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RACIST LIKE ME
(originally broadcast on KZOO radio, AM1210, Honolulu, October 18, 2025) “Aloha! My name is Kerry and I’m a racist.” Which is ironic because I grew up as a “JAP” in Los Angeles of the 60s and 70s, and then lived in Japan for two decades. I was born the second son of second-generation Japanese Nisei…
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When the Winds of Impermanence Blow…in Your Face!
Anicca, the Truth of Impermanence, is one of the Three Marks of Existence, the key Truths taught by Gautama Buddha, the historical Buddha who lived more than 2500 years ago. We all understand, in an abstract sense, all things arising from causes and conditions are anicca “inconstant,” “impermanent” or “all things change”, “nothing stays the…
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Be True to Yourself, Be NamoAmidaButsu!
“Saying the Name is in itself mindfulness; mindfulness is the nembutsu; the nembutsu is Namu-amida-butsu.” —Shinran-shōnin (1173-1263), Passages on the Pure Land Way Collected Works of Shinran, Vol. 1, p. 296 “Be true to yourself” is a fashionable expression of the philosophy of not worrying about pleasing other people, living up to someone else’s standards,…
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Reality-as-it-is vs. Reality-as-My-Ego-Wants
Barkley the Dog and Lucy the Lady Bug present the Children’s Dharma Story Time book, “Who Pooped on Me?” by written by David Cunliffe and illustrated by Ivan Barbera. Which is a tough act to follow but I do my best by exploring the idea of “reality” from a “self”-centered human perspective, and “reality-as-it-is,” which…
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“What can I do” during times of disaster?
The practice of ‘o-mimai ‘ as an Expression of Caring (PHOTO CREDIT: Matthew Thayer / The Maui News / Associated Press) As the impact of the wildfires on Maui becomes clearer each day, the all-too-human response is to become overwhelmed emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually, to be frozen into the anxiety of inaction. We are horrified,…
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Just Bon Dance Like a Fool!
“Persons of the Pure Land tradition attain birth in the Pure Land by becoming their foolish selves.” —Shinran Shōnin, quoting his great teacher Hōnen Shōnin, founder of Jōdo-shū, in Lamp for the Latter Ages, Fascicle 6, CWS, Vol 1, page 531 Did you know the English phrase “bon dance” is unique to Hawaii? In Japan,…
JUST SAY MAHALO® 