February 10, 2025 • 35 mins
Can Buddhists become Freemasons? We'll answer that and other questions on the individualistic nature of Buddhist practice with WB Rev. Kanjin Cederman, a Buddhist priest and a Freemason, who embodies this unique blend of Eastern and Western traditions. He'll be sharing his insights on how these two paths can intertwine, the potential challenges and rewards of walking both, and the lessons they offer for finding common ground in a world often divided by belief.
Show notes:
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Show notes:
- Rev. Kanjin Cederman is the head minister of the Choeizan Enkyoji
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Commons. Opinions and views shared during this program are
of those individual Freemasons and do not reflect the official
position of a Grand Lodge, concordant body, a pendant body,
a Masonic authority, or Craftsman Online dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hey, welcome back to the only Masonic podcast endorsed by
the Grand Lodge of New York. Yeah, the Craftsman Online Podcast.
I'm your host, Wright Worship of Brother Michael RSA, and
you've settled in for an episode that's give to tackle
a pretty big question, can Buddhists become Freemasons? We're going
to answer in other questions on the individualistic nature of
(00:50):
the Buddhist practice with my guest this week, Worshipful Brother
Reverend Kanji Setterman, a Buddhist priest and Freemason. Welcome to
the craft An Online Podcast. My brother, you're welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Tell us a little bit about your background, like how
you became a Buddhist and how you're now elevated to
these important positions.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
I pretty much knew about nine years old, I was
very interested in religionip so I knew I would be
a priest or something I was able to go to
many luckily to the diversity of my family go to
different places of worship, and I would always memorize the services,
and I get in trouble sometimes because some of my
friends are Catholic priests now some of the things I
(01:31):
would get in trouble for as a kid, I would
do my own service and that when I'd come home.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
That can be frown upon.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, well they're my friends now, so they, I said,
think it as a confession. They what about nine years old?
I decided, Oh, if everyone has the same ability as
I do, I will make my own path, my own tradition.
So at that time I sat down and I excitedly
sat in contemplation. I didn't know what it meant. I
didn't know what it was. I also had started aikito,
(02:02):
which is a martial art, about nine years old, which
is kind of rare around where I grew up. I
had to use my lunch money to pay for it.
My family didn't understand what it was. Of course, through
all of that, my interest was to go to Japan someday,
and at the age of fourteen, I went to Japan
by myself, which would have been in the early nineties.
(02:23):
Japan was quite different than it is now, especially with foreigners.
There were still not too many foreigners, especially where I went.
I had the opportunity to stay with a Buddhist priest
for a week, and as a kid that grew up
from western New York and some characteristics from my family,
I always liked challenging authority. And I met this Buddhist
priest which I was able to spend a week with
(02:45):
the zen tradition and just one of the most patient, kind,
amazing individuals that had stuck with me even though I
was not converted or anything like that. And then he
actually gave me a fan priests van, which is a
kind of interesting leading into what happened later in my
life when I graduated high school that day. I went
(03:06):
to the monastery the next day and the request had
become a monk with Buddhism because I had sad and
thought what kind of person could I do? What should
I do with my life? And try to think about it,
how to be valuable for the whole life rather than
part of the life. You know. I grew up in
a very blue collared place, so lots of people worked
(03:27):
really hard doing different things, and not many people have
ventured out of the area so even me going to
Japan at that age was kind of very unusual. Everybody
would come from the neighborhood just talk to me and
see everything I did, so you know, I kind of
knew that I was a monk in the Chinese Buddhist
tradition that was the only thing available in Canada. And
(03:51):
then upon a chance meeting I at the age of
twenty one, I met my Japanese Buddhist teacher in a debate.
Because I used to go around and debate all the
different bulls. He really irritated me enough that I found
very fascinated with him. So I became among a student
again and went through the process again, and that's when
I became a priest of Bechaans.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
I have to say, we are just beginning the new
season of the Craftsman Online podcast and for me, you
are the clubhouse leader of the most interesting guests we
have had on for twenty twenty five, maybe for the
entire run of this because and please don't take any
offense in this. I told you this before I hit
the record button. Your life story is like a fascinating
(04:33):
onion to me, with each layer that gets exposed, just
in the way that we met through emails through the
our most Worshipful Grand Master Stephen Rubin the Grand Lodge
of New York and recommending that we put you on.
I'm like, oh, sure, had no idea. I go to
look up your bio. I'm like, oh, well, this is interesting.
First name, yes, makes sense that he would be a
Buddhist monk. Last name also makes sense that he would
(04:54):
be a mason here in North America. So your path
to Buddhism seems to be make a lot of sense.
It has, you know, family and self kind of direction
and connections. How did you become a freemason?
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Well, freemasonry has been in my family. The earliest records
I can actually find are in the Grand Lodge of
England in the early seventeen hundreds. It's really fascinating because
that was something that was passed as one of the
only traditions that has survived. I think through my father's line,
I grew up with masonry. I particularly remember all the
(05:27):
shrine events because my dad was that as well own
it was a wine distributor and also he was a
professional wine taster, and I pretty much grew up in lodges.
I didn't understand to the extent, but I knew it
was something I wanted to do. And when I asked
my father actually to become a Mason, his requirements were
(05:50):
that I could not have any credit card debt except
for you know, of course their education, and that it
was considering to give his kind of they say to
me as a man, And so I did take that.
I always had this question, what it means to be
an American? What are a tradition? You know, what do
we do to understand our culture, you know, as a
(06:11):
basic because it's so such a blend of so many
cultures together, even like my family. So it is a
kind of identity question for myself. And then of course
making that connection with my father.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
So I like Dad's rule at becoming a Freemason. I
think that's going to be a rule I, you know,
put in for my son. If you ever asked the question,
no personal debt, you almost guaranteed a better life. But
one of the sticking points for us in masonry, and
you know this as a master and as a member,
as a brother, Freemasonry requires the belief of a supreme being.
(06:44):
And I have seen a few men stumble on that
what it means we have that conversation of deity, and
it could be any form, any tradition, but the Buddhist philosophy.
