Thich Nhat Hanh Jewish Roots The Better Way to Live Alone in the ...

sangha NEWSThich Nhat HanhReceives Bridgeof Peace AwardMonks and nuns from Deer Park accepting Thay’s awardFive peacemakers honoredat ceremony in Los AngelesBy Peggy Rowephoto by David MaungThe monks and nuns of Deer Park Monastery invited the bell tobegin the celebration and offered the Five Contemplations for thebanquet. The Bridge of Peace Award, a crystal globe on a crystalstand, was presented to Thay by Soto Zen lay priest Claude AnshinThomas. Anshin shared how the Sangha and other veteransenabled him to travel to Plum Village where he experienced a timeof profound healing and transformation. The award was acceptedby the monastics of Deer Park, who read a statement from Thay:“I am very grateful and very touched to receive this award. Weare at a critical point of history in the world. It is heartening tohave so many people together to practice peace. Peace is availablein every step.” Then they sang Thay’s poem “Recommendation,”accompanied by guitar.Awards also went to Le Ly Hayslip, Marla Ruzicka, Dr. WaqarAl-Kubaisy, and Marshall Rosenberg. What the five remarkablehonorees share is compassion for others, the courage to tell thetruth, and the gift of unconditional love. All five took action tobetter the lives of others and to promote peace in the twenty-firstcentury.Le Ly Hayslip, a Woman ofOrdinary DreamsLe Ly left Vietnam when she was 13 years old. She describesherself as a “woman of ordinary dreams,” whose only life dreamwas to be a stay-at-home wife and mother. In 1985 she began herefforts to visit her homeland, but there were no diplomatic relationswith Vietnam. She says, “I had a dream in my spirit to seeus reunited again as people, if only I could break down the wallsof fear and mistrust that divided us. I dreamed that I, a housewifewith a third-grade education, could transform the hatred of warinto a bridge of peace for all people.”So Le Ly became a bridge builder. She received permissionto travel to Vietnam in 1986, in 1987 she founded the East MeetsWest Foundation, and built schools, clinics, hospitals in Vietnamalong with many other works to foster peace and reconciliationbetween the US and Vietnam. In 1999, she founded the GlobalVillage Foundation. Her life is chronicled in the Oliver Stone filmHeaven and Earth.A Posthumous Tribute toMarla RuzickaAfter leading a Global Exchange Reality Tour in opposition tothe war in Afghanistan, Marla stayed behind to help. She arrivedin Kabul only a few days after the Taliban was removed. The dayafter Saddam’s statue fell, Marla arrived in Iraq where she wentdoor to door tallying the loss and injury of human life and seeinghow she could serve. Did you know that in the twentieth century,ninety percent of the casualties of war were soldiers? Did you knowthat in the twenty-first century, ninety percent of the casualties ofwar are civilians? So Marla started counting.In 2003, Marla formed the Campaign for Innocent Victims inConflict (CIVIC). On April 16, 2005 Marla was killed in a suicidebomb attack in Baghdad on her way to visit an injured child. Shewas a lovely twenty-eight-year-old woman with an infectious laughand warm smile. Before her death, she successfully lobbied theU.S. government to provide medical and other assistance to Afghanand Iraqi families. To date, 25 million dollars have been appropriatedand Marla’s work continues through CIVIC Worldwide.The Courage of Dr. Waqar Al-KubaisyA woman with a beautiful smile presented herself to me witha firm handshake. “Thank you for your presence of peace,” shesaid. I found out later that she was the Iraqi physician receivingthe Bridge of Peace award for courage. In her acceptance speechshe talked about the lives being lost; she described her relentlesswork to help all people by bringing medical services and supplies40 Summer 2006