Practitioner’s Episode 3 - "What roles do rituals and artwork play in Shingon Buddhism?" With Rev. Kosho Finch
Carving the Divine TV Podcast
English - January 13, 2021 16:00 - 56 minutes - 39.2 MBBuddhism Religion & Spirituality buddhism buddha japan japanese buddhism busshi dalai lama religion spirituality history japanese history Homepage Download Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Hosted by filmmaker Yujiro Seki, Carving the Divine TV is a series of Q&A sessions with Buddhist scholars and practitioners. These Q&A sessions explore the basic concepts of Buddhism, the history of Buddhism and of course Buddhist sculptures/sculptors (bustuzo/busshi) so that when viewers finally watch the documentary Carving the Divine - Buddhist sculptors of Japan, they will get the maximum value of the documentary.
Many people have told me that they enjoyed our first interview video about Shigon Buddhism with Rev. Ryuzen Hayashi (https://youtu.be/i3lJeC85THs) and want to learn more about the topic. Because of its esoteric nature, it can be difficult to find easy-to-understand information about this subject. So for our viewers, we have decided to do another practitioner’s episode of Shingon Buddhism. Shingon Buddhism utilizes many rituals and artwork in their practice; it can sound a little bit confusing if you have never had any experience. But, these aspects are exactly what make Shingon Buddhism fascinating! Today, we have invited Rev. Kosho Finch from Henjyoji Shingon Buddhist Temple from Portland, Oregon. We are going to dissect the roles, rituals and artwork in Shigon Buddhism one step at a time!
We will be asking important questions such as:
What exactly are the esoteric practices (Mikkyo)?
What are Shingon rituals? What is the purpose of the rituals?
What is Goma ritual (Fire ritual)?
What is Saito Goma?
What is the purpose of artwork in Shingon Buddhism?
What are mandalas? What are Taizokai and Kongokai mandala?
What is the role of Butsuzo (Buddhist statuary) in the Shigon rituals and other situations?
Rev. Kosho George Finch is a Shingon Buddhist priest at Henjyoji Shingon Buddhist temple in Portland, Oregon. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Rev. Finch attended Michigan State University where he studied International Relations and East Asian Languages, and later Willamette University College of Law. Rev. Finch began his Shingon training at Northern California Koyasan Temple. He received tokudo, novice ordination in 2000, and final ordination in 2006. He has served as an assistant minister with various Shingon temples in America and became head minister of Henjyoji Shingon Buddhist Temple since 2019.