I have a feeling that maybe outside of your personal
circle in north Tonawanda, outside of Buffalo, that practice might
(07:04):
not be familiar with a lot of folks. So how
do you explain your deity when many brothers of the
lodge that you would go to join might be more
familiar with God, with the big G instead of little
G as they celebrated in the Abrahamic religions.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Well, first of all, have to say that it's quite
different than when I was young here. I just didn't
moved back about three years ago, living in Seattle about
sixteen years. Moving back, I was very pleasantly surprised with
the mentality which in my Europe, even though it says
north Tonawanda, it's actually Nia your Wheatfield, which is a
(07:40):
very small town, and it was very You had to
be a very strong individual with someone that you know,
especially to take on a new tradition or be part
of that traditional religion among people who had no idea
of what that meant. I wouldn't funny joke my mother
when I became wanted to become a mum. Her only
(08:01):
request to me was that she would never see me
in an airport handing out flower. I had to say
to my well, of course the only thing her only
point of understanding Eastern philosophy, of course was hardy Christiana.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Right, yes, yes, yes, So I didn't.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Bother to explain that to her. I just said that
that was absolutely one promise I could.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Keep, so good boy, good boy, nice.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
So later I explained it. We have a good laugh
about it. But yeah, that's a good question. But you know,
one question is why do we have that need for
deity and what does it mean? Like what is the
point of that that we require it with a mason,
Because when we take way, we make an obligation towards
each other, towards the mentality the precepts that we follow.
(08:51):
What do we base that on. I think that that's
one of the main important aspects that we have to
think about, that we're not just doing it on our
own ho or we're doing it on a system of
belief in something good than something as they said, even
in the point of being eternal. Right. So yeah, there's
a few differences possibly that would be confusing for people
(09:13):
and That's one reason why I wanted to do this
interview was because I went online and I saw lots
of people, lots of Buddhists, asking what can I be
a Freemason? And it was interesting because first of all,
the amount of misunderstanding all over, because even in Japan
people are terrified about Freemasons. Why is that, well, because
they don't know. We've done such a great job keeping
(09:33):
ourselves a secret that everyone has made up what they think.
The perfect example there was a Buddhist temple, you know,
the tsunami that they had that destroyed many places. Actually,
the Grand Lodge of Japan rebuilt a Buddhist temple in
northern Japan where it actually happened. They gave the donation everything,
and the Buddhists were just so confused by that because
(09:55):
they had no idea, and actually there was a kind
of negative connotation Mason because they just assumed what everyone
else assumes. You read, you know online.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Do you think it's a bit of like the Eastern
versus Western traditions?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
No, I don't think so. I just think it's that
we didn't make the effort to make ourselves available, so
therefore people would like to of course, what they don't understand,
they usually fear, and rightfully. So again, the responsibility, I
think is ours that we need to share that there
is a lot of brothers. I've been to the Grand
Lodge of Japan many times. Even in the United States,
(10:30):
I was online and people were saying, no, you can't
become a Freemason because you're a Buddhist. You know, these
are not compatible teachings or theologies, et cetera. And there
are many traditions of Buddhism and philosophies and dogmas of Buddhism.
Every school has a little bit of a different concept,
and some schools would be much more easier to, you know,
(10:51):
have an idea of a grador or a central figure,
et cetera. Part of your question was was that the
specifics in Buddhism that allow this concept. One interesting point
was so, first of all, the idea of creator. Buddhism
does have a creator, because in the East Brahma is
the creator of the world. However, he is not the
(11:12):
top of the pinnacle of the practice of the teacher.
He has seen as a state of our high state,
but yet not the most enlightened being. Okay, so that's
something totally different. For Western I would have mad But
I don't think that that's where this question sits. This
question sits in that, you know, what represents that belief
(11:37):
or that essence that we can take that vowel upon,
that obligation upon, and what is directing our life. As
you said, there's very specific traditions that would not be
necessarily compatible with an outlook of you know, a freemason outlook.
So one of the things they had said is that
(11:58):
some people believe the dharma Dharma means teaching in the
Sanskrit word in the East, the dharma, the teaching itself
is seen as enlightenment and that's representative in our daily lives,
and that the Buddha himself. This is also a common
mistake that people think that people believe Buddha is our God,
(12:19):
so they automatically supplement the Buddha with God. There are
some traditions that see Buddha as the center of the
teaching right as a kind of divine being. So the
Buddhas see it as divine but yet also as a human.
But the state of Buddha, which there's two connotations which
can be mixed up. Buddha also means the highest consciousness,
(12:40):
which could mean God as enlightenment, that each of us
have that within ourselves. So the basic premise of Buddhism
is to realize that nature in ourselves, to connect with
that nature. There is a great book by Technahan that
called it Buddha Nature Christ's Nature, in which he was
able to if anyone wants to read something interesting, that
(13:02):
is a pretty good understanding of the two traditions coming
together by tech Nahon. That's an interesting book to look
at it through that LANs. The interesting thing is such
a different understanding in the East that some people would
very much easily understand misunderstand by thinking as a god
head that the Buddha himself, as a human being was
(13:24):
is top of. However, the Buddha represents that divine nature,
just as I would say Jesus represents the entity of
God or Christians right, and you know, to be honest,
as a Freemason, I always find more and I think
this is where the majority of people they talk about
this in being a chaplain specifically, that our level of
(13:46):
spirituality becomes that we understand the basic underlining premise that
I believe freemasonry built on that we can see in
every tradition right that goes that it holds those same
goals of goodness and enlightenment and compassion.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I'm glad for going down this road because we had
begun to talk about this earlier, and I've shared this
openly on the podcast before that thanks to Freemasonry, or
I would say Freemasonry opened the doors for me to
begin exploring and learning about other faiths, traditions, and practices.
I grew up in a very small town in southwest Arizona.
(14:50):
Everybody that I knew was either Mormon a Baptist, and
we did have a few Jewish friends as well. Moved
to upstate New York, was in a pretty large Catholic community,
which I'm sure you can attest to as well, and
so I've always kind of been around, you know, Christians
or those that practice Christianity as their faith. And it
(15:12):
wasn't until I was passed to the degree of Fellowcraft
that I really began exploring Buddhism because of two things.
One was you had mentioned the Buddha and I had
begun reading the book The Art of Happiness, and I
just found it so fascinating, not just as a spiritual leader,
but also as a world leader, what his perspectives were
(15:34):
and how he would go, what his leadership approach was,
what his styles. I thought that was so fascinating. But
then there was this other part where when you talk
about Masonic values, and I was telling you, like, at
the end of the Entered Apprentice degree, I might give
any secrets away, but we're basically given a charge which
is in free and clear written English, which instructs us
that if we ever see a member of the human
(15:56):
race suffering, it's on us to come to their aid
and help them as we can. And that suffering word
connected with the word that you read a lot if
you get into Buddhist text suffering.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Yeah, it's interesting because actually that is one thing that
is considered what makes Masonry unusual is that we do
do works towards all human right. That we have to
listen and pay attention and sometimes take on obligations for
other people to be able to help them in need.
