Showing posts with label Engaged Buddhism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Engaged Buddhism. Show all posts

2020/10/02

Fragrant Palm Leaves eBook: Hanh, Thich Nhat: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

Fragrant Palm Leaves eBook: Hanh, Thich Nhat: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

Fragrant Palm Leaves Kindle Edition

Fragrant Palm Leaves by [Thich Nhat Hanh]



by Thich Nhat Hanh (Author)  Format: Kindle Edition

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'It isn't likely that this collection of journal entries will pass the censors. If it can't be published, I hope my friends will circulate it among themselves. I'll leave Vietnam tomorrow...' Thus Thich Nhat Hanh begins his 11 May 1966 journal entry. Since that time, he has been unable to return to his homeland but, now based in France, he has become one of the world's most respected spiritual leaders.

Fragrant Palm Leaves reveals a vulnerable and questioning young man reflecting on the many difficulties he and his fellow monks faced in Vietnam trying to make Buddhism relevant to the people's needs. We follow him, in 1964, as he helps establish the movement known as 'engaged Buddhism': starting self-help villages, a new university, a Buddhist order and many other efforts for peace. Fragrant Palm Leaves is regarded by many Vietnamese as Thich Nhat Hanh's most endearing and stimulating book. It offers readers a glimpse into the mind of a great thinker and activist and shows how to live fully, with awareness, during a time of challenge and upheaval.






About the Author

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese poet, bestselling author and peace activist, has been a Buddhist monk for over 40 years. He was chairman of the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace delegation during the Vietnam War and was nominated by Dr Martin Luther King for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1966 he visited the US and Europe on a peace mission and was unable to return to his native land. Today he heads Plum Village, a meditation community in south-western France, where he teaches, writes, gardens and aids refugees worldwide. Websites include- www.interbeing.org.uk and www.plumvillage.org --This text refers to the paperback edition.

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Product details

File Size : 434 KB

Print Length : 224 pages

Word Wise : Enabled

Enhanced Typesetting : Enabled

Text-to-Speech : Enabled

Publisher : Ebury Digital (31 July 2012)



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The Life Story of Thich Nhat Hanh | Plum Village



The Life Story of Thich Nhat Hanh | Plum Village







The Life Story of Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh’s life in photos

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Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh is a global spiritual leader, poet, and peace activist, renowned for his powerful teachings and bestselling writings on mindfulness and peace. A gentle, humble monk, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called him “an Apostle of peace and nonviolence” when nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Exiled from his native Vietnam for almost four decades, Thich Nhat Hanh has been a pioneer bringing Buddhism and mindfulness to the West, and establishing an engaged Buddhist community for the 21st Century.
Early Years

How to pronounce Thich Nhat Hanh

The English pronunciation is: Tik · N’yat · Hawn. However, since Vietnamese is a tonal language, this is only a close approximation of how one would pronounce it in Vietnamese. By his students he is affectionately known as Thay (pronounced “Tay” or “Tie”), which is Vietnamese for “teacher.”

Born in central Vietnam in 1926, Thich Nhat Hanh entered Tu Hieu Temple, in Hue city, as a novice monk at the age of sixteen. As a young bhikshu (monk) in the early 1950s he was actively engaged in the movement to renew Vietnamese Buddhism. He was one of the first bhikshus to study a secular subject at university in Saigon, and one of the first six monks to ride a bicycle.
Social activism during war in Vietnam

When war came to Vietnam, monks and nuns were confronted with the question of whether to adhere to the contemplative life and stay meditating in the monasteries, or to help those around them suffering under the bombings and turmoil of war. Thich Nhat Hanh was one of those who chose to do both, and in doing so founded the Engaged Buddhism movement, coining the term in his book Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire. His life has since been dedicated to the work of inner transformation for the benefit of individuals and society.Under gunfire, while on a mission to take food to hungry families after historic flooding

In 1961, Thich Nhat Hanh travelled to the United States to teach Comparative Religion at Princeton University and the following year went on to teach and research Buddhism at Columbia University. In Vietnam in the early 1960s, Thich Nhat Hanh founded the School of Youth and Social Service, a grassroots relief organization of 10,000 volunteers based on the Buddhist principles of non-violence and compassionate action.


