Language converges on day of peace
Karen Peterson photo
Visitors took laps around 1,000 Buddha statues.
Karen Peterson photo
Stipn (Stephen) Smallsalmon receives gifts from Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche after his speech on language and peace.
Karen Peterson photo
Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche hosts a parade to bless new additions to the garden, including eight plaques in different languages containing a prayer.
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ARLEE – Locals and travelers speaking languages from Japanese to Salish came to the Garden of One Thousand Buddhas with peace on their minds for the center’s 10th annual Festival of Peace.
“Generally, everyone deserves happiness, peace and harmony all over the globe,” said Tulku Sang-ngag Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist lama with English translation from Namchak Dorji. Rinpoche hopes for “peace among different cultures” to create global unity.
Kendra Sowa from Chicago helped lead the parade around the garden after the morning’s peace walk in traditional Balinese dress, although she isn’t affiliated with any religion. Peace, she said, is created through acceptance.
“Accepting the beliefs and ideas of others is how we create peace,” she said. “You accept them and they accept you. I like to try new things and experience other cultures and religions. It’s cool to see what other people are passionate about.”
Kayoko Gingawa from Tokyo, Japan, came to see the garden with a dozen friends, including Keiko Bautise from Hawaii.
“Peace makes my heart calm,” Gingawa said. “Being here is relaxing. We are learning here and taking it back to Japan.”
Many people shared their ideas on developing peace during the day through prayer, music and speech. Julie Cajune spoke about the protection of the environment. Lama Tsomo asked people to interact with one another kindly.
“If we could manage to live peacefully with each other, we could solve a lot of the world’s problems,” Tsomo said.
Before the peace center broke ground 10 years ago, it was important to Rinpoche to connect with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
“Before we got set up, they were skeptical,” Rinpoche said. “We fully cooperated with the tribe. They found out we were about peace. Now, we have very good relations. We want to help bring harmony with different cultures.”
Stipn (Stephen) Smallsalmon spoke at the event. He introduced himself as a full-blooded Pend d’Oreille fluent in Salish. He attended every one of the 10 peace days at the center. He began his speech in Salish before switching over to English.
“Any language is beautiful,” he said. “This is Indian land. We are sharing this land. Rinpoche (and I) have gotten to be buddies. Today we should be happy and exchange languages.”
