Zen
master Thich Nhat Hanh: only love can save us from climate change
Leading
spiritual teacher warns that if people cannot save themselves from
their own suffering, how can they be expected to worry about the
plight of Mother Earth
21
January, 2013
Zen
master Thich
Nhat Hanh, one of
the world's leading spiritual teachers, is a man at great peace even
as he predicts the possible collapse of civilisation within 100 years
as a result of runaway climate change.
The
86-year-old Vietnamese monk, who has hundreds of thousands of
followers around the world, believes the reason most people are not
responding to the threat of global warming, despite overwhelming
scientific evidence, is that they are unable to save themselves from
their own personal suffering, never mind worry about the plight of
Mother Earth.
Thay,
as he is known, says it is possible to be at peace if you pierce
through our false reality, which is based on the idea of life and
death, to touch the ultimate
dimension in
Buddhist thinking, in which energy cannot be created or destroyed.
By
recognising the inter-connectedness of all life, we can move beyond
the idea that we are separate selves and expand our compassion and
love in such a way that we take action to protect the Earth.
Look beyond fear
In
Thay's new book, Fear,
he writes about how people spend much of their lives worrying about
getting ill, ageing and losing the things they treasure most, despite
the obvious fact that one day they will have to let them all go.
When
we understand that we are more than our physical bodies, that we
didn't come from nothingness and will not disappear into nothingness,
we are liberated from fear, he says; fearlessness is not only
possible but the ultimate joy.
"Our
perception of time may help," Thay told me in his modest home
in Plum
Village monastery
near Bordeaux. "For us it is very alarming and urgent, but for
Mother Earth, if she suffers she knows she has the power to heal
herself even if it takes 100m years. We think our time on earth is
only 100 years, which is why we are impatient. The collective karma
and ignorance of our race, the collective anger and violence will
lead to our destruction and we have to learn to accept that.
"And
maybe Mother Earth will produce a great being sometime in the next
decade ... We don't know and we cannot predict. Mother Earth is very
talented. She has produced Buddhas, bodhisattvas, great beings.
"So
take refuge in Mother Earth and surrender to her and ask her to heal
us, to help us. And we have to accept that the worst can happen; that
most of us will die as a species and many other species will die also
and Mother Earth will be capable after maybe a few million years to
bring us out again and this time wiser."
Confront the truth
Thay,
who has just celebrated the 70th anniversary of his ordination,
reflects on the lack of action over the destruction of ecosystems and
the rapid rate of biodiversity loss: "When they see the truth it
is too late to act ... but they don't want to wake up because it may
make them suffer. They cannot confront the truth. It is not that they
don't know what is going to happen. They just don't want to think
about it.
"They
want to get busy in order to forget. We should not talk in terms of
what they should do, what they should not do, for the sake of the
future. We should talk to them in such a way that touches their
hearts, that helps them to engage on the path that will bring them
true happiness; the path of love and understanding, the courage to
let go. When they have tasted a little bit of peace and love, they
may wake up."
Thay
created the Engaged
Buddhism movement,
which promotes the individual's active role in creating change,
and his
mindfulness training –
an ethical roadmap – calls on practitioners to boycott products
that damage the environment and to confront social injustice.
Given
the difficulty of convincing those with vested interests to change
their behaviour, Thay says a grassroots movement is necessary, citing
the tactics used by Gandhi, but insists that this can be effective
only if activists first deal with their own anger and fears, rather
than projecting them onto those they see at fault.
Awakened consumers can influence how companies act
On
companies that produce harmful products, he says: "They should
not continue to produce these things. We don't need them. We need
other kinds of products that help us to be healthier. If there is
awakening in the ranks of consumers, then the producer will have to
change. We can force him to change by not buying.
"Gandhi
was capable of urging his people to boycott a number of things. He
knew how to take care of himself during non-violent operations. He
knew how to preserve energy because the struggle is long, so
spiritual practice is very much needed in an attempt to help change
society."
Thay,
the author of more than 100 books, including the best-selling Miracle
of Mindfulness,
says that while it is difficult for those holding the strings of
power to speak out against the destructive nature of the current
economic system, for fear of being ostracised and ridiculed, we do
need more leaders to have the courage to challenge the status quo.
For
business and political leaders to do that, they need to cultivate
compassion in order to embrace and diminish the ego, Thay says.
