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54 EASTERN HORIZON | NEWS
From facebook.com
New York Buddhist Church
to Celebrate End of Year
with Online Offerings
By Justin Whitaker
The New York Buddhist Church (NYBC), a temple in and gather with friends and family,” said Rev. Earl
the Jodo Shinshu (True Pure Land) school of Japanese Ikeda, NYBC’ s resident minister, in a news release.
Buddhism, will present a series of online events “We decided to create an online presence that would
between 20 December and 1 January to celebrate bring people together to learn about the significance
the new year. Planned events include cultural of Japanese New Year’s traditions, and how Buddhism
demonstrations, workshops, readings, special services, influences different practices in the visual, literary, and
and musical performances by artists, educators, and performing arts. It is our wish to share this with the
religious leaders from the community. broader community in New York and beyond.”
The activities, focusing on Japanese culture, Japanese The first event will be on Sunday, 20 December at 1pm
American life, and Japanese Buddhism, will support EST, when leaders will give an online introduction to
fundraising for the temple. The celebrations in part the New York Buddhist Church, including its history,
welcome 2021, the year of the Ox in the lunar calendar activities, and connections with the community in
observed by many Asia cultures, which will be celebrated Manhattan.
from 12 February in traditional Asian settings.
“This holiday season is different from all others as Sunday, 27 December, 2pm EST: demonstration
we are confined to our homes and unable to visit of kadomatsu (gate pine) of the traditional Japanese
