The preceding keynote address was given by Dr. Doreen Nakahara Olsen at the Annual Hawaii Island Honpa Hongwanji Lay Members Association Convention hosted by Paauilo Hongwanji on Sunday, July 26, 1998 in Paauilo.

Good morning, everyone. It is a pleasure and honor to be here today to join you at your 37th Annual Hawaii Island Honpa Hongwanji Lay Members Association Convention.

Several months ago when I was invited to speak by Mrs. Faye Honma, your Programing  Chairperson, I accepted very quickly and almost too enthusiastically. I could not resist the opportunity to come home to be with family and friends and of course, to savor my mom's most delicious "nishime" that she makes whenever I come home to visit.

A few days after I accepted, I became nervous and was worried about my too quick acceptance. I guess reality set in. I wondered what worthwhile, provocative and entertaining message could I bring to all of you, people whom I care about and respect. Besides that, what inspiration could I share with you, knowing that many of you were my church inspirations many years ago? Added to that, I would have to say something pretty worthwhile because my morn and dad, my brother and his family would probably be in the audience. You know, your family can be your most honest and worst critics and honesty goes a long way in my family.

Well, I called Mrs. Honma and asked for help. Like the ever loyal and dedicated Sunday School teacher I remember, she was again efficient and most helpful. Mrs. Honma enlisted the assistance of Reverend Eric Matsumoto. Both Reverend Matsumoto and Mrs. Honma sent me lots of reading material. Reverend Matsumoto called the Honpa Hongwanji Bookstore and I was sent more books and documentation to read. Soon it became a mission for others to help.

It was like a whole community, some of whom I did not know but who knew you, had been assembled and called to assist. Because of your help, I am feeling very good about being here although I did take an 11-hour flight from Boston last night.

My message this morning is a very simple one and to relieve many of you, it is not too long. It is centered on the belief that we are each shaped by the people. who gave us life. Everything we are and all that we do can be traced in one way or another to early influences: parents, family, church, early childhood friends, adult models, one's home and one's community. In my case, I come home today as a middle-aged adult, fifty-years old, who is extremely grateful to those who have shaped my life. And in reflecting your theme for 1998, "Live the Dharma Ohana - In the Spirit of Rennyo Shonin," it is evident that you, the laity of this church are still continuing to influence the lives of those that surround you, young and old, and are concerned about the future of Jodo Shinshu in Hawaii.

This past summer I was at Harvard University completing a fellowship for world school leaders and during my studies had the opportunity to chat with Dr. Masatoshi Nagatomi, Professor of Buddhist Studies at Harvard, who has authored and lectured much about our traditions and religion. In my conversation with him, he shared with me some worry that our Hongwanji in Hawaii and throughout the world may be faced with decline in active membership.

I was caught off-guard in my conversation with Professor Nagatomi because I had always taken for granted the existence of my home church. It was where I grew up, where I attended Sunday School, where families had parties and where I expected my family would bury each other. There would always be the Kyodan, Dharma School, YBA, Seinen Kyodan, Kojukai, Fujinkai, active ministers and church friends. It would always be the "hub" for refuge, for our Nembutsu and for social gatherings. How could things change? Well, after my conversation with the sensei," I walked Harvard Square alone that night and gazed in isolation as I thought of the many changes that have occurred since I was a child.

Imagine in the 1950's when I grew up in Paauilo. Things moved a little slower. I met my "best" and closest friends, the Paauilo girls, at Sunday School every Sunday morning'. I did not appreciate my younger brother, Scott, accompanying me to church so often I would take my ojuzu," my $.25 offertory, and sneak out of the house so he wouldn't see. Of course, Scott was always a fast runner and he was always brighter than me so I could never be too much in front of him. Sunday School was preceded with "ono" malasadas from Nakashima Fountain. Scott and I got our malasadas and I don't think I ever paid for them, thinking that "charging" malasadas meant that my Mommy and Daddy would pay for it sometime later. The Nakashimas after all were part of our community and they were always welcoming.

At Sunday Service, we sat in rows, young and old. We learned to give our quarters at offertory time, and although quarters were "what we lived for," we learned that giving money to the church should be a habit. Sometimes, my mom reminded Scott and me that we should give a little more and spend less on ourselves.

In Sunday School, we learned very little about Rennyo Shonin. I suppose our Sunday School curriculum was based on knowing more about -Shinran Shonin, the founder of the Jodo Shinshu sect, our Amida Buddha and the Nembutsu. But Sunday School for me was a time to meet my best friends at church. There was no Sunday football on television to distract us and the Sunday morning church ritual was built in as a family habit. We were expected to go to church "ojuzu', and "quarter" in hand.

