CBT Participates in Silent Walk for Peace

Event Was Held on 80th Anniversary of U.S. Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki

The Cleveland Buddhist Temple participated in a silent walk in the city’s downtown on Aug. 6 in remembrance of the 80th anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The opening ceremony included a reading of Rennyo’s “White Ashes” provided by the CBT and read by Francis Chiappa from Cleveland Peace Action. 

As he read Rennyo’s words on impermanence, ending with the Nembutsu, those gathered were visibly moved. Maria Smith from the Cleveland Nonviolence Network read two meditations from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book, “Present Moment Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness Verses for Daily Living.”

Five community groups and many individuals collaborated in the walk, dressed in white, the color of mourning, recalling that survivors of the bombing desperately needed water. 

The silent procession, which began at the Eastman Reading Garden at the Cleveland Public Library, walked to and circled Cleveland’s War Memorial Fountain. Everyone was silent and still. The fountain’s statue, titled “Peace Arising from the Flames of War,” reached skyward, silhouetted against the setting sun. Walkers proceeded slowly, guided by the sound of two drummers and stopped at the shore of Lake Erie for silent contemplation.

To conclude the walk at sunset, each person placed a small candle into a large peace sign at Cleveland’s Willard Park. The gathering listened to poems and songs about Hiroshima, sang John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and closed with “mir miru mir,” a Russian phrase meaning “peace to the world.”