In 1978, BPF was born at the Maui Zendo, co-founded by Nelson Foster and Robert and Anne Aitken.

Robert and Nelson soon asked Ryo Imamura to join in forming a Buddhist Peace Fellowship, which at first was "just a group of friends with common concerns and no plans of getting bigger." Ryo and Bob were part of the peace movement. They felt affinity for Vietnamese Buddhists; they collected books and supplies for Van Hanh University and Thich Nhat Hanh. They later invited Gary Snyder, Joanna Macy, Michael Roach, Gary Snyder, Jack Kornfield, Al Bloom, and others to join BPF.

BPF's ecumenical approach to the Dharma was a matter of principle, a real strength in the face of Buddhism's sectarian history. At the start, there was a circle of friends, predominantly Euro-American Zen practitioners, most clustered in Hawaii and the Bay Area, with the rest scattered across the States. When Ryo became president of the BPF board in the early '80s, some Asian American Buddhist Churches of America (BCA) members became BPF members during the time since Ryo was a priest in the BCA, a large Japanese American Jodo-Shinshu organization.

After a year there were only about fifty members, but it was a real network nonetheless, linked by friendship, common purpose, and by the dedicated work of Nelson Foster, who regularly published the newsletter and maintained active correspondence with members. That newsletter was to evolve into our vibrant journal, Turning Wheel.

Robert Aitken Roshi is a co-founder of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and serves on its international board of advisors. He has been active in a number of peace, social justice, and ecological movements, and his writing reflects his concern that Buddhists be engaged in social applications of their experience.

Ryo Imamura lived in Hawaii between 1967 and 1976 and was director of the Buddhist Studies Center (BSC) at the University of Hawaii. Ryo was politically active on the Vietnam War issue and farmworkers' rights and served as BPF board president in the early '80s. Ryo is resident priest of the Florin Buddhist Church near Sacramento (for more information see florinbuddhist.org)