Practitioner’s Episode 2 - "What is Shingon Buddhism?" With Rev. Ryuzen Hayashi

Hosted by filmmaker Yujiro Seki, Carving the Divine TV Podcast is a series of Q&A sessions with Buddhist scholars and practitioners. These Q&A sessions explore the basic concepts of Buddhism and the history of Buddhism so that when listeners finally watch the documentary film "Carving the Divine - Buddhist Sculptors of Japan" they will get the maximum value of the documentary.  In this special episode, we will have a Shingon Buddhist priest, Rev. Ryuzen Hayashi at the Koyasan Beikoku Betsuin temple in Los Angeles to discuss the basic concept of Shingon Buddhism.

We will ask important questions such as:

1. What is Shingon Buddhism?  What is the core teaching of Shingon Buddhism?
2. How is Shingon Buddhism related to Tibetan Buddhism?  
3. Who is Kukai?
4. What is Koyasan?
5. What is Dainichi Nyorai (Sanskrit: Mahāvairocana Buddha) ?
6. What is Okyo (Sutra)? What is Dainichi Kyo?
7. What is Goma Ritual?
8. What is Fudo Myoo?
9. Why is Shingon Buddhism is called esoteric Buddhism?  What is so esoteric about it?
10. Why does Shingon have different kinds of Buddhist statues?

Rev. Ryuzen Hayashi is a Shingon Buddhist priest at the Koyasan Beikoku Betsuin temple in Los Angeles. Born in Kyusyu, Japan, he graduated from Shu-chi-in University, the oldest university in Japan. In Koyasan, Japan, Rev. Hayashi studied to become a Shingon esoteric Buddhist priest. Rev. Hayashi joined the Los Angeles Koyasan in 2012, the temple’s centennial anniversary.