Transcript Thich Nhat Hanh Presentationx

THICH NHAT HANH
1926BEING PEACE
Leo R. Sandy
Thich Nhat Hanh (tick not hawn)
• Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen Buddhist monk from Vietnam,
has been called “one of the most tireless and effective spiritualsocial activists since Mohandas Gandhi”
• He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.
• At age 9 his quest for inner peace began when he studied the
statue of a peaceful Buddha. At age 16 he became a monk; and
at age 30 founded his own monastery and institute
• The Vietnam War forced the monks to evacuate the area
Thich Nhat Hanh cont’d
• The terrible violence of the Vietnam War caused the monks to
develop “engaged Buddhism” whereby they helped people
affected by the war
• In the spirit of “engaged Buddhism, Thich Nhat Hanh founded
the School of Youth for Social Service that attracted over 10,000
volunteers who built schools and clinics in the areas of the worst
destruction
• He once noted that because flowers were still able to bloom
during the devastation of war, he too could “breathe in and out
and smile” in the middle of the chaos
Thich Nhat Hanh cont’d
• He once came to the U.S. to try to change its policy on the war
• He concluded that “the real enemy of man is not man (but)…our
ignorance, discrimination,fear, craving, and violence”
• Thich Nhat Hanh was critical of both sides of the war: “We did
not care about anyone’s victory or defeat. We just wanted the
bombs to stop falling on us”
• He led the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation to the Paris
Peace Talks and then rejoiced when the Peace Accords were
signed
Thich Nhat Hanh cont’d
• He was later banished from Vietnam having made both the
communist and anti-communist sides angry at him
• He settled in France where he worked to find homes for war
orphans even at risk to his own life because of his travels to the
Gulf of Siam where he and the refugees he was rescuing were
“hunted and chased like animals”
• Later he set up spiritual communities in the U.S. and France
• He saw that people in the west were so goal-oriented and in
great need of achieving inner peace
Thich Nhat Hanh cont’d
• He observed that westerners did not know how to really enjoy
themselves leaving “a kind of vacuum inside us, and we attempt
to fill it by eating, reading, talking, smoking, drinking, watching
TV, going to the movies, and even overworking. We absorb so
much violence and insecurity every day that we are like time
bombs ready to explode”
• Thich Nhat Hanh believed that each person has within them both
seeds of peace and seeds of violence and the one that is
watered the most is the one that will grow
• He said that “only by establishing peace in yourself can you be
helpful in contributing to peace…being peace is the basis for
doing peace, making peace”
Thich Nhat Hanh cont’d
• For developing inner peace, Thich Nhat Hanh teaches
breathing exercises, meditation, and mindful or conscious living.
He advocates deep listening – a method of calm, intentional
communication designed to restore harmony between people in
conflict
• He believes that listening compassionately to someone can turn
them into a friend, and he sees that this can improve
communication at even an international level
• Thich Nhat Hanh has worked in prisons, with Vietnam War
veterans, and students to help them come to a sense of inner
peace and healing of psychological and emotional wounds
Thich Nhat Hanh cont’d
• He came to New York City after 9-11and addressed an
ecumenical congregation appealing to them not to engage in
violent retaliation
• He also spoke to the Congress and stated that “Using violence
to suppress violence is not the correct way”
• After many years, he was invited by leaders of Vietnam to return
for a visit. He made two trips bringing hundreds of his students –
one in 2005 and another in 2007
Thich Nhat Hanh cont’d
• In his life, he has helped build war-torn villages, found homes for
orphans, rescued refugees, met with government officials, and
wrote over 100 books
Thich Nhat Hanh Quotes
• Real strength is not in power, money, or weapons, but in deep
inner peace
• How can we love our enemy? The only way to understand him,
to understand how he has come to be the way he is
• …we are not born to hold a gun, we are born to love
• To stop any suffering, no matter how small, is a great action of
peace
• Nonviolence does not mean non-action. Nonviolence means we
act with love and compassion
Video
Oprah Winfrey Interview with Thich Nhat Hanh
Reference
Beller, K., & Chase, H. (2008). Great peacemakers:
True stories from around the world. Sedona, AZ:
LTS Press