Welcome to the Toronto Buddhist Temple
Rev. Tomofumi Fujii
Welcome to the Toronto Buddhist Temple website.
Are you looking for an inner peace in this busy and stressful society? Here is the place where you can find an answer about a perfect peace of Nirvana through the Buddha’s Wisdom and Compassion. Our founder Shinran (1173 – 1263) believed peace and harmony can be found by encountering the Buddha Dharma as outlined in his letter,
We have shared his message to people all over the world.
We belong to the Jodo Shinshu Hongwanji Sect (Nishi Hongwanji) based in the city of Toronto. Our home town, Toronto is such a unique and wonderful city; in fact there are over 160 different nationalities and cultures living together harmoniously. This wonderful mix of nationalities and cultures provides us with religious diversity too. For example; there is a church, mosque and temple standing on the same street within a few blocks peacefully.
On top of that, there are about 90 different Buddhist temples and groups existing in the Greater Toronto Area. Our Jodo Shinshu School was founded in Japan over 800 years ago by Shinran Shonin, and this teaching was brought to Canada from Japan over 100 years ago. Our Toronto Buddhist Temple has been in Toronto for over 60 years which is the one of the oldest Buddhist groups in GTA.
However when you go through the entrance gate of our temple, it doesn’t matter what race or nationality you are, young or old, men or women, we are all equal from the Buddha’s infinite wisdom and boundless compassion. We are all Dharma friends in the same boat.
One of the sutras in the pure land school, called the Larger Sutra stated that
“Wherever the Buddha travels, be it country, province, town, or village, there is no place which does not benefit from his virtue. Peace and harmony reign throughout the land. The sun and the moon shine brightly, the wind and rain are timely, no disaster or disease ever occurs. The land is prosperous and the people live in peace, so there is no need to use soldiers and weapons. People respect virtue, cultivate benevolence, and diligently observe propriety and humility.”
I view this part of the sutra as; wherever the Buddha Dharma was transmitted, people will get an unfailing point of view about a life which means that it doesn’t matter rain or shine, good or bad day, we can accept and thank as a life goes. This view will bring perfect peace and harmony into the society, and as a result people do not need soldiers and weapons any longer.
Please experience and feel this dynamic and excellent teaching of Jodo Shinshu at the Toronto Buddhist Temple.
- April 2010