Meditation is not to escape from society, but to come back to ourselves and see what is going on. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. With mindfulness we know what to do and what not to do to help.Thich Nhat Hanh

As a scholar, teacher, and engaged activist in the 1960s, Thich Nhat Hanh also founded the Van Hanh Buddhist University in Saigon, La Boi publishing House, and an influential peace activist magazine. In 1966 he established the Order of Interbeing, a new order based on the traditional Buddhist Bodhisattva precepts.

On May 1st, 1966 at Tu Hieu Temple, Thich Nhat Hanh received the ‘lamp transmission’ from Master Chan That.
Exile from Vietnam

A few months later he traveled once more to the U.S. and Europe to make the case for peace and to call for an end to hostilities in Vietnam. It was during this 1966 trip that he first met Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. As a result of this mission both North and South Vietnam denied him the right to return to Vietnam, and he began a long exile of 39 years.“He is an Apostle of Peace and Nonviolence.” Martin Luther King Jr.

Thich Nhat Hanh continued to travel widely, spreading the message of peace and brotherhood, lobbying Western leaders to end the Vietnam War, and leading the Buddhist delegation to the Paris Peace Talks in 1969.
Founding Plum Village in France

He also continued to teach, lecture and write on the art of mindfulness and ‘living peace,’ and in the early 1970s was a lecturer and researcher in Buddhism at the University of Sorbonne, Paris. In 1975 he established the Sweet Potato community near Paris, and in 1982, moved to a much larger site in the south west of France, soon to be known as “Plum Village.”The early days of Plum Village

Under Thich Nhat Hanh’s spiritual leadership Plum Village has grown from a small rural farmstead to what is now the West’s largest and most active Buddhist monastery, with over 200 resident monastics and over 10,000 visitors every year, who come from around the world to learn “the art of mindful living.”

Plum Village welcomes people of all ages, backgrounds and faiths at retreats where they can learn practices such as walking meditation, sitting meditation, eating meditation, total relaxation, working meditation and stopping, smiling, and breathing mindfully. These are all ancient Buddhist practices, the essence of which Thich Nhat Hanh has distilled and developed to be easily and powerfully applied to the challenges and difficulties of our times.

In the last twenty years over 100,000 people have made a commitment to follow Thich Nhat Hanh’s modernized code of universal global ethics in their daily life, known as “The Five Mindfulness Trainings.”A talk for children in the Still Water Meditation Hall in Upper Hamlet, Plum Village

More recently, Thich Nhat Hanh has founded Wake Up, a worldwide movement of thousands of young people training in these practices of mindful living, and he has launched an international Wake Up Schools program training teachers to teach mindfulness in schools in Europe, America and Asia.
Creating calligraphies, 2013

Thich Nhat Hanh is also an artist, and his unique and popular works of calligraphy – short phrases and words capturing the essence of his mindfulness teachings – have since 2010 been exhibited in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada, Germany, France, and New York.

In the last decade Thich Nhat Hanh has opened monasteries in California, New York, Vietnam, Paris, Hong Kong, Thailand, Mississippi and Australia, and Europe’s first “Institute of Applied Buddhism” in Germany.

Mindfulness Practice Centers in the Plum Village tradition offer special retreats for businesspeople, teachers, families, healthcare professionals, psychotherapists, politicians, and young people as well as war veterans and Israelis and Palestinians. It is estimated that over 75,000 people participate in activities led by Plum Village monks and nuns worldwide every year.
At the World Bank, September 2013

In recent years Thich Nhat Hanh led events for members of US Congress and for parliamentarians in the UK, Ireland, India, and Thailand. He has addressed the World Parliament of Religions in Melbourne and UNESCO in Paris, calling for specific steps to reverse the cycle of violence, war and global warming. On his visit to the US in 2013 he led high-profile mindfulness events at Google, The World Bank, and the Harvard School of Medicine.

