Junsei Terasawa (, , ; September 15, 1950) is a Japanese

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

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 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

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

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

because of his opposition to the 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 (, ''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. Before the Meiji era, the peninsula belonged to Noto Province. Th ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. 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 Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...

and active nonviolent resistor

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalism, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethics, political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful Indian ...

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

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

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 status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

and

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England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. 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 Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

, 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 Ne ...

from

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

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; ), 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 between the peace societies of the various ...

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 List of Unification Church affiliated organizations#InterFaith organizations, Inter Religious Federation for World Peace (IRFWP) (originally a Unification Church ecumenical organization). He served as editor ...

. 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 the Kyiv Maidan, he initiated yet another peace walk in Kyiv 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" ()»

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Further materials

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

Biography

See also

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References

Further materials