(16:32):
And that's one thing that our fraternity is well known for. Specifically,
this idea of compassion is nature within ourselves. The basis
of Budhism is that we all have this nature, which
means that connection with the divide, which could be seen
as a divine being God. That is something also that
each person as Masonry doesn't define it. That's also very
(16:56):
important as well, that we can have this group which
actually Masonry can be seen as the kind of enlightenment
movement throughout history, supporting science, supporting and protecting other traditions,
also being at the end of persecution because of the amount,
especially in Europe allowing members of the Jewish faith in
(17:18):
that to be members. There are lots of challenges concerning that,
but absolutely within Buddhism, the idea is that we are
all interconnected right as brothers, as humans, as beings, and
that we have a natural obligation in our lives to
support others. That that is how we learn, that's how
(17:41):
we grow, and we cannot survive with others, you know,
which is actually very interesting because there are you know
a lot of spiritual or religious institutions say you cannot
do that. So sometimes that's a criticism against Masonry, but
yet it's one of our important.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Foundation speaking to the universality of freemasonry. So the whole
story of freemasonry. Again, we're not giving anything away here.
We use King Solomon's temple as the allegory of that
we're building our symbolic temple, which you get into that
that is yourself and what are you trying to do.
You're trying to build this temple so that you can
(18:20):
have a better connection to Deity, whether that's God with
the big G, little G, whatever that may be what
I found very interesting. And again I have the I
pointed out earlier, the Beginner's Guide to Buddhism on my bookshelf,
So that's the knowledge base that I operate with here,
and I would love to hear your interpretation of this.
But a lot of what I was picking up from
(18:42):
the Buddhist's faith is that there's this energy that comes
from inside that is kind of built upon through your
experiences with being around others. And I found that to
be very powerful to what is similar to a lodge experience.
And if you're in a good lodge with good brothers,
you're only going to improve and become better through that experience.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
It's not in the best situation. It's actually the adversity
that we learn and loge. Because actually last night I
was just at a my daughter and that are involved
in triangle, and one thing that's interesting through our orders.
It teaches people about the idea of a democracy that
you know, people voting, you can't always get what you want,
(19:27):
not always the best gets gets to be in charge.
How do you say, mature and aware that that's the
way that things work and to be able to work
in harmony together. Yeah, within the lodge itself, I would
actually say it is the diversity. What comes with diversity
and challenge is what makes us grow as mazing because
our lodges are I'm perfect, I don't. In Buddhism, the
(19:51):
basic premise is that having the best, most conducive place
for practice isn't necessarily the best place to practice. Everyone
knows the lotus flower. So the sutra that we follow
is the Lotus Sutra. Why is this lotus flower used
as a symbol all over even in other traditions like
Yogic traditions or Brahma traditions, you know, et cetera. But
(20:15):
the lotus flower grows from the mud, and that you
cannot take the and it's considered the most beautiful flower
in all of Asia and symbolizes enlightenment. You can't take
that flower and grow it in pure water. It won't work.
It'll die. It has to grow amongst the most filthiest
dirtieth pond around. But yet from the nutrition from that
(20:37):
grows this magnificent flower. So in Buddhism, the idea is
not avoiding the challenges of life, but getting into the
dirt of it. I believe Masonry does that because we
choose to be together. Even though we're of different beliefs,
we're of different political ideologies all across the entire gamut Baha,
we work together under this uni I did in principle
(21:01):
as you were saying, this energy right, we as Wedis
would call it Buddha nature towards uh you know, bound
with wisdom and compassion towards a good you know result,
and that only through that can that happen. Individually can
do it. That's why in Buddhism, in order to be
enlightened has to be enlightened with old being those who
(21:23):
believe in Buddhism those who do not. So salvation is
not an individualistic practice.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
For a while, I was trying to as best as
I could practice Buddhism, and one of the things was
every morning I found this to be kind of powerful,
was to get up and basically a prayer, a mantra
uh for those to end all suffering and to help
those that are suffering. And I just remember that and
it just being so powerful. In the last year, I
(21:51):
got an opportunity to be a part of a ladge
under dispensation here in the nation's capital where we were
practicing Rectified Scottish Rite ritual, and instead of referring to
a brother entered apprentice, the candidate was referred to as
the sufferer as to what they were going through. And
again that like clicked for me. What is the role
(22:11):
of suffering in the Buddhist faith and how has that
shaped you since those early days when you first approached.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
The suffering is again, when you use the context of
a Judeo Christian language and such as Latin or Greek,
there are some limitations within the words that they especially
in early Buddhism when they were translating into English. So
this concept of suffering. A better word to use would
(22:42):
be dissatisfaction. Okay, that we are looking for something that
brings us true satisfaction, true liberation, but yet we tend
to get stuck in the stuff that doesn't and we
put all our time and energy in that and actually
we hold it up as the divine, but it's not,
and we end up being suffering in that way, being
(23:03):
having unsatisfactory life or experience so unsatisfactory. This is what
they actually would change it to. So the but add
four noble truths. One life is unsatisfactory, people would say suffering,
So then people would think Buddhists were really real downers
because all you guys think about is suffering. But what
it means is to try to see within life that
(23:25):
there are aspects of our life that cause suffering and dissatisfaction,
and then there are things that have a deeper meaning.
Hence why we are considered the crazy people who go
and do good things for others, even in England the
odd Fellows. I don't know if you're familiar with that.
One of the theories with the odd Fellows was that
they were just odd because they went ahead and gave
(23:46):
away money to poor people or helped do soupkitch that
was considered very odd in some culture. And then the second,
the first being unsatisfactory, so observing life, observing the reality.
Second is that there is a cause. Those causes we
have to understand. We do learn it little by little
in our life. But the overall cause of suffering is
(24:08):
what greed, hatred, and ignorance. Those are the considered the
three poisons, and ignorance being the base for those points.
And then the third is that there is a way
out of suffering, that there is a way to liberate
ourselves and liberate others from this state, okay, state of suffering.
That doesn't mean that life becomes a Hawaii vacation or
(24:33):
something like that. All other things connected with our body
are all part of being human. But then there are
some things within our life. Through spirituality, through discipline, through
our vows, honor, et cetera, we can do something about
right and bring some light to this world. And then
fourth is the path to attaining that, And in different
(24:55):
schools they have the eightfold path, which are a list
of correct ways of looking and think, correct viewpoints, correct recepts.
Then we also have the six pot of metas, which
are the path beginning with, say, giving for others and
then in the end resulting in enlightenment through meditation. In
the Buddhist practice, the idea is seeing the reality of
(25:16):
the world, making a vowel, and then following that path
to being able to become a light within the world
which allows us to, as we said from the Mud,
from helping those in need, including ourselves others, and not
looking away right but acknowledging the human condition and doing
(25:38):
something about it. We can be able to realize that
nature and then be able to pass it through others.
