In one realization, all is realized,

In one flash of cognition, all is cognized.

-Bodhidharma 

Zen Buddhism promotes the idea that enlightenment can be “sudden”—“in one glance.” This notion of the immanency of spiritual liberation had a profound impact on American avant-garde artists, musicians, and writers during the “Zen Boom” in the 1950s and 60s.

In 1969, at the zenith of the countercultural movement and its protest of the Vietnam War, Yoko and John Lennon launched an international multimedia campaign for world peace that declared, 

WAR IS OVER! IF YOU WANT IT! HAPPY CHRISTMAS FROM JOHN & YOKO.

The original campaign spanned 12 cities and consisted of thousands of posters and handbills, scores of rented billboard spaces, and even a new song written by John entitled “Happy Xmas (War Is Over).” The premise was to challenge a populace to re-conceive a war that had become seemingly without end. 

"You’ve got the power," Lennon told young Americans in an interview. "All we have to do is remember that: we’ve all got the power. That’s why we said ‘war is over if you want it.’ . . . . Don’t believe that jazz that there’s nothing you can do, ‘just turn on and drop out, man.’ You’ve got to turn on and drop in. Or they’re going to drop all over you."

Recollecting the campaign, in a recent social media post, Yoko writes, “The road to Peace has been longer than John and I hoped it would be, but sitting here today as I write this, I can still see it waiting for us just over the horizon. Waiting for us to realize it’s already there.⁣”

We honor Yoko and John with this unique twist on their original and invite you to re-conceive your reality—SAMSARA IS OVER! IF YOU WANT IT.

Sticker size 2” x 3”