Thich Nhat Hanh Healing in Vietnam The Wonderful World of Gathas

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healing in VIETNAM‘Thank God for Thich Nhat Hanh’Hue is the closest city to the DMZ (demilitarized zone), which remains the mostheavily bombed piece of earth on this planet. Slowly, I’m formulating a sense of the realdevastation of this war and all wars. Agent Orange is still wreaking havoc. Even today,babies are born with terrible deformities due to exposure. Many older Agent Orangevictims beg here on the streets of Hue and in the temples where we go to practice. Thesuffering, I see, is enormous, continuous.The response that keeps re-surfacing is “Thank God for Thich Nhat Hanh” — aleader, a visionary. He’s fighting the bureaucracy with peace and love and compassionand understanding. Without resentment or cynicism or demand. He is fighting and hewill win. It may take many more generations, but his message is true. Love all beings.Prevent all possible suffering. Act with compassion. Do not kill. Do not discriminate.The Communist officials here breathe down his neck. For thirty years, they repressedhim and killed his supporters. Yet he is here, now, and he will not stop fighting with loveand grace and dedication.—Madeline Dangerfield-ChaTop to bottom: Alms round in Bao Loc.Arrival at Tu Hieu, Dharma discussion at the lay retreat.Young nuns enjoying their elder sister.Before walking meditation at Tu Hieu.Alms round in Hue.Coming Home to HueWhen we arrived at Tu Hieu, Thay was just finishing an impromptu tour of thegrounds, explaining his activities as a young novice. Walking through the front gate,he motioned to the left-most of three stone arches and recounted the details of his firstentrance when he was only 16 years old. His older brother was already a novice, and hadbrought Thay to study with him. His brother instructed Thay to walk through the archin full awareness of every step and of every breath, invoking the name of the Buddha.Right, I am breathing in. Namo Shakyamuni Buddhaya. Left, I am breathing out. NamoShakyamuni Buddhaya. Those, he said, were his first steps on the path of mindfulness.He invited each of us to do as he had done.Sitting together on the shady grass, monastics and international lay friends, weare all smiling as a great family. Thay is cupping a flower in his left hand, which hebrings up to his face every so often, breathing in with great joy. He motions to a youngmonk, maybe ten or eleven yearsold, to sit close to him, extendingthe flower to the boy, sharing itsbeautiful fragrance. The youngnovice is nervous and smiling, hislegs curled beneath him, his backupright and erect. Thay puts an armaround his shoulders, and invitesanother young monastic to sharea song. Many have been singingtraditional folk songs or olderBuddhist chants. This young monksings a popular Vietnamese lovesong. His voice is warbling and fullof laughter. His Vietnamese brothersand sisters laugh through thewhole song. Our teacher is brightwith joy and humor.—Madeline Dangerfield-Cha14 Summer 2007
Preparations for these ceremonies were being made at least three monthsbefore Thay left for Vietnam. The full text of this letter is available on thePlum Village website in Vietnamese; it gives specific instructions as well onhow to set up the altar. I imagine it was down-loaded and widely distributedin Vietnam. --Sister Annabel, True VirtueDDuring the war, our country had to bear the pain of thirteen milliontons of bombs and seventy-two million liters of toxic chemicals.So many of our compatriots have died because of the war. Somany living beings — humans, birds, wild animals, vegetation,earth, and rocks — have been wounded, crippled, or devastated bythese bombs and poisonous chemicals. At present, the number ofunexploded bombs and grenades lying on the earth is still morethan three hundred thousand and on average once a week someonewill lose his or her life or be crippled by stepping on one of them.The number of warriors killed or wounded in action on both sidesnumbered one million two hundred fifty thousand.The huge amounts of weapons used by both sides to kill eachother were wholly provided by countries outside of Vietnam. Thenumber of compatriots killed and wounded in North and SouthVietnam is more than four million. The number of killed andwounded by bombs and weapons in the