Damien Echols + Sensei T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki

Damien Echols reviews the steps that led to his trial as one of the ‘West Memphis Three’, his incarceration for 18 years, and ultimate release four years ago. Helping him put these experiences into the Buddhist context of karma is Sensei T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki, who was ordained as priest in the 750-year-old Jodoshinshu tradition of Japanese Buddhism.

About the Speakers

Damien Echols, at the age of eighteen, was convicted of murder along with two other teenagers. They would become known as the West Memphis Three. Echols received a death sentence and spent almost eighteen years on death row until he was released in 2011. The West Memphis Three are the subject of Paradise Lost, a three-part documentary series produced by HBO, and West of Memphis, a documentary produced by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh. Echols is the author of the New York Times best-selling memoir Life After Death (2012) and Yours for Eternity, which he co-wrote with his wife, Lorri Davis. Echols is an artist, and has had two sold-out shows at Sacred Gallery in New York City. He is preparing for several group shows in Los Angeles with his art collective The Hand.

Sensei T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki is a Buddhist priest ordained in the 750-year-old Jodoshinshu tradition of Japanese Buddhism. He is President of the Buddhist Council of New York, Vice President of the Interfaith Center of New York, Community Clergy Liaison for the NYC Police Dept., and Religious Advisor to the Japanese-American Lions Club. Since 1994 Nakagaki has organized an annual Interfaith Peace event to commemorate the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. In 1985 he came to the United States, serving various temples, including Seattle Buddhist Church, (1985-1989), Parlier Buddhist Church (1989-1994), and New York Buddhist Church (1994-2010).