style dome architecture and calligraphic decoration. Imam Yenturk spoke eloquently about the practices and beliefs of Islam, emphasising the non-violent and humane teachings of the faith. We were fortunate to have Nadia El Borai (a CWAJ member) and a practicing Muslim originally from Egypt to add her insightful perspective to our question and answer session, chaired by Vivek who had also prepared and made copies of an excellent reference/glossary for us.

By Peggy Kanada, moderator

Women and religion - February topic

Our February fellowship meeting hosted the Rev. Gene Reeves who spoke about women in Buddhism. He started with foundational Buddhism and "female monks" who were important in the centuries after the historic Buddha Shakyamuni taught. There were many historic and cultural reasons for continuing discrimination against women both in religious orders and among Buddhist laity. However he pointed out the inclusive and non-discriminatory message of the Lotus Sutra (despite certain passages)--that all can be bodhisattvas of compassion and achieve enlightenment-- within Mahayana teachings.

Total Pageviews