by Bea Peterson
On Saturday, May 26, the Temple adjoining the Grafton Peace Pagoda was crowded with folks of all ages, from babies to the elderly, who came to a flower festival celebrating the birth of Buddha. Most Venerable Nichidatsu Fujii conducted the traditional Buddhist ceremony and Ecumenical Prayer. “On the day of the Buddha’s birth, thirty-two wonders manifested between heaven and earth, one of which was the miracle that no voice of grief could be heard in this world where all sentient beings were suffused with joy.” It was explained that Buddha was born to the heaven, earth and underground and his role was to relieve suffering in the triple world. Most Venerable Fujii continued, saying we were not born into the world to do wrong. We were born to be good and to help others. We are to look into the causes of the world’s problems and to seek ways to eliminate them. He further added that if we cannot find the secret for a better life in ourselves, we cannot see it in others.
Many of the celebration participants came forward in reverence to honor Buddha by pouring sweet tea over the
head of a statue of his likeness. Grafton Buddhist nun Jun Yasuda explained later than when Buddha was born sweet rain fell from the heavens. Since such sweet rain is unobtainable, sweet tea from China is used for the ceremony.
Nuclear Free World
The focus of the speakers at the Grafton ceremony was the elimination of nuclear power plants worldwide. Cathy Sims of the Jersey Shore Nuclear Watch said the Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant in Oyster Creek, NJ, is the oldest operating nuclear power plant in the world. The plant should have been shut down, she said. Instead, the regulatory commission re-licensed the plant for 21 years. Since then it has been learned that contaminated water is reaching New Jersey aquifers. Currently the licensed time has been reduced to 10 years and, hopefully, the plant will be shut down sooner. She pointed out that the Vermont legislature wanted to shut down the nuclear plant in that state. Instead, the regulatory commission renewed the license. A similar situation occurred in Massachusetts.
Other speakers pointed out that since the tsunami in Japan, which caused the failure of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Japan has temporarily closed all its nuclear plants. Germany has also closed all of its plants and aggressively replaced them with solar energy.
Indian Point Nuclear Power Activist Judy Allen pointed out that Entergy, the company that operates that power plant in Buchanan, NY, just south of Peekskill, has said its evacuation plan is totally inefficient.
Sachiko Komagato visited her family in Tokyo last summer. Trains were running less often, she said. Department store lights were dimmed and air conditioners ran less. She noted the many uncertainties related to work safety and public safety. There were radiation concerns, she added. There was a significant increase in cancer rates, much higher depression rates and women were concerned about bearing children.
Taina Asili, accompanied by Gaetano Vaccaro on guitar, sang of her homeland, Puerto Rico, and the sadness of the citizens when some of the islands were used for weapons testing. The testing stopped just five short years ago.
The Ceremony was followed by a pot luck lunch and a video presentation.
No More Fukushimas Peace Walk
According to a flyer at the Peace Pagoda, “The triple meltdown at Fukushima, which has driven tens of thousands of Japanese from their homes and cast radioactive fallout across the US, will likely cost the Japanese economy $623 billion. It has been proven time and time again that humans do not have the capability to control the long term effects of nuclear power from uranium mining to power production and radioactive waste. Nuclear power is not sustainable from environmental, human rights or economic standpoints.”
In support of these claims Buddhist nun Jun Yasuda will conduct yet another walk, chanting Na Mu Myo Ho Ren Ge Kyo and beating her drum. This journey will take the walkers to Lake Ontario where the sacred land of the First Nation people is being highly contaminated by 30 nuclear reactors in Canada and four reactors in the United States. The walk begins July 11 near Syracuse, goes to Watertown to Kingston into Canada to Toronto around the edge of Lake Ontario to Hamilton and over the Rainbow Bridge to Buffalo, arriving August 10, followed by a Hiroshima Day Ceremony at the Grafton Peace Pagoda on August 11.
For more information on the walk, call Christian at 413-320-2856 or email cheythiya@gmail.com.