Pure Land Priestess

[yuiyoshida]

Last edited Sun Jul 19, 2015, 12:19 PM - Edit history (1)

From Kyoto to California, Chicago and back, Ariya Sasaki is an art fanatic and a fashionista, and as fate would have it... a modern-day Buddhist priestess...

“Death is not something that’s very scary,” says Ariya Sasaki. Profound words from anyone, but coming from a 28-year-old fashion designer, art and film enthusiast, and allaround cool girl next door – it’s strangely comforting.

“That’s something that I’ve learned, how death isn’t really the end but it’s the beginning of something because you live through the people you have interacted with, and in those memories,” she explains as she recounts some of what her nearly three years serving her temple community in Kyoto as a Buddhist priestess has taught her.

On meeting Ariya Sasaki, you are greeted with a longhaired, rosy-cheeked, kind, compassionate, capable, and stylish young lady, who is wise beyond her years. She has the noticeable quality of being completely in touch with, and confident in, her own spirituality. She is making it her life’s work, through Jodo Shinshu, part of the Pure Land sect of Buddhism, to help others be in tune with their spiritual side.

Born into a traditional family temple in Kyoto and raised in Berkeley, California from the age of three, Ariya and her three younger siblings grew up in the U.S. as their father had moved the family there while writing his PhD. Most summers, they would return home to Kyoto to visit relatives, and of course Horenji, the cherished temple that Ariya’s father would one day return to take over as the 23rd generation head priest – once her grandfather had passed away.

https://www.kansaiscene.com/2015/06/pure-land-priestess/

[Helen Borg]

1. Inspirational!

....

[SoapBox]

2. Fascinating.

I particularly liked the interview video.