Midwest Buddhist Temple welcomes the new priest.

Mako Sasaki - Staff Reporter, The Chicago Shimpo, September 10, 2004

The new priest Rev. Bryan Siebuhr was assigned to the Midwest Buddhist Temple
on July 1 on the departure and promotion of Rev. Ogui to Bishop of the Buddhist
Churches of America in California.

Modest, discreet, gentle-mannered. Producing such an atmosphere, 45 year-old
Rev. Siebuhr started to talk about how he got into Buddhism at the age of 28.

According to Rev. Siebuhr, his original decision to become a priest was a very
self-centered feeling: to make his life work by studying Jodo Shinshu teachings
and keep learning it by being a priest. After years of study, he couldn't think of
a better way to live his life, he said.

Prior to his encounter with Buddhism, Rev. Siebuhr had been enjoying significant
opportunity and financial advantage as a space shuttle launch processing system
computer programmer at JFK space center, followed by a transfer to Vandenberg
Air Force Base in California.

In his next job as a computer programmer for a telecom company in Southern
California, Rev. Siebuhr had enjoyed a considerable promotion and enormous
increase in income.

Yet, he felt emptiness. "Even though I had a very fortunate life style, something
was very much missing within my life... Certainly income is completely disposable.
What remains?"

That was the moment Rev. Siebuhr started to seek the answer in religion, which
he despised.

Having a Japanese mother born in Japan believing in Tendaishu and a father who
was a 3rd generation German American without a religion, Rev. Siebuhr's religious
quest began with Christianity. But, it was not a good fit for him at that point in his life.

Rev. Siebuhr sought other means, and discovered Buddhism through the yellow pages.
Coincidentally, the Buddhist temple he found nearby was a Japanese American Buddhist
church.

When Rev. Siebuhr first came to the temple, he was genuinely touched by the teachings
of the Buddha in a way he never felt before.

With his upbringing in a Japanese American family, he realized, 6 months after the
1st attendance at the temple, that the cultural trappings of the temple also influenced
his feeling of sincerity about the teachings.

Rev. Siebuhr encountered a major enlightening experience there at the first Buddhist
temple. This particular Japanese American Buddhist temple had bad mood of not accepting
non-Japanese members. Despite his background as half-Japanese, he had difficulty coping
with people.

Rev. Siebuhr, getting tired of the prejudice, left the temple for several months. He returned
with more defined motivation for listening to the teachings, focusing on lectures, not being
bothered by others.

Rev. Siebuhr went back to school to study Japanese language and Jodo Shunshu teachings
in 1991, and in 1994, received his BA in Religious Studies from California State University,
Fullerton. He went to Kyoto to attend the Jodo Shinshu Seminary in 1996, when he was
37 year-old.

Rev. Siebuhr completed 1st and 2nd ordination training at Nishiyama Betsuin in Kyoto,
then received his 1st and 2nd ordinations from Jodo Shinshu Honganji-ha in 1998.

Rev. Siebuhr engaged in his 1st assignment at Watsonville, CA, with an idea, fresh out of
seminary, that he was going to "teach" Jodo Shinshu, in which a priest is not superior to
believers, and a priest and believers are to stand on the same ground, therefore, a priest
is not supposed to have a teacher-like attitude. The idea of "teaching", of course, pushed
people away.

Having people alienated and being bewildered by the difference between priests' customs
in Japan and ones in America, his 1st assignment was extremely difficult.

After learning from the 2-year experience at Watsonville, Rev. Siebuhr's 2nd assignment
at Marysville, CA, turned out to be his greatest experience.

At Marysville, he taught kindergarten through high school students all subjects as a part
time teacher in order to supplement his income. When he started teaching, he thought he
had to be perfectly compassionate and kind as a priest. He learned quickly, though, that
children would not have any respect for such a person.

With a 16-17% unemployment rate, the community was struggling with poverty. Many
of the children he taught were suffered from neglect, child abuse, and had cigarette burns
on their arms. Some were sexually abused. Some weren't wanted or loved by their parents.

Shockingly enough, Rev. Siebuhr had to teach 8th grade children how to brush their teeth.
Although sometimes society labels them as the worst kids, he felt they are the ones who
are the most receptive, and can be very open.

Working with children in the Marysville community taught him that one cannot always have
self-centered compassion. Sometimes one has to get in there and tell people forwardly and
very straight out, almost becoming angry to get the message across.

What made it more in Marysville was that the teachings truly lived within the hearts of all
the members in the Marysville temple community.

Rev. Siebuhr noted that true religion is in somebody's heart, which may not be necessarily
spoken, but exist in the everyday actions of everyday persons in everyday life, such as
sadness, bitterness, or happiness.

Living in Japan made him see that most Japanese feel they don't have to express their
religion or show the outward sign of having religion because "Religion is embedded within
the culture, the hearts and minds of Japanese people...True religion exists not necessarily
within a temple or church."

According to the new minister, the most important job in serving people is to "listen very
deeply." By listening to deeply what they say, he believes that one can hear the voice of
Buddha within those words.

Rev. Siebuhr says that even somebody most disagreeable, such as those who unfairly
complain too much, is Buddha for him. They reveal a great deal of truth about himself
who also complains, gets frustrated and angry, said Rev. Siebuhr.

When he was in Kyoto, Japan, Rev. Siebuhr saw a poster, saying "I want to become a
true Buddhist priest," on the wall of a Buddhist academy he attended. He never quite
understood what it meant.

The priest's greatest challenge in America is to understand what it means to be a true
Buddhist priest. He said humbly, "Hopefully I will become one someday."

This interview was conducted in his office at the MBT on August 27, 2004.

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