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Thich Nhat Hanh: Engaged Buddhism Nhat Hanh (Thich is a title used by all Vietnamese monks and nuns) is the expatriate Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, born in 1926, who in 1966, during a visit to the U.S., persuaded Martin Luther King, Jr. to oppose the Vietnam War. After giving his famous speech at the Riverside Church in New York City in 1967, in which he declared his opposition to the war, Dr. King nominated Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize, saying, “I do not personally know of anyone more worthy of [this prize] than this gentle monk from Vietnam. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.” Unfortunately, King’s public revelation of his nomination violated the tradition of the prize committee and they voted, in spite of King’s high praise, not to award the prize that year. Nhat Hanh lost out on a technicality. Thich Nhat Hanh represented the Buddhist Peace Delegation at the talks which resulted in the Paris Peace Accords of 1973. Long having considered him “a communist” because of his efforts for peace, the Vietnamese government denied him permission to return to Vietnam, and he went into exile in France. His present home is Plum Village Monastery in France, with which a number of other Buddhist groups worldwide are affiliated, including Willow Branch Sangha in West Chester, Pa. (610-388-1257). From Plum Village he travels internationally giving retreats and talks, and in 2005 was finally allowed to return to Vietnam for a visit. He has published more than 100 books, including more than 40 in English. He is credited with coining the phrase “engaged Buddhism,” first used in his book Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire. He is now considered a major influence in the development of Western Buddhism. Like its Hindu origins, Buddhism concentrates on the inward journey into the mind. Through various meditation exercises, practitioners are led through a path first seeking concentration and clarity and then opening the heart to compassion. Compared to Western activism, the Buddhist outlook seems withdrawn and even self-centered. In fact, however, a more highly evolved Buddhist will be drawn to active involvement; indeed, the most highly evolved state, short of enlightenment itself, the Bodhisattva, consists in postponing one’s own enlightenment for the sake of helping others. Still, few ordinary Buddhists will have reached that stage, and for them Buddhism may seem to call for an ascetic detachment from the world and its problems. It is precisely to counter this tendency that Nhat Hanh formulated the “engaged Buddhism” approach. In a nutshell, it means including in the notion of compassion the wider issues of peace and social justice. This approach, however, does not reduce Buddhism to Western activism; there is an important difference. The Buddhist stress on meditation tends to shape activism so that it proceeds from a calm center. Acting out of anger, Western style, may give an emotional high and may even feel more satisfying. In the end, however, it leads to disillusion and burnout. Acting nonviolently, from a spirit of loving detachment, is more effective in the long run. Of course, a certain amount of anger-energy, a kind of righteous indignation, can be helpful in getting us started and keeping us going. Certainly anger (within limits) is preferable to apathy. But somewhere on the path of development we would hope to move from anger to love. Anger uses up a lot of energy to keep itself going; once this energy can be released for better use, everything becomes more efficient. One of Nhat Hanh’s most popular books is titled simply Anger. Here he gives wise advice about dealing with anger (and, by extension, other kinds of destructive or addictive behavior). He recommends what seems a paradoxical approach: not to attempt to stifle the anger (which is not effective, anyhow) and certainly not to act it out. Rather, during quiet meditation, come to know your anger and own it. Work for clarity, learning when the anger comes up, what it feels like, all the variations of it. Accept it as part of yourself, at least at this particular time. He uses the expression “allow the anger to cook.” After you accept it as part of yourself, it begins to lose some of its energy. Continue to see and feel it ever more clearly. Gradually it will seem less important; eventually you will be able to say, “I don’t need this anger any more, I can simply drop it.” Often all you need do is give permission; everything else is automatic. Another approach is cultivation of the Buddhist practice of Metta, or “loving kindness.” There are many forms of this practice, some involving visualization of various kinds. In its simplest form, it involves a heartfelt expression of a phrase such as “May I (or you or they) be filled with loving kindness.” After meditating on the breath to reach a state of relaxed concentration, you simply repeat the phrase, slowly, with feeling, directing it first to yourself. Strange as it seems, but unfortunately true, we Westerners often have great difficulty in loving ourselves, so we have trouble wishing loving kindness to ourselves. The Dalai Lama once stated to a group of Western social scientists that he was amazed to hear them speak of low self-esteem. Among Tibetans, it is unknown─there is not even a Tibetan word for it. We must start with ourselves. The next step is to think of someone who is lovable and wish that person (or child or pet) to be filled with loving kindness. Then you are to think of an acquaintance, one not very well known. Reflect on the fact that that person is only human, has human suffering, and therefore can use some comforting. So you wish that person may be filled with loving kindness. Finally, you are to think of “an enemy.” Hopefully, we don’t have real “enemies,” but we all know people who are annoying, who perhaps have even hurt us, whom we try to avoid if we can, who perhaps bring out feelings of envy or anger. We need to reflect that they also are suffering and they are acting out of their own destructive emotions. They also need comfort. So we say to them “May you be filled with loving kindness.” If we can can gradually include in this category our political opponents, the warmongers, even the terrorists, we will be making good progress. There are more elaborate forms of Metta, but this simple one is powerful enough. If enough people on earth could reach the state which the loving kindness meditation envisions, there would no longer be any need for war. Put simply, that is what Thich Nhat Hanh’s work is all about. Dom Roberti |