Ah. but I do remember a short lesson about Rennyo Shonin from Mr. Hisao Miyasaki, our Sunday School teacher. Mr. Miyasaki told us that Rennyo; the eighth head priest of Jodo Shinshu had five (5) wives, he outlived four (4) of them and had 27 children, 13 sons and 14 daughters (that I remembered and I was pretty astonished). I did not focus on Rennyo Shonin 's missionary and charismatic work that the lesson underscored. In fact, we Paauilo girls, joked among ourselves after our Sunday School discussion of Rennyo. I vividly remember this. We crafted a rather harmless but secret phrase, "Rennyo Shonin, the major father of Jodo Shinshu." He was a "major" father because he gave life to so many children. We did giggle a lot after Sunday School that day. Little did I realize that I would be called to task to talk about him 38 years later. Perhaps some of you would say that today is my "bachi" for being so cavalier as a youngster and for not being a serious Dharma student in my growing years.

But my preoccupation and dilemma this summer in preparation for today's address, has validated the importance of study of Rennyo Shonin. I am committed to reenergizing the work of our church because it has been a shaping force for us. This force must continue to shape the lives of many that will follow us. The story of Rennyo's leadership must be studied and again authenticated by the laity and clergy here in Hawaii. Rennyo's missionary spirit can positively affect the growth and sustenance of our Jodo Shinshu faith that considers Shinran its founder. Rennyo's genius as organizer, communicator and even restorer of our tradition is not mere folklore nor tall tale. He is remembered for his tireless efforts in restoring a church in decline. His work reaffirms that ordinary men and women, like us, can belong to a most powerful religious body. Research and history prove that he was most instrumental in reviving and renergizing our faith when it was in decline in Japan.

Your theme this year commemorates the five-hundredth memorial of Rennyo and explicitly articulates your mission of providing venues for promoting our religion here in Hawaii. The term OHANA appropriately suggests that we are a Hawaii community, a family of Shin Buddhists, most willing and passionate to share our religious life and traditions with those that surround us.

A look at religions of today suggests that many, many people in our world are moving away from organized faith. Busy lives, television, Sunday sports, the media and a multitude of excuses are given to priests, pastors and clergy as excuses for non-attendance and non-participation at church. Adult church membership is at a decline but the population of the world grows. Our seasoned Jodo Shinshu leaders are aging and will there be a community of passionate church leaders who will carry on what we believe to be the best tradition, culture and faith assurances?

And for us WHO are Shin Buddhists, we ask, "Who else can we can welcome to our temples? Who else will share our Nembutsu?

Many many residents of Hawaii have no church. They are the diverse and the multi-racial residents who inhabit our islands. They may be newly settled Caucasian mainlanders or new Far East emigrants. They may be neighbors in our towns and villages who understand the concept of community and who are looking for a special community of people of faith.

We could share Jodo Shinshu with the Hawaii baby boomers, aged 45-60, who have not "belonged" to a church tradition when growing up but who now as maturing adults want to bring faith into their lives amongst people who love, serve and socialize with energy. These middle-aged adults want to be touched by a community that cares, like the community that helped me get information for today's address. It is about belonging that "appeals" to these potential church comers.

We could share our Shinshu traditions with the children of our mixed marriages who wear "hapa" faces and have a strong love for the place that they call home. Our island world now grows smaller and mixed marriages are no longer a "taboo." We have married and our children and our grandchildren look different, act differently, and wear a new cosmopolitan identity.

We could share our Nembutsu with the youngest of toddlers in our communities, who by way of their ages pose the greatest hope for our economy, our culture and our traditions. These "babies" today are watching, modeling and liking what they see, hear and feel. Educational research has long proven that the values and beliefs of children are developed in their most formative stages. By promoting and mentioning important actions, choices and beliefs when children are at their youngest stages in life, one can assure lifelong commitments. Do you remember showing your child or grandchild how to "gassho?" Do you remember how proud they were when they could do it themselves? We want to have more Jodo Shinshu toddlers. It is evident that we are a welcoming family church. The noises, laughter and chatter of young children should fill our temples and worshiping spaces.

We should invite the elderly in Hawaii to our temples and places of worship. These are folks who have known us personally for all of our years and who consider us their respected friends, but who have not entered our church because they believed it was only a "Japanese" church. We need to tear down the old identity walls and welcome all regardless of skin color.

