EDITOR’S INTRODUCTORY NOTE: Philosopher Bertrand Russell and physicist issued this manifesto in London on July 9, 1955 to warn the world about the dire consequences of a nuclear war. They urged peaceful resolution to international conflict to avoid “universal death.” As we enter into a new year in which the danger of a civilization-ending nuclear war continues to grow, we must heed their call; it is at least as relevant today as it was then. The Manifesto laid the foundations for the modern Peace Movement, particularly the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. As […]
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A New Pagoda Emerges in the Pacific Northwest
北西仏教新報 2024年11月14日 By Rev. Senji Kanaeda Na Mu Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo A Peace Pagoda containing the remains of Shakyamuni Buddha is being built next to the Kitsap-Bangor US Navy nuclear submarine base in Poulsbo, Washington. The pagoda is located on the grounds of the Ground Zero Nonviolent Action Center, a grassroots peace movement organization founded in 1977 to reject nuclear weapons and ground violence. When completed in 2025, it will be the first pagoda on the West Coast and the third “nonviolent” monument in the United States after Massachusetts and New York. The construction of the pagoda is being carried out by the […]
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A Model for the Horror… a reflection
Editor’s Introduction: This reflection, written by Stephen Kobasa, was written shortly after September 11, 2001. In his response to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York, Stephen imagined ground zero, “for all its horror,” as a “miniature of destruction, a fragment of the apocalypse” that would be caused by “the use of a single 475 kiloton [thermonuclear] warhead.” He spoke clearly, powerfully and directly to the true essence of “terror” in which we all exist, living at the end of time; the sheer madness of Trident is laid bare. There is so much to unpack […]
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A prison comic: “Why is my Grandma in Prison?”
Some of you reading this will remember Susan Crane as a longtime peacemaker and nuclear resister, and member of the Disarm Now Plowshares action in 2009. On that fateful day she and four other activists entered the high security nuclear warhead storage area at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Washington in the early morning hours of November 2nd, All Souls Day, to call attention to the illegality and immorality of the existence of the first strike Trident weapons system. Crane and her comrades were given significant prison sentences for their nonviolent action for a world free of the threat of nuclear omnicide. […]
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Legendary Jazz musician & composer, John Coltrane in Nagasaki
Editor’s Note: This essay was written by Rev. Senji Kanaeda, a Buddhist Monk from the Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Temple at Bainbridge Island in Washington State. The monks of the Bainbridge Island temple are facilitating an effort to build the Pacific Northwest Peace Pagoda, the first peace pagoda in the Western United States. This major effort is nearing completion thanks to the collective efforts of many people. The peace pagoda is being built at Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, which is adjacent to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Pacific homeport for the U.S. Navy’s OHIO Class “Trident” ballistic missile submarines. Click here […]
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