You are invited to attend a free world peace prayer event in Hiroshima, Japan on December 12, 2000. This event will include a beautiful lantern floating ritual the night of the 11th, which will be the last full moon of the millennium in Hiroshima. The next morning at 8:15 (the time the A - bomb exploded) we will join hands, form a circle around the A - bomb Cenotaph in Hiroshima's Peace Park, and have a moment of silence to recall the culmination of unrestrained power struggle. Then, after walking about five minutes to a hall that seats exactly 2001 people, we will say goodbye to the 20th century and, with music, symbolic action, and silence, offer a collective prayer that the 21st will see the end of war and a dramatic shift toward cooperation and harmony.

       As residents of the first city to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon, we want to do everything in our power to make sure that the 21st century will be one of peace and harmony for all. To that end, we are issuing an invitation to peace-loving people throughout the world to gather in Hiroshima for a ceremony designed to improve the balance and flow of relationships

1) between individuals,

2) between individuals and their societies, and

3) between human beings and the natural environment.

      On October 13, a full moon, Native American medicine man Tom Dostou will lead a group who will be walking from Tokyo to Hiroshima.

     We will begin the December World Peace Prayer Event on the evening of the 11th, the night of the last full moon of the millennium [Editor's note: Remember, we didn't all celebrate the end of the millennium in December 1999] , and complete it in the morning of the 12th day of the 12th month of the 12th year (of the Heisei era on the Japanese calendar). The number 12 symbolizes the beginning and end of time, the time when both hands on the clock point straight up, the end and beginning of the Earth's journey around the sun, the perfect balance of day and night. This particular 12th is an extremely auspicious day for circulation, relationship, the end and beginning of cycles, the end of the civilization of power, the beginning of the civilization of love.

     Despite the numerology that played a part in selecting the day, the group behind this event is not a religious group, nor is it a governmental group nor any sort of business enterprise. It is not an on - going group at all, just a collection of ordinary residents of Hiroshima coming together around an idea. Therefore, we are inviting ordinary citizens of the world to join us. The first 2001 people to register will be accepted without qualification. You can make sure you are among them by contacting us at the numbers below or emailing us.

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The Purpose and Meaning of this Event

Pika! Dohnn!
Words too terrible, grief-laden to understand.
First the burning light "pika,"
then the blast, "dohn."

Fifty years ago, those of us who survived our encounter with this
new weapon of mass murder didn't know its name. We had no
idea what manner of beast it was. We called it pika-dohn.

Water, water, we begged.
We fled to the rivers for water and died.
Even the uninjured. Radiation!
"After the bombing,
a boy carried to a school some distance away
was lying on a straw mat, burned and torn and writhing.
That night, he stood
alone in the empty schoolyard.
"Yeah, uh-huh," he nodded,
like he was talking to someone.
The ghost of his mother, maybe.
A few hours later he was dead.

"My own pretty little girl was about to be married,
now her face is covered with keloid scars.
A grandson, a daughter, a son - all dead!
War's wrong! It's evil!
People shouldn't kill each other!
Never again! No excuse for it!"
The old man has tears in his eyes.

The morning of August 6, 1945,
this old man was young. He stepped easily from
a train at Hiroshima Station. At 8:13 am,
he turned in his ticket and walked
into a tunnel leading under the tracks
to the other side of the station.

He walked in silence.
Suddenly, an enormous roaring sound.
A powerful blast of wind knocked him down.
Heart racing,
he hurried through the tunnel
wondering what could have happened.
He emerged, stepping over bodies, and found
his city gone, flattened, and swiftly becoming a sea of fire.
When he entered that tunnel,
it was just another beautiful summer's day.
Coming out, he was shocked beyond words,
by a living hell as far as the eye could see.
That hell afforded no time for wondering what happened.
But now he knows
what hell is all about.

Tears and prayers.
One year, two years, three years, praying to console the lost souls.
Ten years, twenty years, thirty years, continually losing more souls to the same bomb.
Hiroshima's peace declaration comes from people who know,
deep in their bones, the horrible foolishness of war.

Citizens of the Earth, we know.
Whatever you may think you want, we guarantee
you all want nothing more than peace and love and harmony.

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     As we greet the new century, let's put our past behind. Let's create a moment beyond nationality, language, religion, and ideology. For the wellbeing of the human race, let's celebrate the last full moon of this millennium, a calm, clear light in darkness, the promise of pure, all - encompassing prosperity, the clean light of hope and the fleeting perception of perfection. Let's meet again the following day, and, at 8:15 am (the time the bomb exploded) join hands for a moment of silence on the 12th day of the 12th month of the 12th year, in Peace Memorial Park to end a time of enmity and create a time of flow, completion, and harmony. At 9:00 am, in nearby Kosei Nenkin Hall (which seats exactly 2001), let's look together at images recalling the errors of the 20th century. Let's listen together to A - bomb survivors, then lament and pray for the souls of all victims sacrificed to any war, then, together, in silence, let's offer up our hopes for the 21st century.

     This is a call from the people of Hiroshima to the people of the world. As individual human beings, let's gather, contributing our individual hopes to create a critical mass and an explosion of promise more powerful than any bomb. An explosion that will, without doubt, direct the sacred energy of peace - loving citizens of the Earth toward our common desire of peace and harmony in the 21st century. To render this ideal as fact and offer this moment of unified, silent hope, we call on you to join us. Please make sure your part of the world is with us.

The gathering (including lantern floating and a reception
the night of the 11th and lunch on the 12th) is FREE,
but you MUST be registered in advance.
For details, contact: The Gathering of 2001
1-4-3-401 Kamiyacho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima
730 81-82-247-0250 Fax 81-82-245-2051
E-mail: transnet@urban.ne.jp

You can also find more information at:
www.nttl-net.ne.jp/hiroshima2001 (use link to get to English)
or http://village.infoweb.ne.jp/~hi2001/index.html (for English directly)

Steve Leeper is publishing this event and
can be reached at transnet@urban.ne.jp or
fax to: 81-245-2051 (Japan)