So sounds like all of the obligation that you were
talking about and our purpose in freemacing. I think it
lines up perfectly with.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
It's what makes it so fascinating. They literally are parallel
to each other, at least in these more esoteric ideas
of values and virtue. And to what you're saying, you know,
this is what I find so fascinating about it is
that it's really kind of the path of self actualization
where instead of reading commandments or texts, or listening to
(26:14):
parables or allegory from stories in the Bible basically of
other characters in their experience, the idea, at least so
far as I understood, was the story of the Buddha,
this prince that lived in this wonderful castle that had
everything he ever wanted in life, and then one day
climbed over the wall because he wanted to experience what
come and that's the whole idea of like suffering. And
as you say, it's not that we would think of
(26:35):
that sleeping on a cold street without a blanket. Well, yes,
that is suffering or not being able to eat, but
missing out on all of the experience that kind of
create the human picture your life experiences to where you
really understand what's most important is the act of being
kind to others, what compassion is really about, really what
(26:55):
the meaning of the word love is and how that
relationship can exist not just between somebody that you have
a physical attraction to or an emotional connection with, but
others that just come passing through your life and just
understanding that. To me, it's really the when people talk
about the point within a circle, that is one of
my favorite Masonic symbols. That's where my mind goes is
(27:16):
to the Buddhist faith.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Yeah or absolutely, And I have to say, though, you know, overreaching,
I mean, how you say the permeating aspect that we
have that, yeah, it does have the we use the
Holy Bible as the main symbol for Masony and our lodges.
But I have to say that one of the interesting
things that I wasn't particularly had a very difficult relationship
(27:39):
with Christianity growing up in that in a way I
would always debate and I didn't have I had very
terrible experiences with people. And it's interesting that Masonry allowed
me to actually learn from that tradition as well, and
it's parables and how they're able to be integrated into
(28:02):
our lives. So you know, I do not I don't
feel and I think this is an interesting enlightenment of
Freemasonry that we're learners. You know, we're walkers on this
path that we've chosen. And you can see even when
you choose a path, that path may be misunderstood by others,
and you may even get grief and even violence against yours,
(28:23):
against you and prejudice for doing that because you're considered unusual, different.
But you know, if someone has that, as you were saying,
that awareness of what that point is within the circle,
we have something that we wish to attain through our
lives and through our institution, the purpose of us existing.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
So our hope is is that to the listener who's
just questioned, like, hey, I'm a Buddhist, can I become
a Freemason? Or if you're a member of a lodge,
and you happen to have an interested gentleman or a
prospect who shared a petition who listed his faith is Buddhism.
Hopefully we have answered that question for you that yes,
they can be a Freemason. But I think for the
(29:32):
other listener that might be wondering. Like you know, I've
kind of had my toe in the water on this
as well. I have some interest in Buddhism and maybe
I'd like to take this a step further. So, right,
worshipful brother reverend, you know, how can someone approach Buddhism
if you're not already in the faith?
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Well, the one thing I would like to say is
that if anyone has any questions, I think that would
be part of my job. Now I'm here for anybody,
especially anyone interested or has those questions. I'd be happy
to hear their perspective because, again, as I stated, there
are many views in Buddhism. Okay, there are many ways
(30:11):
of looking at and how people reconcile that. And again
that's where I think masonry allows for that space, because
in actuality, if we didn't have that space, we'd be
very small group of people that all had the same ideas.
I don't think we'd learned. Basically is just do it,
you know, in the sense of visit a temple. Learn.
(30:34):
Buddhism is not just about reading books or having philosophies
or believes. It's actually something that involves learning and study.
There's the founder of my tradition and said, without learning
and practice, there is no Buddhism. There has to be
a balanced investigation in doing that. So practice means learning
(30:56):
the different traditions. Of course, there are a variety of
traditional practices, all with the same goal of Diana, which
is concentration, to be able to see into that nature,
see into ourselves, to see into the universe and this reality.
And yeah, each one of those are very relevant. I
think affinity is a really important thing for people to learn,
(31:19):
and the only person who can answer that is yourself.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Well, fortunately, we live in a digital age, and I
never like to have my guests plug their own websites
or surfaces that they offer. But I'm going to need
your help. As we've mentioned at the beginning of the podcast,
because I don't want to say this incorrectly, but the website,
the link to it's going to be in the notes
for this episode. But you can learn more about Right
(31:43):
Worship Brothers Temple through Seattle Buddhist dot org. It's all
one word, Seattle Buddhist dot org. But tell us a
little bit about your temple and especially some of the
virtual classes that you offer.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Right Temple. The one I'm at right now is in Buffalo,
New York. It's not actually at a Masonic lodge. We
rent one of the rooms until I have a temple here. Again,
people are It's helped MA a lot because people were like, wow,
there's a Buddhist temple. When they come to it, they
see a Masonic love. That's the awesome thing about where
(32:17):
we are in the world now. So but yes, through
the website we do virtual classic. Also my temple in Seattle,
I go back and forth. My student who graduate, who
recently graduated the preest training in Japan takes care of
that temple. And then also we have a nice little
group of community in Rochester, New York. So, uh, the
(32:40):
plenty of opportunities. I'm always available for that. And also
there are a lot of things online, but I would say,
like anything online, be careful because again, you know, one
of the aspects is we see even with masonry, we
have tradition. That's one thing that a lot of other
traditions or faiths have challenges with when coming to a
(33:03):
new culture is that sometimes things are lost in people
trying to necessarily integrate it, where in reality, you know,
it's practice, it's tradition is just as important as anything.
So sometimes people, even in modern Buddhism, they change things.
(33:23):
But you know, I would say, try to find a
nice traditional teacher who has gone through the actual training
because Buddhism, as I said, faith in practice, learning in
practice very important. So something to pass out, something to share.
Being a good friend, that's what actually they talk about
it Buddhism good friends and bad friends, and it says
(33:46):
that a good friend is someone who supports you on
your path. Sounds very familiar, doesn't Yes?
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Does right? Worship the Brother Reverend Kanji Siederman Kanjin Kanjin
so close, So thank you so much for coming on
this episode of the Craftsman Online podcast. It's one of
those things I say this to a lot of the
guests that I meet virtually. I really do hope I
get to meet you someday in person.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Liz, that'd be wonderful. And he's very happy to see them,
verse them to.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
I want to thank my guest again this week, Worshipful
Brother Reverend Kanji Setterman, for taking time to join us
on the podcast. If you'd like to learn more about
his ministry, you can check the show notes for links
to visit his website and take in a few sessions. Hey,
I got a great to me from the Valentine's Day
gift idea. No hear me out on this one. You
could get yourself a subscription to the Craftsman Online podcast
(34:39):
on Patreon. Become a subscriber and be able to listen
to our podcast episodes early and ad free, and better yet,
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Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Start listening now and enjoy more content and less commercials
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this episode and
The Commons. Opinions and views shared during this program are
of those individual Freemasons and do not reflect the official
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Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hey, welcome back to the only Masonic podcast endorsed by
the Grand Lodge of New York. Yeah, the Craftsman Online Podcast.