I am going to talk a little bit about perspective. I want each of you to follow me in this short exercise. Point your finger to the ceiling and in a clockwise motion, make circles in the air: (The direction of the clock.) Move your circles downward until they are chest high. Now look at the circles that you continue to make. Are they still moving in clockwise directions? Have time and your actions changed your perception? Yes, with time and actions, change occurs. And our perspectives change. The perspective of being "a Japanese church" is real but there is added value to the Hongwanji when over time and in the same motions a differing perspective is seen and appreciated.

We should encourage and invite teenagers and young adults in our towns and villages to come and worship amongst us. These are individuals who have become techno-wizards and who spend great chunks of their day in front of a computer screen and who e-mail friends in all corners of this globe. These folks are called the Net Generation because the media is the net that holds them together as a community. Do our Kyodans have web pages that hold the wealth of information about who we are and what we profess? Do we have groups of Jodo Shinshu followers who e-mail each other regularly and who have chat rooms to talk about our issues, our concerns and our hopes?

Grab onto the worldwide web and promote via new wave Nembutsu technologies because the media is here and shapes our culture today.

There may be other individuals who because of other responsibilities and time constraints have left the active Hongwanji membership rolls. We can bring them back and rekindle the spirit of their beliefs and hone their allegiance to the Nembutsu.

But all this will take work and earnest cultivation by each of us. And how do we go about the work? Let us look at Rennyo's life as a story to be repeated.

We remember that Rennyo Shonin lived in fifteenth-century Japan and during his lifetime, Japan was developing economically a new social structure. It was a period of internal warfare and the people were hardened at heart. Amid this social turmoil, Rennyo transmitted in an easily comprehensible manner, the path of being saved through the Nembutsu that Shinran Shonin originally had taught. Through Rennyo's energetic propagation all his life, the teaching of Jodo Shinshu spread throughout the country and the foundation for the Hongwanji was laid.

We together as the laity of this church can and will propagate as Rennyo did. For it is meetings like the one we are experiencing today, that rekindles and rekindles our commitment to our faith community. We have the passion, in many ways like Rennyo, to see the strong continuance of our tradition and faith. It is our strong belief in the Amida that energizes each of us and despite our shortcomings, we are a people of faith. So what can we do?

Start by "talking story" to others that surround you, young and old. Rediscover why you are active and strong members of the Jodo Shinshu faith. Do not be embarrassed to share your stories and your commitment first to your children, your grandchildren and your closest friends, Japanese or not. For in the telling of your personal stories, you will record for others why you belong and why you choose the path to Enlightenment. Good seeds come from good cultures. You are the seeds of Jodo Shinshu in Hawaii that were planted many years ago. Go forth and sprout new plants of wisdom that will result in new followers of our time by your honest rediscovery.

Talk about the benefits of being a member of the Hongwanji. Rennyo, more than anyone else during his time, presented a comprehensive picture of how people of his day thought, behaved and interacted with other people when they recited the Nembutsu. This paradigm of faith was one of Rennyo's greatest contributions to Shin Buddhism. Rennyo believed and convinced his followers that one should teach simply that unenlightened beings can become Buddhas and people should be urged to rely on Amida to save them. This uncomplicated formula - to rely on Amida captures the essence of our faith: a state of total reliance on the Buddha from whom saving power flows, leading to Enlightenment in the next life. Such an experience is not contingent on the sophistication of one's knowledge nor on one's mastery of sacred texts. It arises out of a realization of Amida's power as the sole basis for birth in the Pure Land. Simply stated, Enlightenment is attainable for all and what a simple and easily understood benefit this holds.

Continue your excellent practices and welcoming behaviors. In the island traditions of hospitality, welcome others to church, church-related events, and community outings. A very good example of what you do well touched my heart several weeks ago. While my husband was here in Hawaii in July, he participated in a golf tournament sponsored by the Kamuela Hongwanji. He was not eager to participate and needed some coaxing because he is not a very good golfer. There was added anxiety in knowing that he was probably the only "gaijin" to play in the tournament. But to his delight, he was not isolated nor did he feel uncomfortable. Instead, the genuine fellowship of all who surrounded him made him feel safe, welcomed and accepted. You expressed to him what Rennyo lived each day. Rennyo cherished the fellowship of others. He would sit in the company of those that came to visit and would serve them hot sake in cold weather or cold sake in hot weather as a gesture of hospitality and appreciation. You in Hawaii are probably the most cordial and hospitable of all people on this earth. Hospitality is the signature of our OHANA and your hospitality is only bettered by your generosity. My husband Don was stunned when he received a wall clock (because as he reported, he didn't play very well but everybody yes, everybody at the church golf tournament received a prize). That clock stands as a time reminder that friendship is coveted and important in our island tradition and in our Jodo Shinshu faith. There is no doubt in my mind that when he chooses a church, it will be the Hongwanji. You have reached out like Rennyo and made a friend for life.

