Practitioner’s Episode 9 - Shin Buddhism 2 "What are Practical Buddhism and Truth Level Buddhism?" with Rev. Marvin Harada

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 and the history of Buddhism so that when viewers finally watch Carving the Divine they will get the maximum value of the documentary.  

I’m excited to announce that we have another practitioner’s episode of Shin Buddhism.  We have the honor of welcoming a bishop of Buddhist Churches of America (BCA), the Rev. Marvin Harada, onto the show!  Just in case you missed the first practitioner episode of Shin Buddhism (True Pure land/Jodo Shin Shu) episode with Rev. Kenji Akahoshi, please check it out before you watch the episode with Rev. Harada.  To have your own a-ha moment in this episode, you might need a little bit of background information about Shin Buddhism.  Please refer to our previous episode,  Practitioner’s Episode 8 - "What is Shin (Jodo Shinshu/True Pure land) Buddhism?" With Rev. Kenji Akahoshi.  Also here is the link to the episode with Rev. Akahoshi on YouTube: https://youtu.be/QiXoVaxDCDE.
 
So today Rev. Harada will address "Practical Buddhism and Truth Level Buddhism," and as a subtopic how Buddhism helps us to resolve the matter of life and death.  Sounds interesting, doesn’t it?  Many of us start learning Buddhism to improve the quality of our lives.   In other words, many of us are more interested in how Buddhism helps us in our daily lives in a practical sense rather than thinking about seriously achieving enlightenment and stuff. 
 
But to truly experience Buddhism and get the benefit of Buddhism we need to go beyond “Practical Buddhism” and reach “Truth Level Buddhism.”  How can we achieve that?  Well, Rev. Harada will give us the taste of that in the Shin Buddhist way!  You never know, you might even get a hint of how to overcome fear of death itself!

Rev. Marvin Harada was born and raised in Eastern Oregon on a family farm.  He attended the Idaho Oregon Buddhist Temple in his youth.  He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Religious Studies.  Following that, he attended and graduated from the Institute of Buddhist Studies, and then went on to Japan and studied for five years, for two years at Chuo Bukkyo Gakuin, and three years at Ryukoku University, completing a Masters Degree.  He was assigned to the Orange County Buddhist Church in 1986 and served there until April of this year when he became the Bishop of the Buddhist Churches of America.