I'm your host, Wright Worship of Brother Michael RSA, and
you've settled in for an episode that's give to tackle
a pretty big question, can Buddhists become Freemasons? We're going
to answer in other questions on the individualistic nature of
(00:50):
the Buddhist practice with my guest this week, Worshipful Brother
Reverend Kanji Setterman, a Buddhist priest and Freemason. Welcome to
the craft An Online Podcast. My brother, you're welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Tell us a little bit about your background, like how
you became a Buddhist and how you're now elevated to
these important positions.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
I pretty much knew about nine years old, I was
very interested in religionip so I knew I would be
a priest or something I was able to go to
many luckily to the diversity of my family go to
different places of worship, and I would always memorize the services,
and I get in trouble sometimes because some of my
friends are Catholic priests now some of the things I
(01:31):
would get in trouble for as a kid, I would
do my own service and that when I'd come home.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
That can be frown upon.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, well they're my friends now, so they, I said,
think it as a confession. They what about nine years old?
I decided, Oh, if everyone has the same ability as
I do, I will make my own path, my own tradition.
So at that time I sat down and I excitedly
sat in contemplation. I didn't know what it meant. I
didn't know what it was. I also had started aikito,
(02:02):
which is a martial art, about nine years old, which
is kind of rare around where I grew up. I
had to use my lunch money to pay for it.
My family didn't understand what it was. Of course, through
all of that, my interest was to go to Japan someday,
and at the age of fourteen, I went to Japan
by myself, which would have been in the early nineties.
(02:23):
Japan was quite different than it is now, especially with foreigners.
There were still not too many foreigners, especially where I went.
I had the opportunity to stay with a Buddhist priest
for a week, and as a kid that grew up
from western New York and some characteristics from my family,
I always liked challenging authority. And I met this Buddhist
priest which I was able to spend a week with
(02:45):
the zen tradition and just one of the most patient, kind,
amazing individuals that had stuck with me even though I
was not converted or anything like that. And then he
actually gave me a fan priests van, which is a
kind of interesting leading into what happened later in my
life when I graduated high school that day. I went
(03:06):
to the monastery the next day and the request had
become a monk with Buddhism because I had sad and
thought what kind of person could I do? What should
I do with my life? And try to think about it,
how to be valuable for the whole life rather than
part of the life. You know. I grew up in
a very blue collared place, so lots of people worked
(03:27):
really hard doing different things, and not many people have
ventured out of the area so even me going to
Japan at that age was kind of very unusual. Everybody
would come from the neighborhood just talk to me and
see everything I did, so you know, I kind of
knew that I was a monk in the Chinese Buddhist
tradition that was the only thing available in Canada. And
(03:51):
then upon a chance meeting I at the age of
twenty one, I met my Japanese Buddhist teacher in a debate.
Because I used to go around and debate all the
different bulls. He really irritated me enough that I found
very fascinated with him. So I became among a student
again and went through the process again, and that's when
I became a priest of Bechaans.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
I have to say, we are just beginning the new
season of the Craftsman Online podcast and for me, you
are the clubhouse leader of the most interesting guests we
have had on for twenty twenty five, maybe for the
entire run of this because and please don't take any
offense in this. I told you this before I hit
the record button. Your life story is like a fascinating
(04:33):
onion to me, with each layer that gets exposed, just
in the way that we met through emails through the
our most Worshipful Grand Master Stephen Rubin the Grand Lodge
of New York and recommending that we put you on.
I'm like, oh, sure, had no idea. I go to
look up your bio. I'm like, oh, well, this is interesting.
First name, yes, makes sense that he would be a
Buddhist monk. Last name also makes sense that he would
(04:54):
be a mason here in North America. So your path
to Buddhism seems to be make a lot of sense.
It has, you know, family and self kind of direction
and connections. How did you become a freemason?
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Well, freemasonry has been in my family. The earliest records
I can actually find are in the Grand Lodge of
England in the early seventeen hundreds. It's really fascinating because
that was something that was passed as one of the
only traditions that has survived. I think through my father's line,
I grew up with masonry. I particularly remember all the
(05:27):
shrine events because my dad was that as well own
it was a wine distributor and also he was a
professional wine taster, and I pretty much grew up in lodges.
I didn't understand to the extent, but I knew it
was something I wanted to do. And when I asked
my father actually to become a Mason, his requirements were
(05:50):
that I could not have any credit card debt except
for you know, of course their education, and that it
was considering to give his kind of they say to
me as a man, And so I did take that.
I always had this question, what it means to be
an American? What are a tradition? You know, what do
we do to understand our culture, you know, as a
(06:11):
basic because it's so such a blend of so many
cultures together, even like my family. So it is a
kind of identity question for myself. And then of course
making that connection with my father.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
So I like Dad's rule at becoming a Freemason. I
think that's going to be a rule I, you know,
put in for my son. If you ever asked the question,
no personal debt, you almost guaranteed a better life. But
one of the sticking points for us in masonry, and
you know this as a master and as a member,
as a brother, Freemasonry requires the belief of a supreme being.
(06:44):
And I have seen a few men stumble on that
what it means we have that conversation of deity, and
it could be any form, any tradition, but the Buddhist philosophy.
I have a feeling that maybe outside of your personal
circle in north Tonawanda, outside of Buffalo, that practice might
(07:04):
not be familiar with a lot of folks. So how
do you explain your deity when many brothers of the
lodge that you would go to join might be more
familiar with God, with the big G instead of little
G as they celebrated in the Abrahamic religions.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Well, first of all, have to say that it's quite
different than when I was young here. I just didn't
moved back about three years ago, living in Seattle about
sixteen years. Moving back, I was very pleasantly surprised with
the mentality which in my Europe, even though it says
north Tonawanda, it's actually Nia your Wheatfield, which is a
(07:40):
very small town, and it was very You had to
be a very strong individual with someone that you know,
especially to take on a new tradition or be part
of that traditional religion among people who had no idea
of what that meant. I wouldn't funny joke my mother
when I became wanted to become a mum. Her only
(08:01):
request to me was that she would never see me
in an airport handing out flower. I had to say
to my well, of course the only thing her only
point of understanding Eastern philosophy, of course was hardy Christiana.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Right, yes, yes, yes, So I didn't.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Bother to explain that to her. I just said that
that was absolutely one promise I could.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Keep, so good boy, good boy, nice.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
So later I explained it. We have a good laugh
about it. But yeah, that's a good question. But you know,
one question is why do we have that need for
deity and what does it mean? Like what is the
point of that that we require it with a mason,
Because when we take way, we make an obligation towards
each other, towards the mentality the precepts that we follow.
