" Today the world has become a nuclear arsenal. All the peoples of the world are forced to live fearfully as if waiting for the fires to be set. When four billion peoples of the world rise up, raising their hands and their voices for peace under renewed international ethics, insisting that they want no more war, they want not to be killed and never want to kill another, but that they shall live harmoniously with non-violence…,when we can come together in this way we will be able to prevent the disaster by nuclear weapons."

Seventh Annual Walk for a New Spring

A Walk from Boston to Washington, DC

Jan 6 – Feb 15, 2008

Walk for a New Spring will begin its annual walk from the New England Peace Pagoda in Leverett, MA on Sunday, January 6, 2008 and walk locally to the Leverett Congregational Church where we will join the Sunday service. This year, the 40 day walk will begin its first full day in Boston on Monday, January 7, 2008 and will end in Washington, DC on Friday, February 15, 2008.

The Walk for a New Spring is initiated by Nipponzan Myohoji, a Japanese Buddhist Order that builds pagodas around the world and initiates walks for peace. They state that, “Just as the generosity of Mother earth does not fail to bring forth Spring out of Winter, we walk believing that we ordinary people can bring forth the power of peace and equity both within our daily lives locally and within the governmental power structure. We walk for an awakening of conscience, of desiring to do good and putting down harmful actions, believing and esteeming that seed of pure divinity within all people, even those who do much harm”.

The Walk's aim is to visit communities along our route calling for the:

• Abolition of nuclear weapons
• Renunciation of war
• Transformation of our thinking from fear to building a belief in humanity.
• Putting the well being of human beings and the natural world at the center of our thinking rather than the dominance of economical and material concerns.

In the towns and cities Walk participants will talk to mayors about the international organization, Mayors for Peace. Mayors for Peace was created 25 years ago by the Mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to help other cities avoid the tragedy they faced in 1945 with the dropping of atomic bombs in Japan. Currently there are more than 1700 mayors world-wide that have joined Mayors for Peace. The goal is to completely eliminate all nuclear weapons by the year 2020.

As the Walk for a New Spring moves down the east coast they will seek the assistance of the local community members to:

• Bring together a wide cross-section of the local community for a potluck meal.
• Help organize a program which could include conversation, panel discussion, film or video screening and a report on the progress of the walk.
• Provide a safe haven for overnight stay
• Introduce and accompany the walk to see the mayors of the community.

For more information or to find out how you can participate or help please contact: