Friday 29 September 2023

17th Death Anniversary Ceremony for Reverend Handa Shonin Sama

NA MU MYO HO REN GE KYO

On Sunday 20th August, there was the 17th Death Anniversary Ceremony for Reverend Handa Shonin Sama.
Rev Handa was a Buddhist Monk, the abbot of Milton Keynes Peace Pagoda and Temple until his sudden death in 2007.
He was a follower of Fujii Guruji (1885-1985), a Japanese monk who established the basic practice of chanting a prayer for peace accompanied by a drum, bowing in respect to whoever he met, and walking to bring the prayer wherever it is most needed.
After the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Fujii started the construction of Peace Pagoda's as a way to raise a spiritual basis for people to unite and turn around the threat to all life.
The Peace Pagoda in Milton Keynes is the first in the West, and Rev. Handa was a driving force in its construction and associated work.
He died in August 2007 in an accident doing maintenance work around the Pagoda, just weeks after joining in an anti-nuclear walk and leading the annual Hiroshima Day lantern floating on the lake.
Alex Fox

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