Junsei Terasawa ( ja, 寺沢潤世, russian: Дзюнсэй Тэрасава, uk, Дзюнсей Терасава; September 15, 1950) is a Japanese

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

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 The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. Presently, he teaches groups of monks from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and China. In 2000 he was forbidden to enter

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

in opposition to War in Chechnya.

Biography

Junsei Terasawa was born on September 15, 1950 into a poor family in the small town of

Hakui, Ishikawa is a city located in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 22,052 in 8566 households, and a population density of 270 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Geography Hakui occupies the southwestern nec ...

Noto Peninsula The Noto Peninsula (能登半島, ''Noto-hantō'') is a peninsula that projects north into the Sea of Japan from the coast of Ishikawa Prefecture in central Honshū, the main island of Japan. The main industries of the peninsula are agricultur ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. 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 Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

and active nonviolent resistor

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

, Terasawa, at 17 years ''went forth into homelesness'' to go to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

and join a unique peacemaking Nipponzan Myōhōji activity, led by its founder teacher

Nichidatsu Fujii was a Japanese Buddhist monk, and founder of the Nipponzan-Myōhōji order of Buddhism. He is best known for his decision in 1947 to begin constructing Peace Pagodas in many locations around the world as shrines to world peace. Fujii was bor ...

. Under the guidance of Fujii, he organized and conducted many mass peacemaking actions. This included founding the Peace Pagodas in

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. 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 Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

, burned his finger phalanx and made a

Peace March A peace walk or peace march, sometimes referred to as a peace pilgrimage, is a form of nonviolent action where a person or group marches a set distance to raise awareness for particular issues important to the walkers. 350 km Long Peace Walk New ...

from

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

to the wall. Terasawa participated in the annual sessions of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva as a representative of the

International Peace Bureau The International Peace Bureau (IPB) (french: Bureau international de la paix), founded in 1891, is one of the world's oldest international peace federations. The organisation was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910 for acting "as a link be ...

and is one of the advisors for the Inter Religious Federation for World Peace, headed by Dr

Frank Kaufmann Frank Kaufmann is the director of the Inter Religious Federation for World Peace (IRFWP) (originally a Unification Church ecumenical organization). He served as editor in chief of the IRFWP's academic journal ''Dialogue and Alliance'' from 1998 ...

. 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. On the day of commemoration for those killed on Kyiv Maydan, he initiated yet another peace walk in Kiev and cities of south-eastern Ukraine.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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Further materials

* * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Junsei, Terasawa Japanese Buddhist clergy Nichiren Buddhist monks 1950 births Living people Engaged Buddhists

Biography

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Further materials