Did try Shingon for a time, but didn’t get far. It’s just not possible to practice alone, without enough people for support and lately I’ve found support from a Jodo Shu group, so that’s been nice. There’s more to it, but that’s the story I’m sticking with for now.

Technically though I’ve not decided to commit to anything for the time, but I have enough of a background in Pure Land that I can post a thing or two on the subject.

Didn’t realize you read my blog by the way, I don’t believe we’ve met. :)

Al: If the Shinshu priest agrees, I think he’d be a much more suitable choice quite frankly.

Gerald - I recall reading you were leaving the Pure Land fold and flirting with Shingon or Tendai… wind up back in Jodo Shu?

Since you emailed me on this, sure, I’ll contribute. Your idea comes at a particularly significant time for me, since the inscrutable flow of karma has managed to manipulate me into the position of coordinating a study/discussion series for our local Karma Kagyu group, and in the process of putting things together for this, I was reminded of something that struck me many years ago, when I first encountered Tibetan Buddhism: despite all the attention that often is focused on strange looking Tantric practices, they really do base the whole thing on the realization and teachings of the Buddha, and not one bit of that stuff is discarded. There really is a common basis for what we all are doing, and it’s a really good thing to be doing. So, a major part of what I can contribute is my experiences wading through the Three Vehicles and trying to relate them to the lives of whomever shows up on a given Tuesday night. Which I’m doing only because no one else is here to do it. Karma’s a wyrd thing.

W.B.