Koloa Jodo Mission - Buddhist Temple Since 1910
We mourn the loss of our former Bishop Dwight Ryokan Nakamura who passed away in March 23, 2015 in North Carolina. Bishop Nakamura was a man of virtue, humble, wise and knowledge. Also he was fluent both in Japanese and in English and his sermons were always inspiring. Above all, he was a Nembutsu devotee, who dedicated his life to spread teachings of our Master Honen.
Born in 1926 in Aichi Prefecture. After he graduated from Nagoya University, he was assigned to be a minister of Hawaii Jood shu in 1954. His English name"Dwight" was named after Dwight D. Eisenhower who was a US President at that time. From 1983 to 1993, he served as a Bishop of Hawaii Council of Jodo Missions. Then he served as a head priest of a historic temple of Daijuji in Aichi. In 2003, he returned to Hawaii as a Bishop again till he retired in 2007.
Bishop Nakamura left us many wonderful achievements such as some English translations of words of Master Honen, Otsutome book, statues of Jizo Bodhisattvas , scholarship fund and so on. But I think the most great thing was his efforts and enthusiasm to establish a new system to bring up American Jodo shu ministers. He believed teaching of Jodo shu is not for Japanese alone. It should be open to anybody. He dreamed to have some local American ministers at Jodo shu temples in Hawaii.
I believe my good prayer to Bishop Nakamura would be to take over his dream. Thank you very much, Bishop Nakamura. Namu Amida Butsu
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Gary Link (Wednesday, 25 March 2015 07:06)
Dear Ishikawa Sensei,
I am deeply saddened to hear about the loss of Bishop Nakamura. In the past ten years since I have been involved in Jodo Shu, I have heard a great many good things about him, and especially recently by talking with Leonard Chow. His Otsutome book and Words of Master Honen were groundbreaking due to them being published in English, and his translations were both subtle and profound. I am very glad to hear that you will carry on his vision. Namu Amida Butsu.