Thich Nhat Hanh – A Man of Peace

 

“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness.

If you are attentive, you will see it.”

 

Thich Nhat Hanh, a world-renowned Vietnamese Buddhist monk died January 22, 2022 at his home in the Tu Hieu Temple in Hue, Vietnam at the age of 95. He was an influential Zen master, who dedicated his life to living and teaching compassion, mindfulness and nonviolence. He promoted the practice of “engaged Buddhism,” the application of Buddhist principles to social and political reform.

Nonviolence

In the 1960s, seeing the horrors of the Vietnam war, he became a powerful voice for peace, and he offered an alternative:

“We know very well that airplanes, guns and bombs cannot remove wrong perceptions,” he said. “Only loving speech and compassionate listening can help people correct wrong perceptions. But our leaders are not trained in that discipline, and they rely only on the armed forces to remove terrorism.”

In 1964, he published a poem called “Condemnation” in a Buddhist weekly, which stated his belief in nonviolence. Here is a brief excerpt:

Whoever is listening, be my witness:
I cannot accept this war.
---
“Beware! Turn around and face your real enemies
— ambition, violence hatred and greed.”

Thich Nhat Hanh was also actively involved in creating a positive response to the violence devastating his country. In South Vietnam, he founded Youth for Social Services, a grass-roots relief organization that rebuilt bombed villages, set up schools, established medical centers and reunited families left homeless by the war.

As a result of his work for peace, in 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, and in 1969, he led the Buddhist delegation to the Paris Peace Talks.

Compassion

Believing that peace is possible in our lives and in the world, Thich Nhat Hanh taught that understanding and compassion can neutralize violence. The key is to listen deeply. “You might be able to remove the wrong perception you have within yourself, concerning you and concerning them.”

“When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That's the message he is sending.”

“With the practice of loving speech and compassionate listening we can begin to understand people and help them to remove the wrong perceptions in them, because these wrong perceptions are at the foundation of their anger, their fear, their violence, their hate.”

Compassion is also needed in our personal lives

“When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care for them, they will grow well, like the lettuce.”

“If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change”

Mindfulness

After the war, Thich Nhat Hanh was expelled from Vietnam, because he had refused to take sides even as he worked for peace. He settled in France, and there he founded Plum Village, a Buddhist community, or sangha, that was the first of many communities of practice and service around the world.

His teaching of mindfulness offered a simple practice that enables people to include peacefulness into their lives. Millions of people have read his meditation manual, The Miracle of Mindfulness, with its gentle invitation, “Meditation is not evasion; it is a serene encounter with reality.”

“When you are mindful, you are fully alive; you are fully present. You can get in touch with the wonders of life that can nourish you and heal you… you can recognize, embrace, and handle the pain, the sorrow in you and around you… and you’ll be able to transform the suffering inside and help transform the suffering around you.”

Attention to the present moment was at the heart of Thich Nhat Hanh’s passion — a way of life, rather than a system of belief.

He began every day with a walking meditation at dawn. Often, other people followed him, stepping slowly, conscious of their breathing and every movement of their bodies. By noticing everything around you, and being fully present in the world brings physical, mental and emotional peace.

His message speaks to us today, with all the uncertainty in the world around us:

"People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle."

 

Photo:   Thich Nhat Hanh in his room at his temple in Vietnam in 2019.  Credit...Linh Pham for The New York Times

Our thanks to:

DailyGood for: Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Master and Political Reformer, Dies at 95.

The On Being Project for:  Remembering Thich Nhat Hanh, Brother Thay.

YES Magazine for:  Mindfulness in Life and Death.

 

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With love from our hearts to yours,

Pat and Larry