01/15/2017
This.
In 2008, I was invited as a member of the Foundation Movement (A Social Justice Hip Hop Group) to join a peace walk in Japan. We were invited by Monks of the Buddhist (Nipponzan-Myōhōji) sect. and we would join them and fellow peace activist from across the globe in Hiroshima. From there we walked to Tokyo (72 days) for a conference against nuclear proliferation and in support of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution.
My brother from another "Op" and I would perform at Temples, Universities, Clubs and events along the way (15 miles a day) we walked the shoreline seeing such amazing breath taking sights as the Hiroshima Peace Museum to the Big Buddha in Nara to Mt Fuji. It was a beautiful experience that I, a Puerto Rican man from Boston, never could imagine I'd be blessed to have.
We spoke to people (I even learned some Japanese) across the prefectures (states) about what the struggle for peace and justice looked like for us as two men of color that grew up in Boston and both worked as organizers the same city we were raised in. We spoke about how we attended more funerals for youth, peers etc then we did college graduations. We connected in our quest for peace and I began to realize just how important it is to begin the quest for justice and peace inside of yourself and continue to nurture this. Essentially to become peace and justice, to create peace and justice, to be peace and justice.
Our mornings would begin at 5am with Puja (morning prayer). Along the way the monks would chant "nam myoho renge kyo" a Buddhist prayer that would become a part of my life. In Tokyo we met Yamada Shoni. A Nichiren Monk who invited us to stay at his Temple and performed a Fire Ceremony for Op and I, before we left he felt inclined to gift us both Buddha's from his temples collection. Mine (Pictured here) sits at my altar, Samantabhadra Bodhisattva is over 100 years old. Not sure why I wrote all this I began with a simple caption and my fingers kept typing, for those who read thank you...
