A Monument to Peace . . .
Something as elusive today as it was forty years ago
“We are grateful . . . for the infinite gifts of heaven and earth,” reads the inscription. It acknowledges “the true fundamental of the human soul that pursues the truth, implements the good, creates beauty and renews his will to step forward.”
The monument, installed in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in 1984, references the artist’s Buddhist path, or “way.”
“This way,” it explains, “brings about peace in mind and on earth by mutual understanding, encouragement and help . . .”
The carved stone replicates Japanese calligrapher and Buddhist priest Bundo Shunkai (1878–1970)’s “Great Nature.”
Its adjacent explanatory stone proclaims that it is “in recognition of the continued quest for world peace by all people.”
The quest continues.