‘Peace One Day’ meditations at the LBC

21st September was adopted by the United Nations as ‘World Peace Day’ following a campaign by East Londoner Jeremy Gilley. All nations are asked to observe an annual day of global ceasefire and non-violence on this day - the UN International Day of Peace, fixed in the global calendar on 21 September.

For the second year running the London Buddhist Centre marked it with a day of street meditation – a row of meditators constantly sitting in meditation on the pavement of the busy streets outside the LBC, with a banner explaining what was happening. Passers-by were given leaflets with text from the Dhammapada, the local papers were in attendance. Who knows what the consequences of such actions are - perhaps the strongest effects of the day were experienced by the meditators themselves, who reported strong meditations despite the noise and chaos all around. Participants spoke of feeling unusually strong metta, also of being unusually concentrated despite the 'unsupportive' conditions.

Check the ‘Peace One Day’ website on http://www.peaceoneday.org/ for more background.