Interfaith Pilgrimage for Peace and Life 1995 excerpt
"Eight months after leaving Auschwitz, Poland (a World War II Nazi concentration camp), the Interfaith Pilgrimage for Peace and Life 1995 arrived in Tokyo to celebrate the successful completion of a long journey. The group of approximately 80 pilgrims had walked and traveled through Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia, reaching Hiroshima on 6 August and Nagasaki on 9 August 1995 exactly 50 years after the atomic bombings of those cities by the United States. Their walk had been organized by an American Jewish woman together with a Japanese Buddhist order of monks (Nipponzan Myohoji School) to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II. During the journey, the pilgrims, who represented various nationalities and faiths, spent time in meditation and self-reflection, believing that by awakening their own consciences they would help awaken the consciences of others. One goal of the pilgrimage was to forge international ties and mutual understanding among individuals and organizations working for the cause of peace."