On 11 November 2014, a month after his 88th birthday and following several months of rapidly declining health, Thich Nhat Hanh suffered a severe stroke. Although he is still unable to speak, and is mostly paralyzed on the right side, he has continued to offer the Dharma and inspiration through his peaceful, serene and valiant presence.

Thich Nhat Hanh is currently residing at Từ Hiếu Temple in Vietnam where he ordained with his teacher when he was sixteen years old. He has expressed a wish to stay there for his remaining days. He comes out regularly in his wheelchair to visit the temple altars and to lead the sangha on walking meditation around the ponds and ancestral stupas. Thay’s return to Từ Hiếu has been a bell of mindfulness reminding us all of how precious it is to belong to a spiritual lineage with deep roots. Whether we have attended a retreat, or simply read one of Thay’s books or watched a talk, and have been touched by his teachings—we are all connected to this ancestral stream of wisdom and compassion.

Books about Thich Nhat Hanh’s life
At Home in the World
My Master’s Robe
Fragrant Palm Leaves

Discover more

Thich Nhat Hanh’s letters
Interviews with Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh’s key teachings

The extraordinary life of Thich Nhat Hanh - Earshot - ABC Radio National

The extraordinary life of Thich Nhat Hanh - Earshot - ABC Radio National



The extraordinary life of Thich Nhat Hanh
Kerry Stewart
Posted Mon 30 Mar 2015, 5:03pm
Updated Tue 14 Apr 2015, 3:39pm

Nuns and girls singing at Plum Village 2014
Image:
Courtesy Plum Village Mindfulness Practice Centre
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Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh.
Image:
Courtesy Plum Village Mindfulness Practice Centre
Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the most influential religious leaders of the last 100 years. A friend and contemporary of Martin Luther King, he had a huge impact on the anti-war movement of the 1960s and ‘70s and continues to speak out against violence in all its forms, as Kerry Stewart writes.

Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the most important spiritual leaders of the last 100 years, drawing thousands of people to his talks and retreats in the US, Asia and Europe. His message of being peace rather than looking for it outside oneself is as relevant today was it was in the Vietnam of the 1960s and 1970s.
At a recent retreat at Plum Village, his monastery in France, he spoke with young Israelis and Palestinians about how they can help to stop the cycle of hatred and retribution by looking deeply and addressing the anger within.



