Warmest Greetings
Thich Nhat Hanh is an amazing human being. Whether reflecting on my own heart, the heart of others, or the heart of our nation and beyond, I find the deep wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh a source of great inspiration. I recently heard him interviewed on NPR, which moves me today to post something by this great teacher. As many of you know, Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist who was nominated by Martin Luther King, Jr. for the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize. The following transcription is of Thich Nhat Hanh's introductory talk and the initial Proposal to Listen For Peace and Security. The talk was made September 2002 at Naropa University's School of Extended Studies in Boulder, Colorado. I see this talk as continuing to have great wisdom and relevance to where we find ourselves today.
Peace ~ Molly
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GLOBAL PATH TOWARD PEACE
Thich Nhat Hahn
In the past three years we have sponsored many groups of Palestinians and Israelis to come to Plum Village, to practice with us. All of them have big pain and suffering within. Most of them did not know how to breathe, recognize and embrace the fear, the anger, the frustration, the despair in them.
They could not look at each other. They could not talk to each other, because their fear is huge, their anger is so huge. With Buddha Sangha supporting, they are able to breathe in and out, generating the energy of mindfulness and embrace tenderly their anger, their fear, their frustration.
They learned to breath with us. They learned to walk with us. They learned to sit down finally with us. They learned to eat mindfully, wash the dishes mindfully with us, and finally we helped them to practice, the practice of deep compassionate listening to the other group of people. And we helped the other group of people to practice gentle speech, loving speech, so that they can empty their heart. They came to express everything that is in their heart, their fear, their suffering, their anger and so on.
The practice is having an opportunity to speak out everything in your heart because you can get relief when you do so. But you should be trained to speak in such a way that the other group of people can listen and understand. Therefore calm, gentle speech must be learned.
It is very moving to be there and to listen to them, listening to each other and speaking to each other.
And after several sessions of deep compassionate listening, transformation took place. This group realized that the other group is made also of human beings and they have also suffered very deeply. They tell us how they suffer, how their children suffer, how they are victims of discrimination and fear and injustice.
The practice of gentle speaking, loving speech and deep listening have brought about wonderful results.
These Palestinians and Israeli's have become brothers and sisters to each other in the practice. And for the first time they said, for the first time, they believed peace in the Middle East is possible.
PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST IS POSSIBLE
You cannot love, you cannot love unless you understand. You cannot be compassionate and accept the other person unless you understand him, her or them.
But understanding what? Understanding their suffering, their difficulties, their obstacles, their despair. Once you have understanding, your heart opens. The nectar of compassion springs up. And you don't suffer any more because compassion has been born in your heart.
And when you have compassion in your heart you can help the other person to suffer less. You are able to use gentle speech, loving speech. You are able to help him or her to remove the wrong perceptions. Because these wrong perceptions have led to anger, hatred and fear and a willingness to punish.
The purpose of mindfulness and concentration leads to insight. The practice of deep listing and loving speech helps to remove wrong understandings, wrong perceptions. Because wrong perceptions are the very ground of violence and terrorism.
You don't want to destroy them. You don't want to annihilate them as a people, as a nation, as a culture, as a religion, but they believe that you want to destroy them. And that is why they want to punish you, they want to destroy you, so you won't destroy them.
I was there when the event of September 11, happened.
On the 13th of September I gave a dharma talk in Berkeley for 4,000 people. I only said that violence cannot respond to violence, hatred cannot respond to hatred, only compassion can respond to hatred and violence.
It is my conviction that America is capable of being compassionate and understanding.
On the 25th of September again I spoke, in New York City. And I repeated, I brought the same kind of message. And I made a very concrete proposal for America so that American can overcome her suffering. And if America can overcome her suffering she can help others to overcome their suffering also.
AMERICA HAS TO LISTEN TO HER OWN SUFFERING
And this is what I proposed. First America has to listen to her own suffering, because there is suffering in America. There are sections of the population who believe, who feel that they are victims of discrimination and injustice. There are sections of the population who feel that they have never been listened to, they have never been understood.
It is my conviction that in America there are those of you who are very capable of listening deeply and with compassion. We have to identify them. We have invite them to come and form a kind of council, kind of parliament for compassionate deep listening.
There is a vast resource of peace in America. We have to identify these resources. Especially the people who know. Who are capable of understanding with compassion. Who are capable of listening deeply with compassion. And after we have formed that council of sages we will invite the sections of the population who have felt they have been discriminated against.
We can invite them to come and will assure them they are safe. If they want to speak out they are safe, provided that they learn how to speak with gentle speech. That those of us who can come and help them to breath, to walk, to embrace their suffering so that they can express themselves peacefully, the suffering in their heart.
The way we do in Plum Village for our friends from the Middle East. We help them to breathe, to calm, to embrace their suffering and their fear and their anger. Sessions of deep compassionate listening like that can be televised to the whole population of America.
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Peace begins with each one of us. We recognize that the peace, well being, and safety of the people within the United States and the peace, well being and safety of rest of the world are inextricably interwoven. ~ Thich Nhat Hahn
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