Display your allegiance to the Amida Buddha and express the Nembutsu continuously. Rennyo was constantly mindful of the link between faith in this life and salvation in the next. It would be wrong, however, to think that faith's fulfillment would occur solely beyond death. On the contrary, Rennyo made it clear that salvation could be found both in the future and the present. Specifically, in the next life the faithful would realize Nirvana or complete enlightenment, but in this one we experience a transformed outlook and way of living, known as the state of true assurance.

This is such a practical and sensible approach. Ideally, the Nembutsu arises in our mouths and from our hearts of faith without guile or design. In fact, Rennyo considered Namu Amida Butsu to be the stuff of which all things were made (e.g. the collar on one's shirt or the chair on which one sits). It is not surprising then, that Shin Buddhists of Rennyo's day, among the various types of sacred objects available to them, had a distinct preference for hanging scrolls inscribed with the Nembutsu rather than for statues or paintings of the Buddha. We, Hawaii Buddhists, can also display visible centerpieces of the Nembutsu in our homes. Our regular and daily articulation of the Namu Amida Butsu should be accompanied by visual images of the Nembutsu.

Take some risks. Be bold in your efforts to make church more meaningful. Perhaps it may mean providing some strange new answers or ideas to encourage others to join you in worship and in the recitation of the Nembutsu. Rennyo also believed that with each Nembutsu entoned, people manifested not only their reliance on Amida but also their gratitude and indebtedness. Rennyo took many risks. For example, his treatment of women of his day was extraordinary. He believed women had as much equal access to becoming a Buddha as their male counterparts. That, in effect, was pretty revolutionary for his time.

The greatest challenge facing members of our Hawaii Hongwanji, the lay and the clergy, seems to me, as we approach the five-hundredth anniversary of Rennyo's death in 1999 and as we enter the twenty-first century is: the ability to speak honestly from our experiences and to use our spheres of influence to enrich the lives of those that surround us.

As I conclude today's talk, I would like to leave you with a thought that I found that night as I walked Harvard Square. It was displayed on a t-shirt in a store window. I could not resist purchasing it as a reminder to me of what is occurring in our lives today.

On the front of the t-shirt is a banned sign of TTWWADI, which stands for no more "That's the way we 've always done it." We no longer can use that as an excuse to survive and thrive. We need to take risks because CHANGE IS HERE AND CHANGE IS GOOD.

The back of the shirt has a quote from the late President John F. Kennedy who in 1963 said, "Change is good. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future."

Let us not miss the future here in Hawaii. Let us push forward with our hearts and know that: Our Hongwanji will continue to thrive and flourish. The spirit of Rennyo Shonin shall provide energy and testimony for Hawaii Buddhists as we look and work toward a continuing bright future in the 21st century.

Namu Amida Butsu.

The following is a portion of her background that appeared in the convention booklet. Her achievements are too numerous to list here.

Daughter of Thomas & Bernice Nakahara of Paauilo, born and raised in Paauilo, graduated from Honokaa High School and Paauilo Hongwanji Dharma School. She has one brother: Scott Nakahara, DDS; spouse: Donald Oleson, Development Engineer with Boeing International and a son: Robert Cobb, Jr., a pre-med student at University of California at San Diego.

Doreen Oleson received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech Communications Secondary Education from Ripon College in 1970; Teacher Credential Program in Elementary Education from the University of Hawaii at Hilo in 1971; Master of Science in Computer Sciences from Pepperdine University in 1986; and Doctor of Education in Institutional Management from Pepperdine University in 1991. Her professional experiences include: Elementary Teacher and Adult GED Education Teacher for the Hawaii State Dept. Of Education from 1970-1977; a Realtor with Hugh Nenefee Realtors of Honolulu from 1977-1981; Managing partner of Myoken Jewels of Honolulu from 1977-1981; Director of Educational Centers, Doctoral Program Coordinator and Vice-President for Special Programs at Pepperdine University from 1981-1990 and currently is the Head of School at St.Mark's School in Altadena, California since 1990. She is also currently serving as the Educational Field Consultant for the Educational Field Studies, Inc. in Chantilly, Va. from 1991;Training Consultant for World of Difference Anti-Defamation League in Los Angeles, Ca. from1995; and President of Doreen Oleson & Associates Educational Consultants from 1996.