• This event has passed.

« All Events

The Power of Choice

August 4 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am PDT

YouTube player

Choices guide the manner in which we walk the path of Dharma. Can we use suffering to build joy? Can we turn the obstacles in our lives into good medicine for our growth?

Prayer

Nama Butsu, Nama Hou, Nama Sou
We honor our teachers, our teachings, and our communities,
Knowing that as we do so, we connect with that sacred center within each of us
that is the home of our deliverance from suffering.
It is our place of belonging, our place of unity, of communion, of oneness—
it is the Buddha nature which we all aspire to awaken.
It is the one Buddha mind that uplifts, supports, nurtures and encompasses us all.
 
As we unite together in oneness, each reflecting upon our own lives
and hearing the stories of other lives,
we come to a place of understanding our common ground and our sameness
and we release the suffering we have caused ourselves and others.
This moment is a change in our thinking, our behavior, our voices—
we come together in this truth—there is no separation between us.
 
Our participation today, is the beginning of a new way of showing up,
a new understanding of well considered causes,
in recognition that we are interconnected and that all our actions have impact,
and always we are one.
The truth of this recognition fuels every moment of intentional interaction
as we walk forward together on this day.
 
We are grateful for our awareness of our oneness in the Dharma;
we are grateful to know that we are victorious in our efforts for seeking awakening;
we are grateful to be alive to have each and every opportunity to transform our lives;
we are grateful that our hearts are a place of prayer;
always mindful, always intent on walking this path of liberation.
 
Each of our voices is a song of liberation;
together we form a chorus of awakening that lifts us all out of suffering.
This is our truth—we are the Buddha’s children,
we are the emissaries of love and compassion.


Teacher Bio

Myokei Caine-Barrett currently holds the position of Bishop of the Nichiren Shu Buddhist Order of North America.  She is the first woman and the first American to hold this position.  She is also the first American woman and first person of African American-Japanese descent to be fully ordained, having completed this process in 2007 with  Archbishop Nissho Uchino  in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan.   She is the guiding teacher and resident priest at Myoken-ji Temple in Houston, Texas.

 

Myokei Shonin continues to volunteer with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as clergy to two prison Sanghas for the past 16 years in keeping with the Lotus Sutra teaching of full equality of all beings.  Her writings have been published in a variety of Buddhist magazines [Tricycle, Lion’s Roar] and newspapers [Nichiren Shu News] and is featured in “The Hidden Lamp: Stories from Twenty-Five Centuries of Awakened Women.” She is currently developing curriculum for (1) the Nichiren Shu tradition and the Lotus Sutra and (2) dealing with the trauma of incarceration and racism.

 

She also supports weekend trainings for Healing Warrior Hearts, a Texas for Heroes project designed to truly welcome veterans home. Myokei Shonin is a facilitator in dialogues on racism and managing conflict mindfully. She is also a licensed Religious Science practitioner.

Details

Date:
August 4
Time:
10:00 am - 11:00 am PDT
Event Category:

Teacher

Myokei Caine-Barrett

Related Events