Gratitude: Third Annual Joint Service with Twin Cities Buddhist Sangha (2025-09-07)

This talk was given on September 7, 2025 by Rev. Chiemi Renshin Onikura Bly and Rev. Sosan Theresa Flynn at Clouds in Water Zen Center.Raised in a Jodo Shinshu temple family in Fukuoka Japan, Chiemi graduated from a Jodo Shinshu high school and college. She moved to the United States in 2000. Chiemi has lived in Minnesota for 20 years. She is ordained in the Jodo Shinshu Nishi Hongwanji tradition in 2016. She is an Assistant Minister of the Buddhist Church of America, and serves at the Twin Cities Buddhist Association.Sosan has studied and practiced Soto Zen Buddhism since 1992, receiving dharma transmission (full teaching authority) from Joen Snyder O’Neal in 2012. Sosan's areas of teaching include body awareness in Zen, loving-kindness practices, and the intersection of Buddhist practice and racial justice. Sosan was raised Catholic and practiced Catholicism for many years before embracing Buddhism as her primary religion. At Twin Cities Buddhist Association all are welcome. We’ve been part of the Minnesota community since 1946 when Japanese Americans, having been released from the WWII incarceration camps, settled in Minneapolis. Through their wisdom and guidance we are able to continue sharing and living the teachings of the Buddha.We live in chaotic times. Everything going on can leave us feeling at odds with the world around us. Jodo Shinshu Buddhism offers a path and community that embraces all and forsakes none. Together our members enrich their lives and find happiness through sharing the Dharma in community. We strive to live a life full of gratitude, inter-connectedness and awakening.