New England Peace Pagoda facts for kids
The New England Peace Pagoda is a peace pagoda located in Leverett, Massachusetts. It was the first Nipponzan-Myōhōji Peace Pagoda to be built in the United States and was completed in 1985. Franklin County Technical School brought students from their electrical, plumbing, and carpentry shops to assist in building the temple.
A brief history of the Pagoda is posted at the bulletin board at the complex:
The most Venerable Nichidatsu Fujii built his first pagoda on a mountain in Japan after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A Buddhist monk and founder of the Nipponzan Myohoji order, Fujii consecrated the domed shrine to universal peace and enlightenment, reviving both the form and religious purpose of a 2,500-year old tradition of stupa design that originated in India. "The appearing of a pagoda touches the hearts and minds of all people," he explained. "Those who venerate this pagoda absolutely reject nuclear warfare and firmly believe that a peaceful world will be manifested." Before his death in January 1985, at the age of 100, Fujii had inspired the construction of more than 70 pagodas in Asia and Europe, and overseen the beginnings of the first in North America, the Leverett Peace Pagoda. The site for the latest project, a wooded hilltop in western Massachusetts, was donated to the order, as were the services of those who designed the stupa and the labor of over 1,000 volunteers from many faiths.
