Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals 1962-1966 Nhat Hanh, Thich

Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals 1962-1966 (Thich Nhat Hanh Classics) eBook: Nhat Hanh, Thich, His Holiness The Dalai Lama: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store







Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals 1962-1966 

(Thich Nhat Hanh Classics) Kindle Edition
by Thich Nhat Hanh (Author)

Regarded by many as Thich Nhat Hanh's most personally revealing and endearing book, these collected journals chronicle the first-hand experiences of the Zen Master as a young man in both the United States and Vietnam, just as his home country is plunged into war and turmoil.

"It isn't likely that this collection of journal entries, which I'm calling Fragrant Palm Leaves, will pass the censors... I'll leave Vietnam tomorrow." Thus Thich Nhat Hanh begins his May 11, 1966 journal entry. After leaving Vietnam, he was exiled for calling for peace, and was unable to visit his homeland again until 2004. In the interim, Thich Nhat Hanh continued to practice and teach in the United States and Europe, and became one of the world's most respected spiritual leaders.

But when these journals are written, all of that is still to come. Fragrant Palm Leaves reveals a vulnerable and questioning young man, a student and teaching assistant at Princeton and Columbia Universities from 1962-1963, 

homesick and reflecting on the many difficulties he and his fellow monks faced at home trying to make Buddhism relevant to the people's needs. 

We also follow Thich Nhat Hanh as he returns to Vietnam in 1964, 

and helps establish the movement known as Engaged Buddhism.

A rare window into the early life of a spiritual icon, Fragrant Palm Leaves provides a model of how to live fully, with awareness, during a time of change and upheaval.

--------------------

4.9 out of 5 stars 37 ratings

Product description

Review
"Informative and inspiring". -- Publishers Weekly --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
From the Back Cover

A rare combination of mystic, scholar, poet, and activist, Thich Nhat Hanh has lived in exile from his native Vietnam since 1966. Though he is best known for his ever popular Buddhist teachings, Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals 1962-1966 shows not only an exquisite portrait of the Zen master as a young man, but the emergence of a great poet and literary voice of Vietnam. 

From his years as a student and teaching assistant at Princeton and Columbia to his efforts to negotiate peace and a better life for the Vietnamese, Fragrant Palm Leaves offers an elegant and profound window into the formation of the heart and mind of one of the world's most beloved spiritual teachers. 

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author
Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, poet, and peacemaker who was nominated by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for the Nobel Peace Prize. The author of many books, including Living Buddha, Living Christ, he lives in France in the monastic community known as Plum Village and lectures and gives retreats regularly in North America. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.
Read less

-----------

Product details

File Size : 643 KB
Word Wise : Enabled
Publisher : Parallax Press (6 October 2020)

Print Length : 224 pages
----------------

Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals, 1962–1966

Image of Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals, 1962-1966

Author(s): 

Thich Nhat Hanh

Release Date: 

November 30, 1999

Publisher/Imprint: 

Riverhead Books

Pages: 

224

=====

         

Reviewed by: 

Janet Levine

“A satisfying read on many levels . . .” 

Fragrant Palm Leaves is the work of a person in his mid-thirties coming to terms with realistic acceptance of the meanings that arise from his monk’s training and leadership role in trying to reform Buddhism in his country, Vietnam. Included in these musings are the great possibilities of leadership and mission as well as significant disappointments of personal loss.

The strength of the journals lies in Hahn’s honesty in his writing. The journal entries are not private musings but poignant and often powerful reflections, inspirational messages directed at his followers. A controversial figure in Vietnam as he went into to exile (for the first time) in May 1966, he wrote that he doubted if the collection would pass the censors. “If it can’t be published, I hope my friends will circulate it among themselves.”

The memoir opens in 1962 in mid-winter at Columbia University in Manhattan and at Princeton University in New Jersey. Thay is in exile from Vietnam for his controversial challenges of the government and the traditional Buddhist hierarchy in Vietnam.

