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Nuclear Disarmament
BPF’s history and position on nuclear disarmament
The Buddhist Peace Fellowship has a long history of working toward nuclear disarmament . Since 1978, our members have been present as witnesses for peace at interfaith vigils and nonviolent direct actions at the Nevada Desert Test site, Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory (New Mexico), Livermore Laboratory (California), Missile Silo N3 (Colorado), and other locations across the world. We’ve worked together with colleagues from Los Alamos Study Group, Pax Christi, Pace e Bene, TriValley Cares, Upaya Zen Center, Western States Legal Foundation, and many other organizations on these actions.
More than 270,000 people were killed in these bombings or as a result of radiation fallout in the years afterward. As horrific as this event was, nuclear weapons have become even more powerful and capably of causing immense harm to people and all forms of life on our planet.
While nuclear proliferation is clearly a global concern, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship calls on the United States, as the dominant nation in today’s world, to recognize its special obligation to create a more peaceful society and to lead the way in nuclear arms reductions and eventual elimination.
At BPF, we work at the intersection of politics and spirit. We recognize that our mental states and global political conditions are interconnected; that we arm ourselves with weapons of all kinds: conventional, nuclear, chemical, and just as significantly, ideas and beliefs to which we hold tenaciously. This array of weaponry, both physical and psychological, is a major source of suffering in our society. For this reason, BPF focuses on both inner and outer disarmament--we believe that one cannot be accomplished without the other.
BPF at the Nevada Desert Test Site, 1993. Photo by Susan Moon.
Basic Information about Nuclear Weapons
These are just a few facts that you should know about the current state of nuclear armament. For more resources, see the Links and Resources section below.
- There are approximately 36,000 nuclear weapons in the world's arsenals, primarily in the USA, UK, Russia, France, and China—about 2,667 times the firepower experienced in the entire six years of World War II.
- The United States has failed to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and has withdrawn from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. The 2003 Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT) with Russia takes strategic nuclear weapons off active deployment, but has no provisions for verification or systematic reductions and it fails to adhere to the principle of irreversibility agreed to at the 2000 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.
2005 Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemorations
See the 2005 Hiroshima/Nagasaki Photo Gallery
In August 2005, the 60th anniversary of the bombings, BPF members and friends took part in ceremonies in at least 14 locations.
Read the BPF press release on Commondreams.org.
- Melbourne and Sydney, Australia
- Berkeley, California
- Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Lab, California, read news story
- Los Angeles, California
- New Haven, Connecticut read BPF remarks given at commemoration
- St. Petersburg, Florida, see photos here and read news story
- Tallahassee, Florida, read news story
- Western Massachusetts
- Nevada Test Site, Nevada
- Los Alamos, New Mexico, see below
- Y-12 nuclear facility, Oakridge, Tennessee
- Seattle, Washington
- Olympia, Washington
- Montpelier, Vermont
2005 Los Alamos Interfaith Bearing Witness Retreat
Vigil at Ashley Pond, Los Alamos, 8/6/05. Photo: Robert Joshin Althouse.
More than 50 people took part in an Interfaith Bearing Witness retreat at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, NM, August 5-9, 2005. We were joined by two hibakusha (survivors of the atomic bombings), Mr. Ueda and Ms. Hashida. On August 6, we traveled northwest to Los Alamos and spent the day offering a vigil in the midst of a larger commemoration attended by more than 300 people. On the last day of the retreat, Ryumon Gutierrez Baldoquin led the group in taking vows to continue our commitment to working for nuclear disarmament.
The retreat was co-sponsored by Upaya, the Los Alamos Study Group, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and Pax Christi. Retreat leaders included Roshi Joan Halifax, Ryumon Gutierrez Baldoquin, Joshin Althouse, Constanze Franks, and Maia Duerr.
Read June Tanoue’s reflections on the Bearing Witness Retreat
Read Roshi Joan Halifax's article on the retreat
View more photos from Joshin Althouse
Meeting in the Upaya zendo with hibakusha. Photo by Roshi Joan Halifax.
Suggested Actions
Links and Resources
Abolition 2000 (Network of more than 2000 organizations in 90 countries working for a global treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons)
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Resource Page on Nuclear Weapons
The Atomic Mirror (Nonprofit organization that uses creative arts to reveal the consequences of a nuclear age and to inspire people to take action for a nuclear-free world)
Hidyanko (Japanese confederation of hibakusha -- A- and H-bomb survivors)
Inner Disarmament workshops with Joshin Althouse
Jizos for Peace Project (Jan Chozen Bays' project to make and give 270,000 Jizo prayer flags to Japan on the 60th anniversary). Also see the Jizos for Peace Blog journal entries of trip to Hiroshima.
Los Alamos Study Group
Nevada Desert Experience
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
Pax Christi (Catholic peace and justice organization; co-sponsors of NDE)
Traprock Peace Center (New England peace and justice center with extensive information on depleted uranium)
Tri-Valley CARES (Citizens group concerned about Lawrence Livermore Lab)
Upaya Zen Center (Organizer of the Bearing Witness Retreat; socially engaged dharma center in Santa Fe, NM)
Western States Legal Foundation (Public interest organization which monitors and analyzes U.S. nuclear weapons programs and policies)
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