The Peace Pagoda was presented to Londoners by the
Venerable Nichidatsu Fuji (affectionately nicknamed ‘Guruji’ by his
close friend Mahatma Gandhi) in 1984. Founder of the Japanese Buddhist
movement, Nipponzan Myohoji, Guruji stated that 'Civilisation is not to
kill human beings, not to destroy things, nor make war; civilisation is
to hold mutual affection and to respect one another'. Following the
atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he pledged to build pagodas
worldwide as shrines to peace. The Battersea pagoda was constructed by
nuns, monks and other followers of the Nipponzan Myohoji sect and was
completed in 1985 just weeks after Guruji died at the grand old age of
100.
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