What might happen if you lost all of your material possessions?
The Rev. Bob Oshita, head of The Buddhist Church of Sacramento Hongwanji Betsuin, has congregants who know.
The temple's membership of 1,300 is 70 percent Japanese American. During Oshita's 25 years at the temple, he has ministered to many who wandered back from U.S. internment camps after World War II with only the belongings they carried with them to captivity.
"They returned and rebuilt their homes, their lives and their communities, and they did so with nothing," says Oshita.
Today's congregants or their forebears lived lives in which homes, furnishings, property and businesses were confiscated in an instant. Is it any wonder then that Oshita sees his congregation, also known as a Sangha, as "very conservative in terms of investment and economic strategies"?
I turned to Oshita for his views for this series about myriad ways to view the economic downturn. With his congregation, he says, "I'm not hearing that much" about the recession. But that's not to say members are untouched by events, perhaps simply reluctant to voice concerns.
To read the complete column, visit www.sacbee.com.