"You
have the courage to do it [speak out] because you have compassion,
because compassion is a powerful energy," he says. "With
compassion you can die for other people, like the mother who can die
for her child. You have the courage to say it because you are not
afraid of losing anything, because you know that understanding and
love is the foundation of happiness. But if you have fear of losing
your status, your position, you will not have the courage to do it."
A moment of contemplation
While
many people are becoming disorientated by the complexity of their
lives and by the overwhelming array of choices offered by our
consumer society, Thay's retreats offer a profoundly simple
alternative.
Over
Plum Village's three-month winter retreat, Thay repeatedly instructs
the hundreds of monks, nuns and lay practitioners about switching off
the non-stop noise in their heads and focusing on the core of
mindfulness; the joy of breathing, of walking, of contemplation in
the present moment.
Rather
than searching for answers to life in the study of philosophy, or
seeking adrenaline charged peak experiences, Thay suggests that true
happiness can be found by touching the sacred in the very ordinary
experiences of life, which we largely overlook.
How
often do we fully appreciate, for example, how hard our hearts work
day and night to keep us alive? He suggests it is possible to
discover profound truths through concentrating on something as basic
as eating a carrot, as you get the insight that the vegetable cannot
exist without the support of the entire universe.
"If
you truly get in touch with a piece of carrot, you get in touch with
the soil, the rain, the sunshine," he says. "You get in
touch with Mother Earth and eating in such a way, you feel in touch
with true life, your roots, and that is meditation. If we chew every
morsel of our food in that way we become grateful and when you are
grateful, you are happy."
Despite
meditating every day for the past seven decades, Thay believes there
is still much to learn. "In Buddhism we speak of love as
something limitless," he says. "The four elements of love
which are loving kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity, have no
frontiers.
"Buddha
is thinking like that. His followers call him the perfect one but
that is out of love, for the truth is you can never be perfect. But
we don't need to be perfect. That is a good thing to know. If you
make a little bit of progress every day, a little bit more joy and
peace, that is good enough so Thay continues to practice and his
insight grows deeper every day.
"There
is no limit of the practice. And I think that is true of the human
race. We can continue to learn generation after generation and now is
time to begin to learn how to love in a non-discriminatory way
because we are intelligent enough, but we are not loving enough as a
species."
Thich Nhat Hanh: a life lived away from the public eye
Thay
is often compared to the Dalai Lama but has largely escaped the
public's gaze, deciding to live the life of a simple monk. He has
avoided the trap of being surrounded by celebrities and will give
interviews only to journalists who have spent time beforehand
meditating with him on the basis that mindfulness needs to be
experienced, rather than described.
But
Thay is no wallflower and has led an extraordinary life, including a
nomination for the Nobel peace prize from Martin Luther King in 1967
for his work in seeking an end to the Vietnam war. 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".
Thay
set up Plum Village 30 years ago after being exiled from his home
country and has since added monasteries in Thailand, Hong Kong and
the US, as well as an applied Buddhist
institute in
Germany. He has continued to work for peaceful solutions to conflicts
around the world, including holding several retreats for Israelis and
Palestinians.
In
2009 he faced conflict in his own life, when the Vietnamese
authorities closed down his recently opened monastery at Bhat Nha
after a campaign of harassment and violence. Thay believes the
action, which sparked an outcry from the EU and other countries, was
orchestrated by the Chinese following his public support for Tibet.
The 400 monks and nuns were dispersed but still operate quietly
within the country.
The Guardian's
release of US embassy cables highlighted
concern about the crackdown. One confidential cable said: "Vietnam's
poor handling of the situations at the Plum Village community at the
Bat Nha Pagoda and the Dong Chiem Catholic parish last week –
particularly the excessive use of violence – is troublesome and
indicative of a larger GVN crackdown on human rights in the run-up to
the January 2011 Party Congress"
Despite
all his achievements, including a recent stint as guest editor at the
Times of India, Thay is modest when he looks back at his life.
"There
is not much we have achieved except some peace, some contentment
inside. It is already a lot," he says. "The happiest
moments are when we sit down and we feel the presence of our brothers
and sisters, lay and monastic, who are practicising walking and
sitting mediation. That is the main achievement and other things like
publishing books and setting up institutions like in Germany, they
are not important.
"It
is important we have a sangha [community] and the insight came that
the Buddha of our time may not be an individual but it might be a
sangha. If every day you practice walking and sitting meditation and
generate the energy of mindfulness and concentration and peace, you
are a cell in the body of the new Buddha. This is not a dream but is
possible today and tomorrow. The Buddha is not something far away but
in the here and in the now."