Thich Nhat Hanh, in his eighties now, is a Zen Buddhist master, a peace activist and the founder of global Communities of Mindfulness. He has written scores of books and is known affectionately by followers as “Thay” (teacher in Vietnamese).

In the first section of the journals many striking descriptions of Thay’s reminiscences of the secluded mountain monastery and retreat he built with his friends and comrades—monks and nuns—at the place they named Phuong Boi contrast with his descriptions of the stark winter beauty of an American northeastern winter. “Phuong” means “fragrant” and “boi” is a palm leaf on which the “teachings of the Buddha were written in ancient times.”

Anyone who has resonated with a “place of the heart” now lost to them will be powerfully moved by Thay’s descriptions of life at idyllic Phuong Boi and his sheer joy in the beauty he finds there. His realization that he cannot remain attached to this place is a lesson for us all. As he writes, quoting another monk, “Phuong Boi doesn’t belong to us, we belong to Phuong Boi.”

Whether it is in the starry sky in Vietnam or a winter storm in New Jersey, in any place he lives Thay finds solace and cosmic connection to nature. “I still respond to the call of the cosmos . . . with all my body, with every atom of my being, every vein, gland and nerve, I listen with awe and passion. That is how I feel when I hear the call of sky and earth.”

Among many other reflections Thay touches on the passing of youth and the permanency of truth. He shares several instances of his own growing realizations on the nature of reality and illusion. These moments contain the clarity of awakened understanding. They are illuminating and encourage us to continue in our practices knowing that we, too, can experience the conviction of Truth. 

“How can we continue to live if we were changeless? To live we must die every instant. We must perish in the storms that make life possible. I cannot force myself back into the shell I’ve broken out of.”

Thay returns to Vietnam in 1964 after his stint lecturing in the USA and although Phuong Boi has fallen into ruin in the tropical environment, he and his cadre of followers devise Buddhist practices in the impoverished rural village communities where they find themselves. These practices are the bedrock from which will evolve the Communities of Mindfulness that Thay will establish around the globe. Several years later Thay goes into permanent exile and settles in France where he builds Plum Village, a monastery and retreat center serving thousands of followers over many decades. There are several Communities of Mindfulness in the United States committed to serving the spiritual needs of all.

A satisfying read on many levels: a great introduction to Thay’s ideas, to the majesty of his poetic writing, and to understanding the inspiration for his spiritually based activism.

Janet Levine is a decades long freelance journalist and an author of four books. She writes for such publications as the New York Times Magazine and The Boston Globe.

===

Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Read this bookReviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 September 2018
Verified Purchase

Just wonderful. Full of gentle compassion interspersed with slices of wisdom and powerful insight. Buy it.
Report abuse

Bart
5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting and touchingReviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 December 2009
Verified Purchase

For those interested in the more personal side of famous zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, this is a very openhearted, honest and inspiring collection of his thoughts, memories, pains, difficulties and simple daily stuff - as well as fresh profound wisdom - from his young and more activist, explosive years.
A fine glimpse into where this now-famous and very wise old man comes from...

2 people found this helpfulReport abuse

Dr F AZ-Martin
5.0 out of 5 stars Must have!Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 March 2016
Verified Purchase

Just beautiful. The most honest and raw insight into TNH's suffering. Extremely empowering for the reader. I will read this again, again and again.

One person found this helpfulReport abuse

Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Not my favourite TNH book

Reviewed in Canada on 29 October 2017
Verified Purchase

This is OK. If you are a big TNH fan, there is some new stuff material here, a bit less filtered and maybe more candid as he observes the world from a younger perspective while maturing in his thinking, but I think his later works are much more refined and compelling.
Report abuse

Trinh Lu Tran Diem
5.0 out of 5 stars The best of Thich Nhat HanhReviewed in Germany on 31 October 2018
Verified Purchase

You should read it as least one time, to understand about human love, and human being, through the glass of a young monk.
Report abuse