The Abhaya mudrā ("mudrā of no-fear")
In Laos, the mudrā is shown with both hands making a double Abhaya mudrā that is translated as "No War". The abhaya mudra on a (standing) walking Buddha is called 'the Buddha placing his footprint' and is unique to this region.
In a region that has suffered colonialism, civil war and the largest bombing mission throughout the American-Vietnam war, this is a particularly poignant symbol.
The US dropped two million tons and 580,000 bombing missions - the equivalent of a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes, 24-hours a day, for 9 years in a secret bombing campaign from 1964-1973.
The bombing was an effort to destroy North Vietnamese supply lines and fend off the North Vietnamese Army. The Ravens, U.S. pilots in Laos, flew 1.5 times the number of air sorties flown in all of Vietnam.
Each cluster bomb scattered several hundred tennis-ball-sized bomblets (known as bombies in Laos) over 5000-sq-meter areas. About 260 million cluster bomblets fell over Laos with close to 53 million bomblets dropped within one kilometer of villages.
Up to 30% of the bomblets did not detonate on impact, leaving an estimated 86 million unexploded cluster bomblets buried in fields, roads, forests, rivers and villages. Laos continues to have the largest unexploded landmines and bombs of any nation.
http://www.legaciesofwar.org/traveling-exhibit/history/history-bombing-laos
Perhaps we can remember this reminder of how important it is to promote Peace on the planet.
...No War, Protection, Fearlessness, Benevolence to all beings...
Upajjhatthana Sutta - Five Daily Remberances
Kammassakomhi kammadāyādo kammayoni kammabandhū kammapaṭisaraṇo yaṃ kammaṃ karissāmi kalyāṇaṃ vā pāpakaṃ vā tassa dāyādo bhavissāmī...
I am the owner of my actions, heir to my actions, born of my actions, related to my actions, abide supported by my actions. For whatever actions I do, for good or for ill, of these I shall be the heir.
