The Vietnamese Buddhist Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh is featured in the most recent installment of the Speaking of Faith radio program from American Public Media.Host Krista Tippet re-broadcasts her interviews of Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh in 2003 during a mindfulness retreat in Wisconsin. Thay (as students and followers address him) is a relevant and prophetic voice speaking of the real possibility of living an evenminded and contented life amidst the plurality of greed, hatred, and violence extant in the world. In this program, he speaks of his life as a monk during the war in Vietnam and the different practices he engaged in and programs he founded to help alleviate the suffering caused on every side of that conflict. He speaks of "being peace," "engaged Buddhism," and "mindfulness" and their relevancy for life in today's world.
Also interviewed are Cheri Maples and Larry Ward, both participants in the retreat. They speak of how Thay and his teachings and practices have changed their lives for the better. Cheri is a licensed attorney and consultant on justice and community corrections. She was ordained as a dharma teacher by Thich Nhat Hanh in 2008. And Larry Ward, who happens to be a fellow student in the religious studies program at University of the West, is co-director of the Lotus Institute in Encinitas, California and an ordained Baptist minister. Both of these interviews are personal, insightful, and helpful in shedding light from a different angle on Thay's Buddhist teachings and practices.
As a Unity student and Christian, I've found Thay's approach to Buddhism very approachable, for it speaks more clearly and directly to me as an American Christian interested in mindfulness practices. Even though we have analogous practices in the Christian contemplative tradition (meditatio -- centering prayer, contemplative prayer; and affirmative prayer), opening myself up to the Buddhist version of these practices has been instructive for two fundamental reasons: 1) as a result I've been able to better humanize and understand Buddhists and Buddhist teaching and 2) it has reintroduced me to the vast and deep contemplative tradition at the heart of Christian spirituality. Thay has a way of communicating the Buddhist mindfulness and socially engaged principles so simply and clearly (so that everyday Westerners can relate to them) that, even though I've been aware of many Buddhist texts and doctrine for years, these teachings took on fresh meaning and import.
(Above photo from Thich Nhat Hanh's Plum Village website.)
No comments:
Post a Comment