Why do we build temples in space?

Why do we build temples in space?
私達はなぜ宇宙にお寺をたてるのか？

A Presentation by Reverend Nakata Junei, chief priest of the Daigoji temple in Kyoto, and Kitagawa Sadahiro, Director of Terraspace Ltd.

Since 2020, the Daigoji temple and Terraspace Ltd. have been cooperating in the development of a temple satellite that would orbit the Earth at an altitude of 400km to 500km. The aim is to create a temple interface from which sermons could be delivered from a universal perspective and people can pray for peace between

Earth and space, for environmental problems and natural disasters and for the safety of those working in space. This talk will explore the underlying Buddhist ideas on the cosmos and space exploration, followed by a presentation about the technological aspects that make it possible.

The talk will be given in Japanese and translated into English simultaneously. There will be a Q&A at the end.

Event recording

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Speaker biographies

Nakata Junei is the chief priest of the Daigoji temple in Kyoto and the General Affairs Manager of the Daigo branch of Shingon Buddhism. He graduated in Buddhist Studies from Taishō University and has received denpō kanjō (consecration ritual in esoteric Buddhism) at the Sanbō-in sub-temple of the Daigo branch in 1987. He is the first Asian Buddhist monk to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2003 and is engaged in a wide range of cultural activities. 

Kitagawa Sadahiro was born in 1968 and graduated from the Graduate School of Management of the University of Kyoto. He joined the internet provider Kagoya Japan Ltd. in 1996, when it was a fledgling business and turned it into a large-scale service provider. Since 2020 he is also the director of Terraspace Ltd.

• Organisers: Fabio Gygi (SOAS Japan Research Centre) & Jenia Gorbanenko (UCL ETHNO-ISS)
• Contact email: centres@soas.ac.uk