The Shin Buddhist Association of Great Britain was founded by Jack Austin [1917-1993] and Rev Hisao Inagaki [1929-2021] in around about 1977. At that time, Jack was the Development Officer for the World Congress of Faiths, and Hisao sensei was Lecturer in Buddhism at the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University.

Jack had corresponded with Rev Saizo Inagaki [1885-1981], Hisao's Father, and they arranged it for the Ven Kosho Otani, then the Monshu of the Nishi Hongwanji, to take part in a big interfaith conference held at the University of Kent at Canterbury in 1976.

Following this event, in the August of that year the Monshu and his wife came to London, where he conferred Kikyoshiki on a number of people who were interested in Jodoshinshu, including Jack, Max Fisher and Jim Pym.*

In 1977, Jack went on an extended trip to Japan, where he was ordained as a priest of the Nishi Hongwanji branch of Jodoshinshu Buddhism.

After his return, weekly and monthly meetings were held, mostly meeting in members' houses. A committee was formed, which met regularly, and even went as far as applying for charitable status. In the early 1980's Jack's health deteriorated, and it was no longer possible to continue with the SBA meetings, and so it was dissolved. However, a small group, including Max and Jim, met regularly but informally at Hisao Inagaki's house. This was the foundation of the Pure Land Buddhist Fellowship, though the PLBF was never an organisation.

Because members were scattered, Max Fisher commenced to circulate a single sheet of news. Earlier, Jack and Hisao had made links with a number of people in mainland Europe, including Adrian Peel (founder of Jikoji in Antwerp, currently closed), and Jerome Ducor in Switzerland, as well as other European Shin devotees, and it seemed reasonable to send them the sheet of news.

Max Fisher was the first editor and publisher of the PLBF newsletter and it was he that expanded it to several folded A4 sheets. In those days it was still known as "PLBF News". After Max, Jim took over the editorship around about 1983, and he started to call it "Pure Land Notes", modelling it on the very successful "Zen Notes" published by the Zen Centre in New York.

Jim continued to publish PLN until 2005 when, due in part to his relocation to Scotland, no newsletter or journal had been produced for a while. And so, with Jim's agreement, I became the new compiler and editor of Pure Land Notes.

*Click/tap here to read PLN special issue (#45) In Memory of Jim Pym (1941-2020)

When it began, submissions to Pure Land Notes were often hand written and delivered by the postman. A lot has changed since then, and demand for a hard-copy of PLN has lessend considerably. There was a time when ordinary folks (like me!) rarely saw thier own words published, but now, thanks particularly to online social networks the rest, our profiles are a click away from being published to the worldwide web.

There came a time when we had to draw a line and, to use that hackneyed yet appropriate phrase, go with the flow.

Accordingly, this reboot and reset of the SBFUK now includes the launch of weblog. This replaces the publication of the Pure Land Notes hard-copy.

PLEASE GO TO THE PURE LAND NOTES PAGE ON THIS WEBSITE FOR MORE DETAILS - AND A LINK TO WEBLOG#1