THE PEACE WARRIOR

Three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Dr Scilla Elworthy advocates peace through fearless action and activating feminine intelligence

- Aekta Kapoor

On Dr Scilla Elworthy’s work desk at her home in Oxford, UK, there stands a framed photo of Guan Yin, the goddess of compassion, or the Chinese adaptation of the Sanksrit Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, who embodies the compassion of all the Buddhas. As a goddess, Guan Yin is the pinnacle of mercy, kindness and love, and as a Bodhisattva, she represents one who has earned moksha (release from the cycles of birth and death) and is destined to become a Buddha, but has forgone the bliss of nirvana and instead takes birth time and again with a vow to lead all the rest of humanity to the Truth.

“Guan Yin is my guide. I am attracted to Eastern philosophies, especially Buddhism. I strongly believe we are all interconnected, and that our thoughts are very powerful,” says Scilla, the youthful 77-year-old peace builder and author of The Business Plan for Peace: Building a World Without War (2017), which, in the words of (2017), which, in the words of Nobel Peace Laureate and civilrights activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu, “demonstrates – steadily and sensibly – how anyone can develop this inner power to build their own personal contribution to the future, and to a world that works for all.”

It was a similar motivation that led Scilla to set up The Oxford Research Group (ORG) almost 40 years ago to facilitate effective dialogue between nuclear decisionmakers and nuclear disarmament activists. The result was pathbreaking work for which Scilla and ORG were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988, 1989 and 1991. Scilla was also the force behind Peace Direct, a nonprofit launched in 2002 to fund, promote and learn from local peace-builders in conflict areas. In 2003, she received the Niwano Peace Prize in Tokyo for promoting nonviolent methods of resolving conflict.