Real change will only happen when we fall in love with our planet.
Thich Nhat Hanh was born in 1926 and became a monk when he was 16. From a young age he believed that the way Buddhism was practised in Vietnam had lost touch with the people. He set his mind to renewing Buddhism, which he did by introducing mindfulness practice to his students, updating contorted translations of the sutras and chants, and engaging in social work.
In 1963, while the Vietnam War was raging he coined the term ‘engaged Buddhism’, which encouraged people to get off their meditation cushions and help others. He founded the School of Youth for Social Service, a group of 10,000 volunteers who worked in villages teaching young children, rebuilding bombed houses and helping farmers feed their families.
The group helped both communists and anti-communists, which didn’t sit well with either side. Thich Nhat Hanh’s life was threatened on many occasions and many monks, nuns and laypeople were killed.
Nuns and girls singing at Plum Village 2014
Image:
Courtesy Plum Village Mindfulness Practice Centre
Thich Nhat Hanh left Vietnam for the United States in 1966 to talk to political and religious leaders about stopping the war. However when the Paris Peace Accords were signed in 1973, he was barred from returning to his homeland. While in the US he met and became friends with three of the most important Christians of the time: Martin Luther King, Trappist monk Thomas Merton and Catholic priest and peace activist Daniel Berrigan.
King called him an Apostle of Peace, and nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. That year no one was awarded the prize. Shantum Seth, a teacher in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh, says that Martin Luther King was convinced to speak out about the Vietnam War after meeting Thich Nhat Hanh, even though King was criticised for combining civil rights issues with international politics.
Seth feels Thich Nhat Hanh has shifted the consciousness of this age, a bit like Gandhi did. ‘As the Nobel committee often say, “We regret not giving the prize to Mahatma Gandhi,” ... I think they will also say, “We regret not giving it to Thich Nhat Hanh.”’
Thomas Merton once said that the only way to be a good Christian now is to practise Buddhism. Others agree.
‘We have lost the teachings about mindfulness, the present moment, universal compassion which are all right there in the Sermon on the Mount,’ says friend, long-time peace activist and Catholic priest John Dear. ‘Thich Nhat Hanh has taken that in so many deep ways and we Christians haven’t.'
Father Daniel Berrigan was a founding member of the Plowshares Movement which famously trespassed onto a General Electric nuclear missile facility in Pennsylvania, damaged warheads and poured blood over files and documents.
Berrigan spent time with Thich Nhat Hanh at his monastery in France, and the pair had many long conversations about Jesus and Buddha, life and death, war and peace. These conversations are compiled in a book called The Raft is not the Shore.
Over the last 70 years, Thich Nhat Hanh has led events for US congressmen and women and parliamentarians in the UK, Ireland, and Thailand, as well as mindfulness workshops for the World Bank, the Harvard School of Medicine and Google.
2012 Day of Mindfulness at the European Institute of Applied Buddhism
Image:
Courtesy Plum Village Mindfulness Practice Centre
The executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Christiana Figueres, has been on retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh and keeps his book Love Letter to the Earth close at hand. ‘Real change will only happen when we fall in love with our planet,’ writes Thich Nhat Hanh, a message Figueres has taken to heart.
‘While on one level of our experience this is a complex problem, I see in my daily life that it is our awareness of this love that can actually be transformational,’ she says. ‘It can be the strength and power that transforms a conversation, a decision taken, and the awareness why we have to take these decisions.’
Father John Dear was talking to Thich Nhat Hanh one day about how many Christians are involved in, and believe in, war.
Thich Nhat Hanh revealed his despair that many Buddhists are also engaged in violent conflict. ‘He is very practical, and trying to engage all Buddhists around the world, saying, “If you’re Buddhist you really have to be non-violent. You cannot take up the gun when push comes to shove.”
‘That’s not necessarily happening in Asia.’
Dear says that US Buddhists have the opposite problem; they are bourgeois and comfortable to the point of being disengaged.
‘You can say you’re practising mindfulness and being peace, but if you’re not involved in the struggle, that’s not engaged Buddhism.’




Thich Nhat Hanh
Listen to the full episode of Earshot to hear more about Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh.
Earshot is about people, places, stories and ideas, in all their diversity.

Thích Nhất Hạnh - Wikipedia

Thích Nhất Hạnh - Wikipedia

Thích Nhất Hạnh

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Thích Nhất Hạnh
Thich Nhat Hanh 12 (cropped).jpg
Thích Nhất Hạnh in Paris in 2006
TitleThiền Sư
(Zen master)
Other namesThầy (teacher)
Personal
Born
Nguyễn Xuân Bảo

11 October 1926 (age 93)
ReligionThiền Buddhism
SchoolLinji school (Lâm Tế)[1]
Order of Interbeing
Plum Village Tradition
Lineage42nd generation (Lâm Tế)[1]
8th generation (Liễu Quán)[1]
Other namesThầy (teacher)
Senior posting
TeacherThích Chân Thật
Based inPlum Village Monastery (currently in Từ Hiếu Temple near HuếVietnam)
Thích Nhất Hạnh (/ˈtɪk ˈnjʌt ˈhʌn/Vietnamese: [tʰǐk̟ ɲə̌t hâjŋ̟ˀ] (About this soundlisten); born as Nguyễn Xuân Bảo[2] on 11 October 1926[3]) is a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, and founder of the Plum Village Tradition.
Thích Nhất Hạnh spent most of his later life residing at the Plum Village Monastery in southwest France,[4] travelling internationally to give retreats and talks. He coined the term "Engaged Buddhism" in his book Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire.[5] 

