To submit a peace statement for the Universal Peace Wheel, download peace curriculum or Read books for peace visit:  www.aboutus.org/peacewheel

A visit to Tibet…a poem shared at a local poetry night … three years of blood, sweat, and tears … the state of Nevada has birthed Elko Peace Park , new home to the Universal Peace Wheel, is a copper embossed cylindrical art form that visitors spin, sending billions of wishes for world peace into the world. It is designed in the Tibetan Prayer Wheel tradition, the first of it’s kind located on public land in the United States.

It represents kindness for all humanity, and represents universal responsibility, one that includes all people, animals, cultures, faith, and living traditions. It is a very moving experience to whiteness people who see the Peace Wheel for the first time. Tears of joy come to their eyes, as their face softens with delight as they learn what the wheel symbolizes, and the benefits of having a Universal Peace Wheel in our community.

" …. there are so many benefits…. A prayer wheel blesses all the insects that are in the ground and around, not counting all the people who turn it…. It is a very great blessing for the whole region!…. by turning it only once the benefits created by this are the equal to several years of retreat. It is an incredible purification, it enables one to create merits that are as infinite as the sky.” (Lama Zopa Rinpoche)

The hand crafted 60” X40” copper embossed wheel is being made by craftsman Gopal Sapkota in Nepal. The symbols, carved from wood blocks are used to hammer the copper into artwork. Panels cover a cylindrical wooden frame, mounted on a Jesus bearing. The wheel is filled with peace statements and traditional mantras. When visitors turn the peace wheel, billions of wishes for peace and healing go out into the world.

The first 1000 handwritten peace statements were created by local students and community members and express the benefits of turning a peace wheel.  The first 10,000 received will be included in the Universal Peace Wheel, at Elko Peace Park.  

With your help, The Universal Peace Wheel could contain 1000 billion world peace mantras on microfilm.

“All those with fortune please show, tell and spread this Wheel of Dharma om mani padme hung to others. Please spread the benefits of this wheel, for doing so is the same as preserving and spreading the Buddhadharma.” (Prayer wheel benefits from Lama Zopa Rinpoche)

Elko Park Foundation has raised one million dollars for Elko Peace Park, which includes funds to construct the Peace Wheel and shade structure. In fall of 2008, we began construction of the trail system linking all the areas of the park. Last summer construction began on the restrooms, bridges, and shade structures, garden and lawn areas, as well as developing several art and cultural aspects of the park. The Elko Park foundation is scheduled to complete this work this summer.

In 2009, The Universal Peace Wheel was recognized by the National Endowments of the Arts and the Nevada Arts Council for its excellence in landscape design.  The wheel is lit from within the shade structure, and viewable by two public buildings located across the street from Elko Peace Park. The Women’s Domestic Shelter and our Nevada State offices; where 80 employees serve welfare and mental health client’s daily.

The Elko Peace Park opens this summer, 2010.

With everything in place, we invite you to help us complete what’s needed for the wheel to be part of the opening ceremony:

• 10,000 hand-written peace statements

• $10,000 to complete the landscape design around the wheel.

• $140,000 to purchase the microfilm (1000 billion manis) and to gold leaf the letters.

• Read books for peace (15% of sales funds the Peace Wheel)

To submit a peace statement, purchase peace books, and for additional information visit:

www.aboutus.org/peacewheel

If you are a celebrity or a Nobel Laureate we would like permission to copy your peace statement and put it on the wall outside the Universal Peace Wheel to inspire visitors.  We would also like permission to include the names of donors contributing over $1,000, to list your name on the donor plaque in the park.

Thank you for being a part of this amazing project.

with kind regards,

julie caldwell

motivate@frontiernet.net