Claude AnShin Peace and Non-Violence
| Claude AnShin Thomas served in the Vietnam War from 1966 - ?67 as a Helicopter Crew Chief at the age of 18 and was seriously wounded during the war ? physically, psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually. Since that time he has been working to heal the wounds of war. During this process, Claude became a member of the Vietnamese monastery and retreat center, Plum Village, founded and guided by Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh. Subsequent to that Claude was ordained as a Zen Buddhist Monk in the Japanese Soto and Rinzai Zen Traditions as AnShin AnGyo in August 1995 by Bernie Tetsugen Glassman Roshi.
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Claude AnShin is active in creating and working for socially engaged projects serving the disenfranchised. He speaks publicly and internationally on the subjects of peace, non-violence, and waking up to and healing of suffering, both personal and collective. He leads Mindfulness Meditation Retreats, Street-Retreats, Pilgrimages and visits schools, hospitals and places of past or current wars and conflicts.
Peace and Non-Violence Public Talk
November 28 / 7:00 PM - November 28 / 9:00 PM
Held at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre - 1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver.
Tickets - $15.00 (generosity policy applies; no one turned away for lack of funds)
Peace and Non-Violence 2 Day Workshop
The Waking Up to the Healing of Suffering both Personal and Collective.
[Day 1] November 29 / Registration: 8:00 AM - Program 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
[Day 2] November 30 / Program 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Price: $100.00 (generosity policy applies; no one turned away for lack of funds) The Vancouver Shambhala Centre - 3275 Heather St. Seating for this program is limited. To Register for the Workshop click HERE.
BIOGRAPHY
Claude? AnShin? Thomas
I was born in rural, Northwestern Pennsylvania in November of 1947. I was introduced to a practice of sitting meditation through my study of Martial Arts (Hop Ki Do) in 1961. I graduated from High School in 1965. Upon graduation I enlisted in the United States Army, completed my training and volunteered for duty in Vietnam where I served as a helicopter Crew Chief from September of 1966 to November of 1967. During my service in Vietnam I was shot down on 5 separate occasions and wounded. I was honorably discharged from the US Army in August of 1968.
During the next several years I was to complete a Bachelor of Science degree in English Education and complete the majority of course work towards a Master of Fine Arts in English (concentrating on creative writing). All of this education was at Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. I then wandered about Europe, Asia, and the Far East before returning back to the United States to pursue a musical career that spanned 11 years, yielding 4 independent albums of what has been defined as Socially Conscious Rock and Roll. Throughout this period of my life I was also very politically and socially active working to end the war in Vietnam, working for student rights and later working to address the plight of many of my fellow veterans who were being socially ostracized suffering homelessness, drug addiction, unemployability, social isolation, and abnormally high rates of suicide, divorce, and imprisonment. All of these were conditions with which I was intimately aware and personally familiar. I also began the study of another Martial Art, Shaolin Kung Fu. I became an accomplished in this tradition as well as Hop Ki Do, teaching (at one point) as many as 500 students. During this time I also attended and graduated from Lesley College in Cambridge, MA with a Masters Degree in Management (MSM).
In 1991 I came in contact with the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh. In this process I became a member of the Vietnamese monastery and retreat center, Plum Village in southern France, founded and guided by the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, becoming awake to the devastating and lasting effects of war and how to make peace with this unpeacefulness (healing). I was ordained a Zen Buddhist Monk, AnShin AnGyo, in 1995 by Bernie Tetsugen Glassman, Roshi, founder of the Maezumi Institute, the Greyston Foundation and co-founder of the Peacemaker Order.
I have published my first book in 2004 with the title ?AT HELL?S GATE, A Soldier?s Journey From War To Peace? and am currently working on two more books. I am active in creating and working for socially engaged projects serving the disenfranchised (the homeless, imprisoned, drug addicted, the wealthy, etc.). I speak and lead retreats internationally on Mindfulness and Meditation Practice, Transformation, and Reconciliation. I speak publicly on the subjects of peace and the waking up to and healing of suffering, both personal suffering and collective suffering.
I have worked for Peace in the Balkans, and participated in a Pilgrimage for Peace with the Venerable Brother Sasamori Shonin of the Nippozan Myohoji lineage of the Japanese Nichiren Order. This pilgrimage began in Auschwitz in December of 1994 and ended in Japan (Hiroshima/Nagasaki) in August of 1995. On March 1, 1998, I began a New York to California cross-country journey, which was completed July 29, 1998. This Pilgrimage is known as the American Zen Pilgrimage. I (and those who walked with me) practiced the ancient Buddhist tradition of takahatsu, or alms begging, with the main focus of the journey being a concentration on realizing the unknown, bearing witness, and healing. From August to October 1999 I walked through many concentration camp sites, prisoner of war camps, prisons and other places of suffering connected to the Second World war in Germany and did so again in the fall of 2002 on a pilgrimage from Budapest, Hungary through Austria to Bergen-Belsen, Germany. In 2004 I walked from September until mid November on pilgrimage from Concord, MA to Ground Zero in New York City to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. In 2007 I walked from March until May on pilgrimage along the entire US/Mexican Border starting in Brownsville, TX and finishing south of San Diego, CA.
I founded the ZALTHO FOUNDATION, INC., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose purpose is to promote peace and nonviolence in and among individuals, families, societies, and countries supporting all efforts to attain this goal through whatever peaceful and nonviolent means available. This Foundation is also beginning to take roots in other European and Asia countries.
Last update: 04-12-2008 00:25
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