After a long exile, he was permitted to visit Vietnam in 2005.[6] In November 2018, he returned to Vietnam to spend his remaining days at his "root temple", Từ Hiếu Temple, near Huế.[7]
Nhất Hạnh has published over 100 books, including more than 70 in English.[8][9]

 He is active in the peace movement, promoting nonviolent solutions to conflict.[10] He also refrains from consuming animal products, as a means of nonviolence toward animals.[11][12]

Biography[edit]

Nhất Hạnh was born as Nguyễn Xuân Bảo, in the city of Huế in Central Vietnam in 1926. At the age of 16 he entered the monastery at nearby Từ Hiếu Temple, where his primary teacher was Zen Master Thanh Quý Chân Thật.[13][14][15] A graduate of Báo Quốc Buddhist Academy in Central Vietnam, Thích Nhất Hạnh received training in Vietnamese traditions of Mahayana Buddhism, as well as Vietnamese Thiền, and received full ordination as a Bhikkhu in 1951.[16]
Buddha hall of the Từ Hiếu Pagoda
In the following years he founded Lá Bối Press, the Vạn Hanh Buddhist University in Saigon, and the School of Youth for Social Service (SYSS), a neutral corps of Buddhist peaceworkers who went into rural areas to establish schools, build healthcare clinics, and help rebuild villages.[4]
On 1 May 1966, at Từ Hiếu Temple, he received the "lamp transmission" from Zen Master Chân Thật, making him a dharmacharya (teacher).[13] Nhất Hạnh is now the spiritual head of the Từ Hiếu Pagoda and associated monasteries.[13][17]

During the Vietnam War[edit]

In 1961 Nhất Hạnh went to the US to teach comparative religion at Princeton University,[18] and was subsequently appointed lecturer in Buddhism at Columbia University.[18] By then he had gained fluency in FrenchChineseSanskritPaliJapanese and English, in addition to his native Vietnamese. In 1963, he returned to Vietnam to aid his fellow monks in their nonviolent peace efforts.[18]
Nhất Hạnh taught Buddhist psychology and prajnaparamita literature at Vạn Hanh Buddhist University, a private institution that taught Buddhist studies, Vietnamese culture, and languages.[18] 
At a meeting in April 1965, Vạn Hanh Union students issued a Call for Peace statement. It declared: "It is time for North and South Vietnam to find a way to stop the war and help all Vietnamese people live peacefully and with mutual respect." Nhất Hạnh left for the U.S. shortly afterwards, leaving Sister Chân Không in charge of the SYSS. Vạn Hạnh University was taken over by one of the chancellors, who wished to sever ties with Nhất Hạnh and the SYSS, accusing Chân Không of being a communist. Thereafter the SYSS struggled to raise funds and faced attacks on its members. It persisted in its relief efforts without taking sides in the conflict.[5]
Nhất Hạnh returned to the US in 1966 to lead a symposium in Vietnamese Buddhism at Cornell University and continue his work for peace. While in the US, he visited Gethsemani Abbey to speak with Thomas Merton.[19] When Vietnam threatened to block Nhất Hạnh's reentry to the country, Merton wrote an essay of solidarity, "Nhat Hanh is my Brother".[19][20] In 1965 he had written Martin Luther King, Jr. a letter titled "In Search of the Enemy of Man". During his 1966 stay in the US Nhất Hạnh met King and urged him to publicly denounce the Vietnam War.[21] In 1967, King gave the speech Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence at the Riverside Church in New York City, his first to publicly question U.S. involvement in Vietnam.[22] Later that year, King nominated Nhất Hạnh for the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize. In his nomination, King said, "I do not personally know of anyone more worthy of [this prize] than this gentle monk from Vietnam. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity".[23] That King had revealed the candidate he had chosen to nominate and had made a "strong request" to the prize committee was in sharp violation of Nobel traditions and protocol.[24][25] The committee did not make an award that year.
Nhất Hạnh moved to France and became the chair of the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation.[18] When the Northern Vietnamese army took control of the south in 1975, he was denied permission to return to Vietnam.[18] In 1976–77 he led efforts to help rescue Vietnamese boat people in the Gulf of Siam,[26] eventually stopping under pressure from the governments of Thailand and Singapore.[27]
CIA document from the Vietnam War has called Thích Nhất Hạnh a "brain truster" of Thích Trí Quang, the leader of a dissident group.[28]

