Junsei Terasawa (Japanese: 寺沢潤世, Russian: Дзюнсэй Тэрасава, Ukrainian: Дзюнсей Терасава; September 15, 1950) is a Japanese Buddhist monk, belonging to the Order Nipponzan Myōhōji. He is notable for being the first Nipponzan monk to be active in Eurasia.
Being a respected mentor, surnamed Terasawa-sensei or simply Sensei, he has undertaken many years of monastic peacemaking practices in India, Europe and the former Soviet Union. Presently, he teaches groups of monks from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and China. In 2000 he was forbidden from entering Russia because of his opposition to the war in Chechnya.[1][2][3]
Junsei Terasawa was born on September 15, 1950, into a poor family in the small town of Hakui, Ishikawa on Noto Peninsula, Japan. Junsei was the second son in the family.
In Hakui is an ancient mound, one of the oldest Shinto temples. It is here that the sacred practice of sumo wrestling was first conceived. There is a Christian church there too, a place that Junsei would often visit as a young man.
Under the influence of the presence of local shrines, spiritual pacifist Leo Tolstoy and active nonviolent resistor Mahatma Gandhi, Terasawa, at 17 years went forth into homelessness to go to Tokyo and join a unique peacemaking Nipponzan Myōhōji activity, led by its founder teacher Nichidatsu Fujii.
Under the guidance of Fujii, he organized and conducted many mass peacemaking actions. This included founding the Peace Pagodas in Milton Keynes and London, England. For the sake of Peace in Europe, shortly before the Berlin Wall Fall, he conducted a seven day prayer without food and water on the grave of Karl Marx, burned his finger phalanx and made a Peace March from Warsaw to the wall.[5]
Terasawa participated in the annual sessions of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva as a representative of the International Peace Bureau and is one of the advisors for the Inter Religious Federation for World Peace, headed by Dr Frank Kaufmann.[6][7][8]
As one of the leading activists of the nonviolent movement in Europe of the end of the Cold War, Terasawa-sensei suggested Ukrainian religious leaders make a joint application for peace and a non-violent society in Ukraine.[9] On the day of commemoration for those killed on the Kyiv Maidan, he initiated yet another peace walk[10] in Kyiv and cities of south-eastern Ukraine.[11]
^Мёходзи 2006: «Terasawa-sensei has served as a monk for 39 years: 6 years in India, 15 in Europe and 16 years — in the former Soviet Union. (Russian: Тэрасава-сэнсэй имеет 39-летний опыт монашеской практики: 6 лет в Индии, 15 лет в Европе и уже 16 лет — в бывшем Советском Союзе. Сейчас он обучает небольшую группу монахов из России, Украины, Казахстана, а также Китая. С 2000 года въезд в Россию ему закрыт из-за выступлений против войны в Чечне.)»
^IRFWP 2013: «Reverend Junsei Terasawa became a Buddhist monk at a young age, and thereafter spent six years in India intensively studying and practicing Buddhism, and involving himself in the social reform movement to remove communal and caste division conflicts. Later, he contributed to the anti-nuclear peace marches and demonstrations throughout Europe and established the two Peace Pagodas in England. In India, he initiated the Rajgir Symposium on the Victory of Law over the nuclear menace, producing the visionary “New Delhi Declaration to build a Nuclear-free Non-violent World.” He initiated both Peace Camps on the Iraq-Saudi border in a bid to avert the Gulf War, and more recently, the 3-month Pakistan-India Prayer March for Peace. He also initiated the Inter-Faith Peace Mission to Chechnya with support of Prince El Hassan of Jordan and Mikhail Gorbachev. He invested greatly in an effort to resolve the Iraqi crisis through his initiation of the International Inter-Religious Peace Mission to Iraq. He led the Buddhist Delegation to Baghdad with their Appeal to President Sadam Hussein, President G.W. Bush, and other world leaders.»
^Свобода 31.03.2014: «In general the peace walk shell be held in thirteen cities in Ukraine and will last 15 days (Ukrainian: Загалом хода миру відбудеться ще у тринадцяти містах України і триватиме 15 днів)»
^Телеграф 31.03.2014: «The initiator of peace walk is Junsey Terasawa, a Japanese Buddhist monk-peacemaker and teacher of monastic order "Nippondzan Myohodzi" (Russian: Инициатором шествия мира является Дзюнсей Терасава, японский буддийский монах-миротворец и учитель монашеского ордена “Ниппондзан Мйоходзи”)»
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