Halifax Los Alamos

Friday evening, at 5:15pm in New Mexico and 8:15am August 6th in Japan, the temple bell of Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, began to slowly toll, joining the Hiroshima Peace Bell and bells around the world, as all marked the time when the atom bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Thus began Upaya’s Bearing Witness Retreat marking the memorial of the sixtieth anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a retreat visioned and organized by the Abbot of Upaya Zen Center, Joan Halifax Roshi, and supported by the Los Alamos Study Group, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, the San Francisco Zen Center, the Zen Peacemaker Community, the Jizos for Peace Project, and Kazuaki Tanahashi’s A World without Armies.

In front of the many people gathered in the temple, Roshi Joan Halifax read the words from the Bhagavad Gita quoted by physicist and Manhattan Project director, Robert Oppenheimer: “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.” Ryumon Baldoquin of San Francisco Zen Center and Maia Duerr, Executive Director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, read a letter from the Mayor of Hiroshima calling for the end of nuclear proliferation, and the testimonies of two hikakushas, Mr. Ueda from Hiroshima and Mrs. Hashida from Nagasaki, were read with great emotion by their translators.

This was followed by all who were gathered doing one hundred and eight full prostrations of atonement after chanting the verse of atonement: “All my ancient twisted karma, from beginningless greed hate and delusion, born of body, speech, and mind, I now fully atone.”

People then offered incense at the altar and bowed deeply before Mr. Ueda and Ms. Hashida, survivors of the bombings. At this evening, with much media in attendance, Buddhist teachers from all over the country, Christians, Muslims, Jews, young and old, offered prayers that there would be an end to the production and proliferation of nuclear weapons, as they asked forgiveness for the great suffering caused by the dropping of these apocalyptic bombs.

On Saturday, August 6, in New Mexico, one hundred sangha members went to Los Alamos and Ashley Pond, the site where the atom bomb was invented and assembled. They joined the many pacifists and protesters, including the famous anti-nuclear Jesuit priest, Father John Dear, as all donned sackcloth, carried ashes and walked to the gates of the National Laboratory.

Later in the morning, Upaya sangha members sat in meditation, bearing witness, as scholars, artists, and politicians, offered facts and aspirations regarding the ending of nuclear proliferation. The hibakushas spoke again to a large respectful and rapt audience.

In front of the Upaya sitting group were placed kimonos, which had been sent to Upaya by elder Japanese people. On the kimonos were sewn patches with Jizo Bodhisattvas drawn on them. Sangha members during the day gave away small Jizos to those participating in the powerful gathering. These Jizos were also a gift from Japan, and the gratitude for these gifts was deep and quiet.

In the late afternoon, many sangha members visited the Los Alamos Museum and registered dismay in how the development and deployment of the bombs were portrayed. We realized how little relative truth means in our world today.

That night, people gathered at Upaya Zen Center in council to share their insights about the events of the past 24 hours. For two days after this, fifty people sat in meditation, doing a sesshin schedule during the early morning hours and the day. Participants included Dominican nuns, a veteran of the Iraqi war, social activists, and dedicated pacifists,

On one evening the hibakushas met with the group and shared their stories and feelings about being in the United States at this time. On the evening of August 8th, at the time in Japan when the atom bomb was dropped in Nagasaki, joining our friends in the Jizos for Peace Project in solidarity, the Zen Center held a powerful interfaith worship service, with Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hawaiian, and Hindu prayers for peace.

On August 9th, New Mexico dateline, all of the retreatants went to an archeological site next to the Los Alamos National Laboratory. From the edge of the mesa of Tsan Kawi, looking into the Laboratory, participants made vows to work for the ending of violence in the world, and to dedicate themselves to the ending of nuclear production and proliferation. These words were said among the old stones and caves of this ancient Pueblo village in the high desert barrancas of New Mexico.

Above participants shone the brilliant sky of New Mexico; around them, red sand and great stone cliffs were the ground on which sangha members stood and also the Laboratory; directly over the lab, dark storm clouds gathered, reminding us of the truth of suffering. This was a time to bear witness to suffering, to remember what happened sixty years ago in the heart of Japan. It was also a time to dedicate our vows to end suffering through our concerted efforts to educate, protest, and work. Led by Ryumon Baldoquin, participants vowed to be awake to the suffering caused by nuclear proliferation, to speak out about the consequences of nuclear production and proliferation, to hold institutions accountable for principles that affirm life, and to work for peace in ways that open the heart of our world.