Shinran Shōnin, founder of Jōdō Shinshū, was given the posthumous title “Kenshin,” which can be seen in the frame above the altar area.
This honorific title, bestowed by the Emperor Meiji, can be translated as “Seer of Truth” but during his life he preferred to be known as “Gutoku Shinran” or “Shinran the stubble-headed foolish one.”
Shinran Shōnin emphasized the all-inclusive, non-disciminatory, all-compassing nature of the Shin Buddhist teaching of Amida Buddha’s great compassionate vow to save all beings, beginning with foolish, self-centered, unexceptional people with all-too-human limitations.
It is said there are 84,000 paths to the Buddha-Dharma, thus I am profoundly grateful that Great Compassion guided this fool to the Path of Namo Amida Butsu at precisely the right moment in an unrepeatable life.
JUST SAY MAHALO® 