The Costs of War, Violence, and Denial

Claude Anshin Thomas, the author of the best selling book “At Hell's Gate: A Soldier’s Journey from War to Peace,” will speak at the Walpole Public Library on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 7:30 PM. In this talk Claude recounts his dramatic coming-of-age story and spiritual odyssey from combat soldier to Zen Buddhist monk and advocate of nonviolence. He offers profound insight into ways we can end suffering and violence in our own lives and in our world. His struggle to deal with the trauma of Vietnam and to find personal peace and spiritual insight is a prism through which to view America over the last thirty years – our difficulty in coming to terms with the legacy of Vietnam, our spiritual hunger, and our need to come to terms with our massive power and our use of violence.

“Everyone has their Vietnam,” Claude writes, “everyone has experienced trauma and everyone, if they want, can find healing and peace through looking deeply at the nature of their suffering. War is a collective expression of individual suffering.” The seeds of war and violence are planted early and often, and it is only through our actions and insights personally that we can hope to end war globally. What is startling in these days of the “war on terrorism” is that we rarely hear from the soldiers themselves. As a highly decorated helicopter crew chief who was wounded in battle and received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart, Claude speaks with an authenticity and an honesty that is extremely compelling to a wide audience. He can speak with direct experience about the realities of war, about what we are sending young men and women to do, and about the effect that making war has on all of us.

Claude Anshin Thomas went to Vietnam at the age of eighteen, where he received numerous medals, including twenty-seven Air Medals, a Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart. Today he is a monk in the Soto Zen tradition and an active speaker and Zen teacher, traveling the world speaking about war and teaching meditation. He also leads peace pilgrimages through war-torn and war-scarred places around the world. Claude is the founder of the Zaltho Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes peace and non-violence. The talk is sponsored by the Walpole Peace and Justice Group and is open to the public.