Lumbini Peace Walk
Patan - Lumbini
October 2001 November
In Nepal Nipponzon Myohoji Sangha, a Japanese Buddhist Organization organized a one-month peace walk, to mark the dedication ceremony of the Peace Pagoda in Lumbini, the birthplace of Shakyamuni Buddha. Nipponzon Myohoji was founded by the late Rev. Nichidatsu Fuji Guru soon after the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Under the leadership of the late Fuji Guru the peace walks were started and have continued to move against war and for peace throughout the world.
The Lumbini Peace Walk consisted of 32 walkers from different countries. It began October 1, 2001 in Patan, one of the three main cities in the Kathmandu Valley, and covered 440 kilometers. Six Nepalese Buddhists and 26 walkers from Japan, Europe and America were included. At the end point, Siddharthanagar near Lumbini, several more peace walkers from different countries came to join the walk. I was honored to be part of the Lumbini Peace Walk as a senior Peace Walker.
At each stop on the route of the walk, the day and date of the Lumbini Peace Pagoda Opening Ceremony was given to the local people, urging them to join the occasion in Lumbini. The announcement message of the pagoda opening ceremony proved to be very much effective. When the former Prime Minister Mr. Girija Prashad Koirala appeared to dedicate the Lumbini Peace Pagoda on November 3, 2001, it was said that never in the history of Lumbini had such a mass gathering been witnessed. The people came from far away districts of the country to experience this historic event.