(08:51):
What do we base that on. I think that that's
one of the main important aspects that we have to
think about, that we're not just doing it on our
own ho or we're doing it on a system of
belief in something good than something as they said, even
in the point of being eternal. Right. So yeah, there's
a few differences possibly that would be confusing for people
(09:13):
and That's one reason why I wanted to do this
interview was because I went online and I saw lots
of people, lots of Buddhists, asking what can I be
a Freemason? And it was interesting because first of all,
the amount of misunderstanding all over, because even in Japan
people are terrified about Freemasons. Why is that, well, because
they don't know. We've done such a great job keeping
(09:33):
ourselves a secret that everyone has made up what they think.
The perfect example there was a Buddhist temple, you know,
the tsunami that they had that destroyed many places. Actually,
the Grand Lodge of Japan rebuilt a Buddhist temple in
northern Japan where it actually happened. They gave the donation everything,
and the Buddhists were just so confused by that because
(09:55):
they had no idea, and actually there was a kind
of negative connotation Mason because they just assumed what everyone
else assumes. You read, you know online.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
Do you think it's a bit of like the Eastern
versus Western traditions?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
No, I don't think so. I just think it's that
we didn't make the effort to make ourselves available, so
therefore people would like to of course, what they don't understand,
they usually fear, and rightfully. So again, the responsibility, I
think is ours that we need to share that there
is a lot of brothers. I've been to the Grand
Lodge of Japan many times. Even in the United States,
(10:30):
I was online and people were saying, no, you can't
become a Freemason because you're a Buddhist. You know, these
are not compatible teachings or theologies, et cetera. And there
are many traditions of Buddhism and philosophies and dogmas of Buddhism.
Every school has a little bit of a different concept,
and some schools would be much more easier to, you know,
(10:51):
have an idea of a grador or a central figure,
et cetera. Part of your question was was that the
specifics in Buddhism that allow this concept. One interesting point
was so, first of all, the idea of creator. Buddhism
does have a creator, because in the East Brahma is
the creator of the world. However, he is not the
(11:12):
top of the pinnacle of the practice of the teacher.
He has seen as a state of our high state,
but yet not the most enlightened being. Okay, so that's
something totally different. For Western I would have mad But
I don't think that that's where this question sits. This
question sits in that, you know, what represents that belief
(11:37):
or that essence that we can take that vowel upon,
that obligation upon, and what is directing our life. As
you said, there's very specific traditions that would not be
necessarily compatible with an outlook of you know, a freemason outlook.
So one of the things they had said is that
(11:58):
some people believe the dharma Dharma means teaching in the
Sanskrit word in the East, the dharma, the teaching itself
is seen as enlightenment and that's representative in our daily lives,
and that the Buddha himself. This is also a common
mistake that people think that people believe Buddha is our God,
(12:19):
so they automatically supplement the Buddha with God. There are
some traditions that see Buddha as the center of the
teaching right as a kind of divine being. So the
Buddhas see it as divine but yet also as a human.
But the state of Buddha, which there's two connotations which
can be mixed up. Buddha also means the highest consciousness,
(12:40):
which could mean God as enlightenment, that each of us
have that within ourselves. So the basic premise of Buddhism
is to realize that nature in ourselves, to connect with
that nature. There is a great book by Technahan that
called it Buddha Nature Christ's Nature, in which he was
able to if anyone wants to read something interesting, that
(13:02):
is a pretty good understanding of the two traditions coming
together by tech Nahon. That's an interesting book to look
at it through that LANs. The interesting thing is such
a different understanding in the East that some people would
very much easily understand misunderstand by thinking as a god
head that the Buddha himself, as a human being was
(13:24):
is top of. However, the Buddha represents that divine nature,
just as I would say Jesus represents the entity of
God or Christians right, and you know, to be honest,
as a Freemason, I always find more and I think
this is where the majority of people they talk about
this in being a chaplain specifically, that our level of
(13:46):
spirituality becomes that we understand the basic underlining premise that
I believe freemasonry built on that we can see in
every tradition right that goes that it holds those same
goals of goodness and enlightenment and compassion.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
I'm glad for going down this road because we had
begun to talk about this earlier, and I've shared this
openly on the podcast before that thanks to Freemasonry, or
I would say Freemasonry opened the doors for me to
begin exploring and learning about other faiths, traditions, and practices.
I grew up in a very small town in southwest Arizona.
(14:50):
Everybody that I knew was either Mormon a Baptist, and
we did have a few Jewish friends as well. Moved
to upstate New York, was in a pretty large Catholic community,
which I'm sure you can attest to as well, and
so I've always kind of been around, you know, Christians
or those that practice Christianity as their faith. And it
(15:12):
wasn't until I was passed to the degree of Fellowcraft
that I really began exploring Buddhism because of two things.
One was you had mentioned the Buddha and I had
begun reading the book The Art of Happiness, and I
just found it so fascinating, not just as a spiritual leader,
but also as a world leader, what his perspectives were
(15:34):
and how he would go, what his leadership approach was,
what his styles. I thought that was so fascinating. But
then there was this other part where when you talk
about Masonic values, and I was telling you, like, at
the end of the Entered Apprentice degree, I might give
any secrets away, but we're basically given a charge which
is in free and clear written English, which instructs us
that if we ever see a member of the human
(15:56):
race suffering, it's on us to come to their aid
and help them as we can. And that suffering word
connected with the word that you read a lot if
you get into Buddhist text suffering.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Yeah, it's interesting because actually that is one thing that
is considered what makes Masonry unusual is that we do
do works towards all human right. That we have to
listen and pay attention and sometimes take on obligations for
other people to be able to help them in need.
