Tuesday, September 1, 2009

New Assignments

A lot happened today with my training. First off, I went to see my AMU Counselor. It turns out I'm closer to my BA then I thought I was... which is always good news. I've decided to major in Asian Studies. It seems like it will work for both my military and religious career.

Next, I went to see Rev Kevin regarding my Tokudo training. He gave me A TON of stuff to work on. The first thing I have to do is start reading Monshu Ohtani's book "The Buddha's Wish For The World". For those that don't know, Monshu Koshin Ohtani is the highest religious leader in the Jodo Shinshu faith. He is also visiting Hawaii this week, so everyone is really excited. For more on the Monshu's book, check the links side-column. So, other than reading the book, I also have to start studying my Hiragana, which is like Japanese phonetics.

I'm also going to start contributing to our temple's quarterly publication "HOZO". I've been helping with the editing for some time now, but now I'm going to start contributing on a regular basis. I'm going to write a column in the newsletter about how a white person might view some of the overtly Japanese aspects of our religion. I'm thinking of calling the column, "The Hakujin Perspective", which I'm told means: "The White-boy Perspective"... or something to that affect. I think it's pretty much awesome!

Anyway, my plate is magically full, so I'm going to get started on all of that. Wish me luck!
Posted by at

5 comments:

  1. Goofy GrannySeptember 2, 2009 at 3:27 AM

    I wish you luck. I think one is happier with too much to do then too little. I think about you every day. Love Mom

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jessy BSeptember 2, 2009 at 3:43 AM

    Was it your Chinese tech school that got you so close to getting your bachelor's? It is nice that you are going through AMU, they are military afiliated/friendly. Most civilian colleges don't accept the majority of tech school training. Tell me how the book is and post your first article. I'm interested to see what the Hakujin perspective is.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Michael ShinyoSeptember 3, 2009 at 2:51 AM

    I just started reading The Buddha's Wish for the World. Enjoying it so far. Very down to earth and sensible.

    ReplyDelete
  4. HughSeptember 3, 2009 at 3:44 AM

    You can discuss the teachings found in The Buddha's Wish for the World on Facebook at: http://tinyurl.com/buddhaswishonfacebook.

    ReplyDelete
  5. ShaulaSeptember 5, 2009 at 11:53 AM

    I took Japanese at university and am now teaching my husband. He finds the free online courses at Smart.fm very useful.

    Here's the drill for hiragana: http://smart.fm/lists/24666-hiragana

    I hope it is helpful to you!

    Best wishes. Ganbatte kudasai!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)