TRI-TEMPLE FALL OHIGAN SEMINAR 2026

Saturday, September 12, 2026            11:00 AM Watsonville Buddhist Temple

Everyday Shin Buddhist Path Toward a Life of Happiness,

Gratitude and Inner Peace

Featuring Special Guest Speaker

Rev. Kenneth K. Tanaka, Ph.D.

Ken Tanaka grew up in Mt. View and attended the Mt. View Buddhist Temple. He was an active member of the Young Buddhist Association at the local, district, and national levels. After attending the 1969 Summer Session at the Institute of Buddhist Studies (IBS), he made the decision to pursue a career in Buddhism. 

After graduating from Stanford Univ. with a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology, he specialized in the study of Buddhism at various institutions that included a stint as a Theravadamonk in Thailand, then as a graduate student at the IBS (M.A.), Tokyo University(M.A.), and Univ. of California at Berkeley (Ph.D.). He taught at IBS for 11years (1984-95) and served as minister at Southern Alameda County Buddhist Church for 3 years (1995-98).

Rev. Dr.Tanaka retired five years ago as Professor and Director of the Institute of Buddhist Culture at Musashino University in Tokyo, a Jodo-Shinshu-based institution of about 10,000 students. He is the Past President of two academic associations, the Int. Assoc. of Shin Buddhist Studies and the Japanese Assoc. for the Study of Buddhism and Psychology. 

His publications include Jewels: An Introduction to American Buddhism for Youth, Scouts, and the Young at Heart – With a Bit of Humor (Society for the Promotion ofBuddhism (BDK), 2021), Ocean: An Introduction to Jodo Shinshu Buddhism inAmerica (Wisdom Ocean Publications, 1987), and The Dawn ofChinese Pure Land Buddhist Doctrine (The State Univ. of New YorkPress, 1990).  Ocean has been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, and German.

He is the 2017 recipient of the 27th Nakamura Hajime Eastern Study Prize, awarded to scholars who distinguish themselves in the field of Indian and Buddhist studies by the Eastern Institute and the Indian Embassy, Tokyo. He was the object of a one-hour NHK Educational Television documentary series entitled “The Age of Kokoro (heart/mind)” on April 8, 2018.

Dr. Tanaka is married to Kimie Carrie Tanaka; they have three adult children, Aaron (Boston), Nathan (Richmond), and Serena (SanFrancisco), plus two grandsons. His interests include walking, feeding the neighborhood stray cats, and looking for humor in Buddhism. 

Watsonville Buddhist Temple

423 Bridge Street, Watsonville, CA

(831) 724-7860

buddhist@wbtemple.org