Establishing the Order of Interbeing[edit]

Nhất Hạnh created the Order of Interbeing (VietnameseTiếp Hiện) in 1966. He heads this monastic and lay group, teaching Five Mindfulness Trainings[29] and the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings.[30] In 1969 he established the Unified Buddhist Church (Église Bouddhique Unifiée) in France (not a part of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam). In 1975 he formed the Sweet Potato Meditation Centre. The centre grew and in 1982 he and Chân Không founded Plum Village Monastery, a vihara[A] in the Dordogne in the south of France.[4] The Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism[31] (formerly the Unified Buddhist Church) and its sister organization in France the Congregation Bouddhique Zen Village des Pruniers are the legally recognised governing bodies of Plum Village in France, Blue Cliff Monastery in Pine BushNew York, the Community of Mindful LivingParallax PressDeer Park Monastery in CaliforniaMagnolia Grove Monastery in Batesville, Mississippi, and the European Institute of Applied Buddhism in Waldbröl, Germany.[32][33] According to the Thích Nhất Hạnh Foundation, the charitable organization that serves as the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism's fundraising arm, the monastic order Nhất Hạnh established comprises 589 monastics in 9 monasteries worldwide. [34]
Nhất Hạnh established two monasteries in Vietnam, at the original Từ Hiếu Temple near Huế and at Prajna Temple in the central highlands. He and the Order of Interbeing have established monasteries and Dharma centres in the United States at Deer Park Monastery (Tu Viện Lộc Uyển) in Escondido, California, Maple Forest Monastery (Tu Viện Rừng Phong) and Green Mountain Dharma Center (Ðạo Tràng Thanh Sơn) in Vermont and Magnolia Grove Monastery (Đạo Tràng Mộc Lan) in Mississippi, the second of which closed in 2007 and moved to the Blue Cliff Monastery in Pine Bush, New York. These monasteries are open to the public during much of the year and provide ongoing retreats for laypeople. The Order of Interbeing also holds retreats for specific groups of laypeople, such as families, teenagers, military veterans, the entertainment industry, members of Congress, law enforcement officers and people of colour.[35][35][36][37][38] Nhất Hạnh conducted peace walks in Los Angeles in 2005 and 2007.[39]
Notable members of the order of interbeing and disciples of Nhất Hạnh include Skip Ewing, founder of the Nashville Mindfulness Center; Natalie Goldberg, author and teacher; Chân Không, dharma teacher; Caitriona Reed, dharma teacher and co-founder of Manzanita Village Retreat Center; Larry Rosenberg, dharma teacher; Cheri Maples, police officer and dharma teacher; and Pritam Singh, real estate developer and editor of several of Nhất Hạnh's books.
Other notable students of Nhất Hạnh include 

Return to Vietnam[edit]

Thích Nhất Hạnh during a ceremony in Da Nang on his 2007 trip to Vietnam
In 2005, after lengthy negotiations, the Vietnamese government allowed Nhất Hạnh to return for a visit. He was also allowed to teach there, publish four of his books in Vietnamese, and travel the country with monastic and lay members of his Order, including a return to his root temple, Tu Hieu Temple in Huế.[6][40] 
The trip was not without controversy. Thich Vien Dinh, writing on behalf of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (considered illegal by the Vietnamese government), called for Nhất Hạnh to make a statement against the Vietnam government's poor record on religious freedom. Vien Dinh feared that the Vietnamese government would use the trip as propaganda, suggesting that religious freedom is improving there, while abuses continue.[41][42][43]
Despite the controversy, Nhất Hạnh returned to Vietnam in 2007, while two senior officials of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) remained under house arrest. The UBCV called his visit a betrayal, symbolizing his willingness to work with his co-religionists' oppressors. 
Võ Văn Ái, a UBCV spokesman, said, "I believe Thích Nhất Hạnh's trip is manipulated by the Hanoi government to hide its repression of the Unified Buddhist Church and create a false impression of religious freedom in Vietnam."[44] 
The Plum Village Website states that the three goals of his 2007 trip to Vietnam were to support new monastics in his Order; to organize and conduct "Great Chanting Ceremonies" intended to help heal remaining wounds from the Vietnam War; and to lead retreats for monastics and laypeople. The chanting ceremonies were originally called "Grand Requiem for Praying Equally for All to Untie the Knots of Unjust Suffering", but Vietnamese officials objected, calling it unacceptable for the government to "equally" pray for soldiers in the South Vietnamese army or U.S. soldiers. Nhất Hạnh agreed to change the name to "Grand Requiem For Praying".[44]

