Talk:Grafton, New York Peace Pagoda celebrates birth of Buddha with Flower Festival

The Grafton Peace Pagoda is one of only two peace pagodas in the United States. It is in a relatively remote area of New York State so when I first discovered its existence I was quite surprised and amazed. But the most amazing story I heard is that Jun-san, the nun who runs the pagoda, started building it with nothing more than a spoon as a digging implement. Her Buddhist sect does not permit solicitation for money, so all materials and labor had to be donated. When word got around that Jun-san was going to build a Peace Pagoda, locals and travellers, Buddhists and non-Buddhists, came to help her in her task.

I was there out of curiosity and realized that as I took upon myself the role of reporter that my own observational qualities improved. Furthermore, this was an event of global significance and I was almost sure that this would probably go unreported. Thus, I decided to use Wikinews and my own experience to try to report on this event.

Other information of note: Jun-san has walked across America three or more times to promote peace. She and others just completed a walk from one of the southern U.S. states to the United Nations. There is a planned walk for Hiroshima to Nagasaki this summer.

E. C. De Laurentiis 22:20, 9 May 2005 (UTC)


 * Very nice! Great to have this! Lyellin 22:24, 9 May 2005 (UTC)