(16:32):
And that's one thing that our fraternity is well known for. Specifically,
this idea of compassion is nature within ourselves. The basis
of Budhism is that we all have this nature, which
means that connection with the divide, which could be seen
as a divine being God. That is something also that
each person as Masonry doesn't define it. That's also very
(16:56):
important as well, that we can have this group which
actually Masonry can be seen as the kind of enlightenment
movement throughout history, supporting science, supporting and protecting other traditions,
also being at the end of persecution because of the amount,
especially in Europe allowing members of the Jewish faith in
(17:18):
that to be members. There are lots of challenges concerning that,
but absolutely within Buddhism, the idea is that we are
all interconnected right as brothers, as humans, as beings, and
that we have a natural obligation in our lives to
support others. That that is how we learn, that's how
(17:41):
we grow, and we cannot survive with others, you know,
which is actually very interesting because there are you know
a lot of spiritual or religious institutions say you cannot
do that. So sometimes that's a criticism against Masonry, but
yet it's one of our important.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Foundation speaking to the universality of freemasonry. So the whole
story of freemasonry. Again, we're not giving anything away here.
We use King Solomon's temple as the allegory of that
we're building our symbolic temple, which you get into that
that is yourself and what are you trying to do.
You're trying to build this temple so that you can
(18:20):
have a better connection to Deity, whether that's God with
the big G, little G, whatever that may be what
I found very interesting. And again I have the I
pointed out earlier, the Beginner's Guide to Buddhism on my bookshelf,
So that's the knowledge base that I operate with here,
and I would love to hear your interpretation of this.
But a lot of what I was picking up from
(18:42):
the Buddhist's faith is that there's this energy that comes
from inside that is kind of built upon through your
experiences with being around others. And I found that to
be very powerful to what is similar to a lodge experience.
And if you're in a good lodge with good brothers,
you're only going to improve and become better through that experience.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
It's not in the best situation. It's actually the adversity
that we learn and loge. Because actually last night I
was just at a my daughter and that are involved
in triangle, and one thing that's interesting through our orders.
It teaches people about the idea of a democracy that
you know, people voting, you can't always get what you want,
(19:27):
not always the best gets gets to be in charge.
How do you say, mature and aware that that's the
way that things work and to be able to work
in harmony together. Yeah, within the lodge itself, I would
actually say it is the diversity. What comes with diversity
and challenge is what makes us grow as mazing because
our lodges are I'm perfect, I don't. In Buddhism, the
(19:51):
basic premise is that having the best, most conducive place
for practice isn't necessarily the best place to practice. Everyone
knows the lotus flower. So the sutra that we follow
is the Lotus Sutra. Why is this lotus flower used
as a symbol all over even in other traditions like
Yogic traditions or Brahma traditions, you know, et cetera. But
(20:15):
the lotus flower grows from the mud, and that you
cannot take the and it's considered the most beautiful flower
in all of Asia and symbolizes enlightenment. You can't take
that flower and grow it in pure water. It won't work.
It'll die. It has to grow amongst the most filthiest
dirtieth pond around. But yet from the nutrition from that
(20:37):
grows this magnificent flower. So in Buddhism, the idea is
not avoiding the challenges of life, but getting into the
dirt of it. I believe Masonry does that because we
choose to be together. Even though we're of different beliefs,
we're of different political ideologies all across the entire gamut Baha,
we work together under this uni I did in principle
(21:01):
as you were saying, this energy right, we as Wedis
would call it Buddha nature towards uh you know, bound
with wisdom and compassion towards a good you know result,
and that only through that can that happen. Individually can
do it. That's why in Buddhism, in order to be
enlightened has to be enlightened with old being those who
(21:23):
believe in Buddhism those who do not. So salvation is
not an individualistic practice.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
For a while, I was trying to as best as
I could practice Buddhism, and one of the things was
every morning I found this to be kind of powerful,
was to get up and basically a prayer, a mantra
uh for those to end all suffering and to help
those that are suffering. And I just remember that and
it just being so powerful. In the last year, I
(21:51):
got an opportunity to be a part of a ladge
under dispensation here in the nation's capital where we were
practicing Rectified Scottish Rite ritual, and instead of referring to
a brother entered apprentice, the candidate was referred to as
the sufferer as to what they were going through. And
again that like clicked for me. What is the role
(22:11):
of suffering in the Buddhist faith and how has that
shaped you since those early days when you first approached.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
The suffering is again, when you use the context of
a Judeo Christian language and such as Latin or Greek,
there are some limitations within the words that they especially
in early Buddhism when they were translating into English. So
this concept of suffering. A better word to use would
(22:42):
be dissatisfaction. Okay, that we are looking for something that
brings us true satisfaction, true liberation, but yet we tend
to get stuck in the stuff that doesn't and we
put all our time and energy in that and actually
we hold it up as the divine, but it's not,
and we end up being suffering in that way, being
(23:03):
having unsatisfactory life or experience so unsatisfactory. This is what
they actually would change it to. So the but add
four noble truths. One life is unsatisfactory, people would say suffering,
So then people would think Buddhists were really real downers
because all you guys think about is suffering. But what
it means is to try to see within life that
(23:25):
there are aspects of our life that cause suffering and dissatisfaction,
and then there are things that have a deeper meaning.
Hence why we are considered the crazy people who go
and do good things for others, even in England the
odd Fellows. I don't know if you're familiar with that.
One of the theories with the odd Fellows was that
they were just odd because they went ahead and gave
(23:46):
away money to poor people or helped do soupkitch that
was considered very odd in some culture. And then the second,
the first being unsatisfactory, so observing life, observing the reality.
Second is that there is a cause. Those causes we
have to understand. We do learn it little by little
in our life. But the overall cause of suffering is
(24:08):
what greed, hatred, and ignorance. Those are the considered the
three poisons, and ignorance being the base for those points.
And then the third is that there is a way
out of suffering, that there is a way to liberate
ourselves and liberate others from this state, okay, state of suffering.
That doesn't mean that life becomes a Hawaii vacation or
(24:33):
something like that. All other things connected with our body
are all part of being human. But then there are
some things within our life. Through spirituality, through discipline, through
our vows, honor, et cetera, we can do something about
right and bring some light to this world. And then
fourth is the path to attaining that, And in different
(24:55):
schools they have the eightfold path, which are a list
of correct ways of looking and think, correct viewpoints, correct recepts.
Then we also have the six pot of metas, which
are the path beginning with, say, giving for others and
then in the end resulting in enlightenment through meditation. In
the Buddhist practice, the idea is seeing the reality of
(25:16):
the world, making a vowel, and then following that path
to being able to become a light within the world
which allows us to, as we said from the Mud,
from helping those in need, including ourselves others, and not
looking away right but acknowledging the human condition and doing
(25:38):
something about it. We can be able to realize that
nature and then be able to pass it through others.
