March 2025

   Also this year, with the coming of spring, the old cherry tree at the entrance of Shinmeizan has blossomed!

During this month of March, Shinmeizan welcomed many guests, among whom we wish to remember in a special way the following.

• Dr. Yvonne Dohna Schlobitten, Professor of History and Cultural Heritage of the Church at the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome, actively involved with the Center for Formation to Christian Meditation (CFMC), who traveled all the way from Rome to pay a visit to Shinmeizan, and who stayed with us for a week, from March 18 to March 24;

•  His Excellency Archbishop Felix Anthony Machado, Bishop Emeritus of Vasai (India) and President of the Committee for interreligious dialog of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), who was accompanied by Ven. Morioka Hideki of the Buddhist Temple Daiseion-ji of Wipperfürth (Germany), the Ven. Hara Onin, head of the Temple Choen-ji of Kumamoto (Japan), both belonging to the Nichiren Buddhist tradition, and by Mr. Thupten Rinchen, of Tibetan origin, former cooperator of the Myokenkaku-ji Temple of Osaka (Nichiren Buddhism).    

 Archbishop Machado was for nine years (1999-2008) Undersecretary of the then Pontifical Council (now Dicastery) for Interreligious Dialog and, in that position, had already visited Shinmeizan several times. Now, on the occasion of coming again to Japan, he once more visited Shinmeizan, staying with us for three days on March 28-30.  

Among the activities of interreligious dialog, during the month of March, particularly meaningful for us have been:

• On March 2, the 102nd meeting of the “Group for Interreligious Dialog of Kumamoto”, led by Shinmeizan, with a visit to the Choen-ji Buddhist Temple (Nichiren Buddhism) of Kumamoto,

• And on March 14, an interview (via zoom) by the journalist Guglielmo Gallone of the vatican daily L’Osservatore Romano, in view of an article to be published soon on this newspaper.