The Dharma of Deterrence: Reflections on Two Decades in the WMD World
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Please join our Peacemaker Member Circle for a conversation with Dr. Chris Ford, a Zen Buddhist, who served as the senior most U.S. official concerned with arms control and nonproliferation during the Trump administration.

ZPI Board Member Grant Couch, Sensei, will host the conversation, in which Dr. Ford will explore how his work in the State Department became a good ground for his dharma practice.

Specifically, Dr. Ford will share his reflections on the challenges he faced as a Buddhist practitioner working in the Weapons of Mass Destruction policy arena. Some of the reflections will be based on the essay he wrote in 2009, entitled “Nukes and the Vow: Security Strategy as Peacework,” in which he expounded on his views of nuclear deterrence from the perspective of the Bodhisattva Vow. He will also speak on them from a 2021 standpoint, after an additional decade in the arms control, nonproliferation, and nuclear deterrence business.

The Dharma of Deterrence: Reflections on Two Decades in the WMD World