So sounds like all of the obligation that you were
talking about and our purpose in freemacing. I think it
lines up perfectly with.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
It's what makes it so fascinating. They literally are parallel
to each other, at least in these more esoteric ideas
of values and virtue. And to what you're saying, you know,
this is what I find so fascinating about it is
that it's really kind of the path of self actualization
where instead of reading commandments or texts, or listening to
(26:14):
parables or allegory from stories in the Bible basically of
other characters in their experience, the idea, at least so
far as I understood, was the story of the Buddha,
this prince that lived in this wonderful castle that had
everything he ever wanted in life, and then one day
climbed over the wall because he wanted to experience what
come and that's the whole idea of like suffering. And
as you say, it's not that we would think of
(26:35):
that sleeping on a cold street without a blanket. Well, yes,
that is suffering or not being able to eat, but
missing out on all of the experience that kind of
create the human picture your life experiences to where you
really understand what's most important is the act of being
kind to others, what compassion is really about, really what
(26:55):
the meaning of the word love is and how that
relationship can exist not just between somebody that you have
a physical attraction to or an emotional connection with, but
others that just come passing through your life and just
understanding that. To me, it's really the when people talk
about the point within a circle, that is one of
my favorite Masonic symbols. That's where my mind goes is
(27:16):
to the Buddhist faith.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Yeah or absolutely, And I have to say, though, you know, overreaching,
I mean, how you say the permeating aspect that we
have that, yeah, it does have the we use the
Holy Bible as the main symbol for Masony and our lodges.
But I have to say that one of the interesting
things that I wasn't particularly had a very difficult relationship
(27:39):
with Christianity growing up in that in a way I
would always debate and I didn't have I had very
terrible experiences with people. And it's interesting that Masonry allowed
me to actually learn from that tradition as well, and
it's parables and how they're able to be integrated into
(28:02):
our lives. So you know, I do not I don't
feel and I think this is an interesting enlightenment of
Freemasonry that we're learners. You know, we're walkers on this
path that we've chosen. And you can see even when
you choose a path, that path may be misunderstood by others,
and you may even get grief and even violence against yours,
(28:23):
against you and prejudice for doing that because you're considered unusual, different.
But you know, if someone has that, as you were saying,
that awareness of what that point is within the circle,
we have something that we wish to attain through our
lives and through our institution, the purpose of us existing.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
So our hope is is that to the listener who's
just questioned, like, hey, I'm a Buddhist, can I become
a Freemason? Or if you're a member of a lodge,
and you happen to have an interested gentleman or a
prospect who shared a petition who listed his faith is Buddhism.
Hopefully we have answered that question for you that yes,
they can be a Freemason. But I think for the
(29:32):
other listener that might be wondering. Like you know, I've
kind of had my toe in the water on this
as well. I have some interest in Buddhism and maybe
I'd like to take this a step further. So, right,
worshipful brother reverend, you know, how can someone approach Buddhism
if you're not already in the faith?
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Well, the one thing I would like to say is
that if anyone has any questions, I think that would
be part of my job. Now I'm here for anybody,
especially anyone interested or has those questions. I'd be happy
to hear their perspective because, again, as I stated, there
are many views in Buddhism. Okay, there are many ways
(30:11):
of looking at and how people reconcile that. And again
that's where I think masonry allows for that space, because
in actuality, if we didn't have that space, we'd be
very small group of people that all had the same ideas.
I don't think we'd learned. Basically is just do it,
you know, in the sense of visit a temple. Learn.
(30:34):
Buddhism is not just about reading books or having philosophies
or believes. It's actually something that involves learning and study.
There's the founder of my tradition and said, without learning
and practice, there is no Buddhism. There has to be
a balanced investigation in doing that. So practice means learning
(30:56):
the different traditions. Of course, there are a variety of
traditional practices, all with the same goal of Diana, which
is concentration, to be able to see into that nature,
see into ourselves, to see into the universe and this reality.
And yeah, each one of those are very relevant. I
think affinity is a really important thing for people to learn,
(31:19):
and the only person who can answer that is yourself.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
Well, fortunately, we live in a digital age, and I
never like to have my guests plug their own websites
or surfaces that they offer. But I'm going to need
your help. As we've mentioned at the beginning of the podcast,
because I don't want to say this incorrectly, but the website,
the link to it's going to be in the notes
for this episode. But you can learn more about Right
(31:43):
Worship Brothers Temple through Seattle Buddhist dot org. It's all
one word, Seattle Buddhist dot org. But tell us a
little bit about your temple and especially some of the
virtual classes that you offer.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Right Temple. The one I'm at right now is in Buffalo,
New York. It's not actually at a Masonic lodge. We
rent one of the rooms until I have a temple here. Again,
people are It's helped MA a lot because people were like, wow,
there's a Buddhist temple. When they come to it, they
see a Masonic love. That's the awesome thing about where
(32:17):
we are in the world now. So but yes, through
the website we do virtual classic. Also my temple in Seattle,
I go back and forth. My student who graduate, who
recently graduated the preest training in Japan takes care of
that temple. And then also we have a nice little
group of community in Rochester, New York. So, uh, the
(32:40):
plenty of opportunities. I'm always available for that. And also
there are a lot of things online, but I would say,
like anything online, be careful because again, you know, one
of the aspects is we see even with masonry, we
have tradition. That's one thing that a lot of other
traditions or faiths have challenges with when coming to a
(33:03):
new culture is that sometimes things are lost in people
trying to necessarily integrate it, where in reality, you know,
it's practice, it's tradition is just as important as anything.
So sometimes people, even in modern Buddhism, they change things.
(33:23):
But you know, I would say, try to find a
nice traditional teacher who has gone through the actual training
because Buddhism, as I said, faith in practice, learning in
practice very important. So something to pass out, something to share.
Being a good friend, that's what actually they talk about
it Buddhism good friends and bad friends, and it says
(33:46):
that a good friend is someone who supports you on
your path. Sounds very familiar, doesn't Yes?
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Does right? Worship the Brother Reverend Kanji Siederman Kanjin Kanjin
so close, So thank you so much for coming on
this episode of the Craftsman Online podcast. It's one of
those things I say this to a lot of the
guests that I meet virtually. I really do hope I
get to meet you someday in person.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
Liz, that'd be wonderful. And he's very happy to see them,
verse them to.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
I want to thank my guest again this week, Worshipful
Brother Reverend Kanji Setterman, for taking time to join us
on the podcast. If you'd like to learn more about
his ministry, you can check the show notes for links
to visit his website and take in a few sessions. Hey,
I got a great to me from the Valentine's Day
gift idea. No hear me out on this one. You
could get yourself a subscription to the Craftsman Online podcast
(34:39):
on Patreon. Become a subscriber and be able to listen
to our podcast episodes early and ad free, and better yet,
my Valentine's Day Gift to you is a free seven
day trial.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Start listening now and enjoy more content and less commercials
by clicking the Patreon subscriber link in the notes for
this episode and
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