NSN.-Since November, 300-pound emerging Buddhas have suddenly appeared in 10 neighborhoods of Chicago, including Little Village Back of the Yards, Rogers Park, South Chicago, and Lawndale.

Some believe that the solution to neighborhood violence is increase police presence and for others is teaching parents how to raise respectful children and for some idealists there is the art.

That is the theory behind the organization called Ten Thousand Ripples a project that culminated last Tuesday with the installation of the 100th sculptures of partial Buddha heads in front of the Amor de Dios Methodist Church in Little Village.

The sculptor is Indira Johnson, artist and peace educator, whose exhibit at the Chicago Cultural Center two years ago inspired this public art project. She noticed how the emerging Buddha caused visitors to stop and contemplate, but to bring it to the neighborhood is something else.