Dharma Message from Rev. Fumiaki Usuki
taken from the May 2005 issue of the

the Official Publication of the Buddhist Churches of America

 

“YOUNG BUDDHISTS – Where Have They Gone?”

 

I am taking the liberty with my rotation in the Wheel of Dharma article to present to you a major phenomenon that occurred with the BCA youths in the last decade which is a continued concern to the BCA, temples and members. At the BCA level, ministers, temple presidents, and delegates meet regularly to discuss the problems and issues of our temple and membership. But you, the general membership, may not be aware of the concerns and efforts of these people. Therefore, I am presenting one issue that may interests you. BCA temples recently received “Let’s Do Something Now - Request from the Office of the Socho” which asks for establishing a Buddhist Education Program in each local temple to promote Buddhist Education as the foremost means in which to sustain the growth of the sangha and to reach out to others. Socho Ogui says, “Our temples cannot grow until we can adequately share the teachings with others.” As a ministerial advisor to the BCA Youth Advocacy Committee that was formed in 2000 “to begin planning and implementing methods of reaching out to, and advocating for, young adults and students within our temples and communities,” I cannot agree more with the Socho.

All of you know the chronic problems that plague BCA such as aging membership, ministerial shortage, need for more English speaking ministers, etc. Those of you who are in the smaller temples know this situation better than anyone and it is a constant battle to keep and sustain young members and find ways to keep them interested and have them return to the temple later in life.

In 1991, the WYBL - Western Young Buddhist League consisting of high school and college level youths numbered 697 members. In 1992, they dropped to 598, and by 1993 three Southern District Sr. YBA chapters are inactive and Bay District did not have enough members to elect officers. Today, only three districts are active with handful of members and some count both Sr. and Jr. YBA in the same organization. Sr. YBA has all but disappeared with 90 – 95% decrease since 1991. It is a phenomenal data that we all should be aware of. Where did our youths go to so suddenly? Did they leave happy or disgruntled?

I don’t think there is a need to panic because these people are doing well and living a good life and we should be happy for them. Perhaps many are simply too busy to come back to the temple at this time. If this is the case, then they may be interested in getting hold of our organization or opening our website to get information on current BCA youth activities and what YAC has to offer.

One of the concerns regarding out youth today is that there is too much emphasis on “culture,” mainly Japanese American/Japanese culture and not enough on “Buddhist” culture. This underlying assumption makes it difficult for non-JA converts to integrate into a temple. This is not to say that we are redirecting all our attention to non-Japanese and I’m sure there are many Japanese American youths who are looking for more Buddhist culture in their lives.

It is simply overwhelming to think what our youth must go through, not only the competitive demands of school and peers with increased mobility and information. Having been there as parents we have tremendous concern for them both pragmatically and spiritually. In this sense we hope that our temple is where they can continue to groom themselves religiously and that the temple will provide the adequate information, culture, and environment for them.

If we have learned anything from the past, we can be sure that things can change in an instant as seen from the above statistics and nothing is guaranteed. Therefore, rather than providing basically cultural and social environment we should take our Socho’s lead and get back to Buddhist Education as the basis for our temple’s environment.

You can go to the BCA Youth Advocacy Committee website to learn more about our efforts to address the needs and concern of our youth

In Gassho.

Rev. Fumiaki Usuki
West LA Buddhist Temple

 

 

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