Thich Nhat Hanh Healing in Vietnam The Wonderful World of Gathas

More documents

Recommendations

Info

heart to HEARTphoto by David NelsonOWe have one of the highest crime rates in the world, andmuch of it is violent crime. The situation in South Africa hascome to be because of the past history and collective karma thatwe have created. Everybody knows the story of Apartheid. Thepast is past, but it is still with us in the present moment. We haveto work very hard to change it and to create a better future. Wehave undergone major transformation in our country under thebodhisattva Nelson Mandela, but social change takes much longerthan political change.We live in a hard country, and it can make you a hard person,or it can soften you and make you more compassionate. I used tobe hard and uncaring before I encountered the Dharma. Since thenI am constantly trying to increase my compassion, open my heartwider, and become a bodhisattva. I think of the bodhisattvas whogo to the darkest places in order to help, and sometimes it feelslike this path was given to me by default. “Darkest Africa” is myhome, and many bodhisattvas are needed on this continent, whichis plagued by tribal wars, famine, AIDS, poverty, and crime.As aspiring bodhisattvas, there are many teachings to help uscultivate our capacity to love:• The teaching on Buddha nature: All beings are the same,we all have the same potential, we all want happiness anddon’t want suffering.• The teaching on cause and effect: We take responsibilityfor what we are experiencing without blaming others. It isour own karma; we are reaping what we sowed. Even if wepersonally did nothing in this particular lifetime, we mayhave contributed through our non-action, our apathy.• The teaching on dependent origination: Everythingdepends on causes and conditions. Nobody is inherently“bad” — people act in certain ways because of causesand conditions that are often beyond their control. Thisunderstanding helps us to cultivate compassion, to openthe door of our heart so that we can love instead of hate.Thay’s poem “Please Call Me by My True Names” aboutthe sea pirate, helped me a lot. Here is an excerpt:I am the 12 year old girl,refugee on a small boat,who throws herself into the ocean38 Summer 2007after being raped by a sea pirate.And I am the pirate,my heart not yet capableof seeing and loving.Please call me by my true names,so I can hear all my cries and laughter at once,so I can see that my joy and pain are one.Please call me by my true namesso I can wake upand the door of my heartcould be left open –the door of compassion.These wonderful teachings help us to transform our minds,our emotions, our ways of being. We do this for ourselves and forthe world, to relieve ourselves of suffering and to create a betterworld in the future because happiness and suffering are universal.I know that if you suffer, you will make me suffer. We know that ifwe exploit people or take unfair advantage of them, oppress them,discriminate against them on grounds of race, culture, religion,gender, we are committing a kind of theft — we are stealing theirdignity to be who they are. This will make them suffer and it willmake us suffer, because one day their suffering will impact on ourlives and become our suffering as well.We are all creators. We are creating all the time. We are responsiblefor creating the kind of world that we live in, and this is whythe Mindfulness Trainings are so important. We must learn fromthe mistakes of the past so that we can create a better future basedon love not fear, on giving not getting, on helping not harming, onsupporting not exploiting, on building up not breaking down, oncreating the conditions for happiness not suffering. Then we canall live in the Pure Land. The Buddha said:If you want to know your past lives,Look into your present condition.If you want to know your future,Look into your present actions.Carol Leela VerityTrue Stream of LightPlettenberg Bay, South Africa
young REFLECTIONSOver the summer I went to a Buddhist retreat in Plum Village,France. Plum Village is a community of Buddhist monks andnuns located about an hour and a half from Bordeaux. The headof this community is a man named Thich Nhat Hanh. He is aVietnamese monk who was forced to leave Vietnam during theVietnam War.He was forced to leave because he was opposed to the warand both sides wanted him to join them. He left Vietnam to cometo the United States to speak out against the war and when he triedto return to Vietnam, the government refused to let him back in.He then moved to France where he remains today.Plum Village is made up of four communities where themonks and nuns live during the year. At different times duringthe year Thich Nhat Hanh offers retreats where people can comeand stay for one or two weeks. The community where I stayed wasvery peaceful with a meditation hall, dining room, and ceremonialbell located in the very center. I lived in a farm house which wasabout a ten-minute walk from the center. It was an eight-roomhouse which held about twenty people. Altogether at the retreatthere were about 700 people coming from fifty countries.Hearing Thich Nhat Hanh and visiting Plum Village were soimportant to me because it showed me the importance of being inthe moment and taking things step by step. Thay taught me to feelsympathy for those who are mean to others or who picked on mebecause their souls were not better off for what they were doing.He is an extraordinary person. In his presence I felt that somehowanything that I had ever done wrong was OK, and I was happy.When I returned home, I was much more relaxed and helpedsome new kids in the school dorm move in. One particular individualwho before had picked on me came up to me the nextday after I got back and made fun of me for going on this retreat.Although it was an extremely offensive remark, I thought back towhat Thich Nhat Hanh had told me and simply replied, “How areyou today?” He yelled at me again and I said, “I had a great break,how was yours?” It took about a week but by the next Monday, heno longer picked on me. Today we are good friends.My teachers also noticed a change in me. From the secondI got back to school I was much more relaxed, calm, and patient.I was also happier. Before when someone had done somethingI did not agree with, I put up a shell and refused to talk to thatperson. Thich Nhat Hanh taught me that shutting out the personwas no better than picking on him and that if I shut someone outonce it would become a habit. With this in mind I worked hardon becoming friendly to everyone and listening to what they weresaying. It was a truly amazing experience and it has changed mylife forever.Retreat atPlum VillageBy Cameron BarnettCameron Barnett, age 13, and his mother JoAnnattended the family retreat at Plum Village in 2006, havingpreviously attended a family retreat in Massachusetts.the Mindfulness Bell 39
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 and 16: healing in VIETNAMPhotos of the Gre
Page 17 and 18: Preparations for these ceremonies w
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: heart to HEARTHeart to HeartHeart t
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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?