Other[edit]

In 2014, major Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders met to sign a shared commitment against modern-day slavery; the declaration they signed calls for the elimination of slavery and human trafficking by 2020. Nhất Hạnh was represented by Chân Không.[45]

Health[edit]

In November 2014, Nhất Hạnh experienced a severe brain hemorrhage and was hospitalized.[46][47] After months of rehabilitation, he was released from the stroke rehabilitation clinic at Bordeaux Segalen University, in France. On July 11, 2015, he flew to San Francisco to speed his recovery with an aggressive rehabilitation program at UCSF Medical Center.[48] He returned to France on January 8, 2016.[49]
After spending 2016 in France, Nhất Hạnh travelled to Thai Plum Village.[50] He has continued to see both Eastern and Western specialists while in Thailand,[50] but is unable to speak.[50]
On 2 November 2018, a press release from the Plum Village community confirmed that Nhất Hạnh, then aged 92, had returned to Vietnam a final time and will live at Từ Hiếu Temple for "his remaining days". In a meeting with senior disciples, he had "clearly communicated his wish to return to Vietnam using gestures, nodding and shaking his head in response to questions."[7] A representative for Plum Village, Sister True Dedication, has described his life in Vietnam (referring to him as "Thay" which is Vietnamese for "Teacher"):
"Thay’s health has been remarkably stable, and he is continuing to receive Eastern treatment and acupuncture," wrote Plum Village representative Sister True Dedication in an email. "When there’s a break in the rains, Thay comes outside to enjoy visiting the Root Temple’s ponds and stupas, in his wheelchair, joined by his disciples. Many practitioners, lay and monastic, are coming to visit Tu Hieu, and there is a beautiful, light atmosphere of serenity and peace, as the community enjoys practicing together there in Thay’s presence."[51]

Approach[edit]

Thích Nhất Hạnh in Vught, the Netherlands, 2006
Thích Nhất Hạnh's approach has been to combine a variety of teachings of Early Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhist traditions of Yogācāra and Zen, and ideas from Western psychology to teach mindfulness of breathing and the four foundations of mindfulness, offering a modern light on meditation practice. His presentation of the Prajnaparamita in terms of "interbeing" has doctrinal antecedents in the Huayan school of thought,[52] which "is often said to provide a philosophical foundation" for Zen.[53]
In September 2014, shortly before his stroke, Nhất Hạnh completed new English and Vietnamese translations of the Heart Sutra, one of the most important sutras in Mahayana Buddhism.[54] In a letter to his students,[54] he said he wrote these new translations because he thought that poor word choices in the original text had resulted in significant misunderstandings of these teachings for almost 2,000 years.
Nhất Hạnh has also been a leader in the Engaged Buddhism movement[1] (he is credited with coining the term[55]), promoting the individual's active role in creating change. He credits the 13th-century Vietnamese king Trần Nhân Tông with originating the concept. Trần abdicated his throne to become a monk and founded the Vietnamese Buddhist school of the Bamboo Forest tradition.[56]

Names applied to him[edit]