While
Thay is still in good health and sharp as a pin, he is not getting
any younger and may soon begin to start pulling back from the
strenuous schedule that has seen him repeatedly criss-crossing the
world, leading retreats and passing on his teachings. This year he
travels across the US and Asia – perhaps his last major foreign
trip.
Given
his belief in no birth and no death, how does he feel about his own
passing?
"It
is very clear that Thay will not die but will continue in other
people," he says.
"So there is nothing lost and we are
happy because we are able to help the Buddha to renew his teaching.
He is deeply misunderstood by many people so we try to make the
teaching available and simple enough so that all people can make good
use of that teaching and practice."
As
he lifts a glass of tea to drink, he adds: "I have died already
many times and you die every moment and you are reborn in every
moment so that is the way we train ourselves. It is like the tea.
When you pour the hot water in the tea, you drink it for the first
time, and then you pour again some hot water and you drink, and after
that the tea leaves are there in the pot but the flavour has gone
into the tea and if you say they die it is not correct because they
continue to live on in the tea, so this body is just a residue.
"It
still can provide some tea flavour but one day there will be no tea
flavour left and that is not death. And even the tea leaves, you can
put them in the flower pot and they continue to serve so we have to
look at birth and death like that. So when I see young monastics and
lay people practicing, I see that is the continuation of the Buddha,
my continuation."
Prompted
by a letter that informed him that someone has built a temple in
Hanoi to commemorate his life, Thay recently sent a letter to the Tu
Hieu temple in central Vietnam, where he trained as a novice monk,
making it clear he does not want a shrine built in his honour when he
dies: "I said don't waste the land of the temple in order to
build me a stupha. Do not put me in a small pot and put me in there.
I don't want to continue like that. It is better to put the ash
outside to help the trees to grow. That is a meditation."
He
adds: "I recommend that they make the inscription outside on the
front 'I am not in here'. And then if people do not understand, you
add a second sentence 'I am not out there either' and if still they
don't understand on the third and the last;
'I may be found maybe in
your way of breathing or walking.'"
Guided
Meditation with Thich Nhat Hanh
"I
See You In Me, And Me In You." InterBeing with Thich Nhat Hanh.
Selection
from a beautiful Teaching on InterBeing given in 2008 by Thich Nhat
Hahn at Dharma Cloud Temple. As son is in father, and mother is in
daughter, so too we are in one another. We are not separate beings.
Rather we InterAre.
A
Mindful Gift from Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) to All of Us
By ELISHA
GOLDSTEIN, PH.D.
Last
week I wrote about Thich Nhat Hanh’s brain hemorrhage landing him
in the hospital. The most
recent update from
Plum Village shows that while his condition is still in a critical
stage he has opened his eyes and even reached out to touch the
attendant next to him. In continuing this time of honoring his life I
wanted to share with you one of the gifts he has given me that I
often share with others.
These
are the short phrases he weaves into breathing or walking that
helps us be more present, loving, grounded, and aware in daily life.
If you don’t already, consider trying these out as an experiment in
your daily life and seeing what you notice.
For
example,
- You may take three steps while breathing in and say “Breathing in, I calm my body” and then with the following three steps “Breathing out, I relax.” You can then shorten this to saying “calm” as you breathe in, and “relax” as you breathe out.
- “Breathing in, I have arrived, breathing out, I am home.” Then shorten too “Breathing in, arrived, breathing out, home.” Have you ever had the experience where you were rushing home to relax. It doesn’t make sense and isn’t effective is calming the nervous system. Sometimes reminding ourselves that we have arrived to the present moment already and that we are home can help calm an anxious mind. We can then slow down and get home a few minutes later in a more collected and relaxed state.
- “Breathing in, I wash my hands, breathing out, may I use them wisely throughout the day.” Shorten to, “Breathing in, washing, breathing out, wise hands.” This practice can not only bring appreciation to one of the unsung heroes of our bodies, our hands, but also reinforce the idea of being aware of all they do during the day and being more mindful with them. This cultivation of appreciation can support us in feeling well.
These
are just some examples; you can make up your own that fit for you.
You can do this while walking or just sitting and breathing. And
ofcourse, most important of all, don’t take my word for it, try it
for yourself. If it’s not for you, cast it aside, but give it a
shot. Pay attention to how you are feeling physically, emotionally,
and mentally before doing it and then again after you do it for a few
breaths.
No
matter how many breaths Thay has left, his life has touched millions
and he will never leave us.
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