2019
Founded — now in its 7th year
Zen · in dialogue with modern science
Where the equations of modern physics fall silent, the Buddha’s awakening speaks — an inquiry into who set this universe in motion, and what we are here to become.
The occasion
On 1 November 2026, ZEN Master Ken, teacher of Peace of Life, will deliver a formal Dharma talk at the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya, India — the place of the Buddha's enlightenment and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It is the first formal Dharma talk given by a Japanese teacher at the temple — returning the question at the heart of Peace of Life to the very ground where the Buddha awakened. Members of the international press are welcome; accreditation is arranged through the secretariat.
About
Peace of Life is a Japan-based community, now in its seventh year, devoted to a single inquiry: reading the Buddha’s awakening and the findings of modern physics as two accounts of one reality.
Several hundred members gather through the year for lectures and residential retreats, held at historic venues across Japan — among them the Imperial Hotel and the grounds of Meiji Jingu. Peace of Life is not a religious movement in the conventional sense: its work is a patient, open inquiry, carried out where the Zen of the Buddha and the questions of contemporary science meet.
The teaching
Modern physics and the Buddha arrive at the same frontier: how did this universe begin, and why are we in it? Peace of Life studies both paths to that frontier — and what the Buddha found beyond it.
Relativity, quantum theory, and the many-worlds interpretation all end at one wall: who, or what, caused the Big Bang in infinite space — the question behind the unified field theory.
Zen describes four stages of awakening — from the Arhat’s liberation to the Buddha’s full understanding of a universe, from its beginning to its completion.
In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha bestows Juki — a prophecy joined to a vow — upon his disciples. His teaching reads this as the very mechanism by which a new universe comes into being.
“Who caused the Big Bang in infinite space … and what should we humans live for in this world?”
— The Gateway to ZEN
The teacher
ZEN Master Ken is the teacher and guide of Peace of Life — described in his books simply as an extraordinary figure who realized ZEN in its perfection, and beyond. His teaching joins the Buddha’s awakening with the language of modern physics, and translates both into a practice for daily life.
He is the author of more than ten books on Zen, the Buddha’s life, and the origins of the cosmos, including a title that reached number one on Amazon Japan. Two of his works now appear in English for readers in twenty countries, and three further titles are being written directly in English.
Full biography and portrait to be added.
Books
Two works by ZEN Master Ken appear in English in 2026, published across twenty countries. Each approaches the same summit from an opposite face — one through the Buddha’s life, one through the history of physics.
Three further titles, written originally in English, are in preparation. Cover imagery and international store links will be added on publication.
Press & contact
A press kit for the Mahabodhi sermon — fact sheet, biography of ZEN Master Ken, background on Peace of Life, and high-resolution imagery — is in preparation and available on request.
For interviews, accreditation, and enquiries in English or Japanese, please contact the secretariat.