Nhất Hạnh at Phu Bai International Airport on his 2007 trip to Vietnam (aged 80)
The Vietnamese name Thích () is from "Thích Ca" or "Thích Già" (釋迦, "of the Shakya clan").[13] All Buddhist monastics in East Asian Buddhism adopt this name as their surname, implying that their first family is the Buddhist community. In many Buddhist traditions, there is a progression of names a person can receive. The first, the lineage name, is given when a person takes refuge in the Three Jewels. Nhất Hạnh's lineage name is Trừng Quang (澄光, "Clear, Reflective Light"). The next is a dharma name, given when a person takes additional vows or is ordained as a monastic. Nhất Hạnh's dharma name is Phùng Xuân (逢春, "Meeting Spring"). Dharma titles are also sometimes given; Nhất Hạnh's dharma title is Nhất Hạnh.[13]
Neither Nhất () nor Hạnh ()—which approximate the roles of middle name or intercalary name and given name, respectively, when referring to him in English—was part of his name at birth. Nhất (一) means "one", implying "first-class", or "of best quality"; Hạnh (行) means "action", implying "right conduct" or "good nature." Nhất Hạnh has translated his Dharma names as Nhất = One, and Hạnh = Action. Vietnamese names follow this naming convention, placing the family or surname first, then the middle or intercalary name, which often refers to the person's position in the family or generation, followed by the given name.[57]
Nhất Hạnh's followers often call him Thầy ("master; teacher"), or Thầy Nhất Hạnh. Any Vietnamese monk or nun in the Mahayana tradition can be addressed as "thầy". Vietnamese Buddhist monks are addressed thầy tu ("monk") and nuns are addressed as sư cô ("sister") or sư bà ("elder sister"). On the Vietnamese version of the Plum Village website, he is also called Thiền Sư Nhất Hạnh ("Zen Master Nhất Hạnh").[58]

Relations with Vietnamese governments[edit]

Nhất Hạnh's relationship with the government of Vietnam has varied over the years. He stayed away from politics, but did not support the South Vietnamese government's policies of Catholicization. He questioned American involvement, which put him at odds with the Saigon leadership.[59][60] In 1975, he fled the country, not to return till 2005.
His relations with the communist government ruling Vietnam is also edgy, due to its atheism and hostility to religious freedom, though he has little interest in politics. The communist government is therefore skeptical of him, distrusts his work with the overseas Vietnamese population, and has several times restricted his praying requiem.[44] Nonetheless, his popularity has often affected the government's policies, and it has decided not to arrest him.

Awards and honors[edit]

Nobel laureate Martin Luther King, Jr. nominated Nhất Hạnh for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967.[23] The prize was not awarded that year.[61] Nhất Hạnh was awarded the Courage of Conscience award in 1991.[62]
Nhất Hạnh received 2015's Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award.[63][64]
In November 2017, the Education University of Hong Kong conferred an honorary doctorate upon Nhất Hạnh for his "life-long contributions to the promotion of mindfulness, peace and happiness across the world". As he was unable to attend the ceremony in Hong Kong, a simple ceremony was held on 29 August 2017 in Thailand, where John Lee Chi-kin, vice-president (academic) of EdUHK, presented the honorary degree certificate and academic gown to Nhất Hạnh on the university's behalf.[65][66]

Film[edit]

Nhất Hạnh has been featured in many films, including The Power of Forgiveness, shown at the Dawn Breakers International Film Festival[67].
He also appears in the 2017 documentary Walk with Me directed by Marc J Francis and Max Pugh, and supported by Oscar-winner Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.[68] Filmed over three years, Walk With Me focuses on the Plum Village monastics' daily life and rituals, with Benedict Cumberbatch narrating passages from "Fragrant Palm Leaves" in voiceover.[69] The film was released in 2017, premiering at SXSW Festival.[68]

Graphic Novel[edit]

Along with Alfred Hassler and Chân Không, Nhất Hạnh is the subject of the 2013 graphic novel The Secret of the 5 Powers.[70]

Writings[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

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  70. ^ Sperry, Rod Meade (May 2013), "3 Heroes, 5 Powers", Lion's Roar21 (5): 68–73

External links[edit]