February 14, 2023  NOTE:  In this is a special guest article by temple member and friend, Linda Tanaka who lives in North Idaho, reflects on interconnection and all the relationships, causes, and conditions that make life in the country possible. Greetings from North Idaho or as my brother, David, calls it ‘the wilderness’.  Our fall season was short lived.  Snow arrived before Thanksgiving and didn’t let up until Christmas.  We were doing snow management for days in a row.  Toss in having to buy a new snow blower before Christmas and a low of...

January 02, 2023 New Years Day Dharma Message 2023 "I hope that everyone will, deeply entrusting themselves to the  nembutsu and firmly embracing prayers [for peace in the world] in their hearts, together say the nembutsu."  (From the Collected Works of Shinran p. 560)   Happy New year! Happy 2023!  Akemashite Omededou Gozaimasu 今年もよろしくお願いします On December 31, members and friends joined us online from around the country for our New Year's Eve Joya No Kane service.  Traditionally for this service the temple bell is rung 108 times. Because of the temple...

December 15, 2022   A special guest article by temple member and friend Melody Smit During November’s BWA memorial service (which I was able to attend remotely by Zoom from my new home in South Carolina) I was reminded of so many wonderful memories and ladies that I love in the temple and the many Nisei ladies that were so wonderful to me.  They took me under their wing, showed the ins & outs of temple life, and made it possible for me to be a true member of IOBT.   Photo: Several of our Buddhist Women's Association Members with Rev. Dennis taken in 2016 During...

November 12, 2022 The past couple years, I’ve spent a lot of time in doctors’ offices and hospitals. Mostly that was with my mother, who died earlier this year after a long series of illnesses.  But I’ve also had some issues with my own stomach/digestion--likely the result of my own aging and the stress of helping care for my mother, grieving her death, and managing the estate.  I am sure many of you have been through similar challenges and I know that, as Buddhism teaches, life is full of challenges like this. A central teaching of Buddhism is that sickness, old age, and...

October 15, 2022 Photo: 1958 Northwest Convention (Left Half)      Photo: 1958 Northwest Convention (Right Half) NOTE:  Feel free to leave the names of folks you recognize in our comments section! This summer has been a whirlwind. We started with the promise of in-person services inside our temple. That changed with the July 8th fire, but we adapted and moved outdoors to hold services under the awning in the parking lot. Along with all the work to inspect and assess the damage of the fire, we had to plan for a convention. No one from IOBT gave any thought to canceling...

September 26, 2022 Editor's Note:  In this guest blog Melody Smit, a long-time resident of Idaho and member of IOBT, shares her thoughts on Buddhism and her recent move to South Carolina I am so pleased to be writing to you but I do not come to you as a minister's assistant or a scholar of Shin Buddhist teachings, but as a fellow member of Idaho-Oregon Buddhist Temple (IOBT) who would like to share with you some of my thoughts and experiences.  Some of you may know that I recently moved from Southwestern Idaho--where I enjoyed membership at IOBT--to South Carolina.     I...