war has risen to five anda half million. Not only foreigners slaughtered, tortured, removedand constrained us by force, we ourselves were pushed into opposingand hating each other so that we also tortured, slaughtered,eliminated, constrained each other by force. The battlefields ofVietnam in the last war were the bloodiest Vietnam has ever known.Millions became boat people. Nearly half a million compatriotslost their lives escaping from Vietnam by boat. Thousands diedbecause they wasted away while unjustly held in prison camps.Our land and our people bore the burden of so many wounds andinjustices, which we have not yet had the chance to talk about.Any victims of war are our ill-fated compatriots. Togetherwith one mind we shall pray for all those who have died, in theBuddhist spirit of inclusiveness and non-discrimination. Accordingto the teachings of the Buddha and according to the principles ofpsychotherapy if we keep holding down our wounds and pain in theunconscious we shall not have an opportunity to heal the woundsin our heart. To bring this pain up into our conscious mind, torecognize it, to embrace it with compassion, to pray, and to acceptis an essential practice. This is the practice of the Grand OfferingCeremony to undo past injustice. This ceremony is realized in aspirit of brotherhood, when hatred is put aside, resentment, blamingand assigning guilt are absent, where we accept and forgive eachother. This is what is meant by the Pure Nectar of Compassion, awonderful teaching of the Buddha.All our compatriots, whether old, young or middle-aged,love our country and our people. Everyone aspires to strive forindependence, freedom, unity, and peace in our country. However,when our country found itself in a difficult situation many of ushad to oppose each other and become the victims of a cruel andlong-lasting struggle. Many of us have had to go through sad situationsof enormous tragedy and maltreatment, feelings of injusticethat we had never known before.Explaining theReasons for theGrand OfferingCeremoniesBy Thich Nhat Hanhhealing in VIETNAMNow our country has been unified, is at peace, and has beenrebuilt. It is our chance to come back together, hold each other’shands, accept each other so that together we can pray for eachother, whether the object of our prayer has died or is still alive andcontinues to bear the burden of cruel injustice. Together we shallhave a chance to heal the wounds that are still bleeding and havebeen bleeding for a long time. The reason we dared to undertakethis task for the Buddha is because we have seen these wounds.Respectfully we request the Upadhyaya, the Venerable elders, allour compatriots, and the Buddhists in our country and abroad,along with politicians of all persuasions, to understand this matterdeeply and to give wholehearted spiritual support so that this taskfor the Buddha can be realized.Translated from the Vietnameseby Sister Annabel, True Virtuethe Mindfulness Bell 15
Page 1 and 2: Summer 2007 A Publication of Plum V
Page 3 and 4: ISSUE NO. 45 - Summer 2007Dharma Ta
Page 5 and 6: sharing OUR VIEWSThank you so much
Page 7 and 8: dharma TALK“I am taking each step
Page 9 and 10: dharma TALKand walking meditation.
Page 11 and 12: dharma TALKbrought up a few exercis
Page 13 and 14: healing in VIETNAMThousands on a Fe
Page 15: healing in VIETNAMPhotos of the Gre
Page 19 and 20: peaceful HEARTDharma Rainin the Roc
Page 21 and 22: peaceful HEARTmunity? That way we
Page 23 and 24: peaceful HEARTYMCADharma SongSung t
Page 25 and 26: practical WISDOMrunning water, no e
Page 27 and 28: practical WISDOMThe mind can go in
Page 29 and 30: practical WISDOMJI was confined in
Page 31 and 32: practical WISDOMHugging asPracticeB
Page 33 and 34: In Memoriam:in MEMORIAMThay Giac Th
Page 35 and 36: in MEMORIAMDyingPoems will die.Ten-
Page 37 and 38: in MEMORIAMSunday arrived. It was a
Page 39 and 40: heart to HEARTHeart to HeartHeart t
Page 41 and 42: young REFLECTIONSOver the summer I
Page 43 and 44: young REFLECTIONSphoto by Emily Whi
Page 45 and 46: young REFLECTIONSStudents and facul
Page 47 and 48: ook REVIEWSFirst BuddhistWomenPoems
Page 49 and 50: Build sanghaSpread the dharmaDeepen
Page 52: Sangha on alms round in Bao Locphot

Thich Nhat Hanh Healing in Vietnam The Wonderful World of Gathas

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