Grafton Peace Pagoda 20th Anniversary

peace pagoda 3Grafton Peace Pagoda
20th Anniversary Celebration
Saturday, October 5, 2013
11 AM
Everyone Welcome!

 

 

 

 

11 am: Annual Ceremony by Nipponzan Myohoji
Multi-faith Prayers for Peace
Special Guest Speaker: Dennis Banks (Ojibwa Nation), American Indian Movement Leader
Music & Dance including Japanese Nou Drumming (Tsuzumi Shoulder Drum)
Potluck Lunch

Na Mu Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo

Unless the United States is reformed peacefully, peace will not come to the world. As the original inhabitants of this country, First Nation Peoples have a responsibility to help change America’s pattern of mistaking power for justice, which has created a dishonorable history. As victims of the atom bomb, Japanese people also share this Karmic responsibility to help change the way of thinking of the United States at this time when humanity faces annihilation. Thus, we must join with First Nation Peoples to open a new path of existence for the United States—a peaceful and sacred way of life for all humanity. Let us rise together.               (Venerable Nichidatsu Fuji, August 12, 1978)

Dear Friends of Grafton Peace Pagoda,
Since we first came to this land we have seen many snow-filled winters, many springs sweet with apple flower blossoms, and many autumns filled with the brilliant red of the changing maple leaves. Our lives too have seen many changes: children we knew as babies now have babies of their own; many of you are now grandparents who were young men and women when we first met.

All through those years we have organized countless peace walks, walking the earth and praying together for peace. For nine years leading up to the completion of Grafton Peace Pagoda, so many neighbors, fellow peace walkers, and friends from around the world came to help with the construction. We worked together as one, using recycled wood and mixing concrete by hand, and the Peace Pagoda was finally inaugurated in 1993.

We will celebrate the 20th anniversary of our beloved Peace Pagoda at 11am on Saturday, October 5, 2013.

In the 20 years since the inauguration, we have welcomed visitors from all over the world. People of all different faiths and ancestries have joined with us here for countless ceremonies and commemorations. Every day, friends come and go like the breeze. Twenty years also marks the cycle of one generation. As a new generation comes of age, we want to transmit our message of peace to them and share the story of how the Peace Pagoda arose on this land. We invite you to join us as we celebrate the 20 together.

Bowing Three Times,
Jun Yasuda