“Re – member
Bat Nha”
In gratitude and utmost respect,
The arrow that was shot from Bat Nha was already in our body even before the event took place.
All societies are being poisoned.
The event gives the opportunity to recognize our hidden suffering.
The koan Thay gives is hanging on the door of our liberation. Continue reading Bart Driessens – Response to the Bat Nha Koan →
Dear Friends,
You are the ones who have stayed with us throughout the unfolding Bat
Nha Sangha crisis always willing to help us in any way you could. It
is wonderful to know we are part of a wider Buddhist / Spiritual
community. Whereas previous letters have often asked for your support
this letter is to simply share with you Thays request for your
insights having read Bat Nha: A Koan along with some of first hand
perspectives of some brothers and sisters I recently had the joy to
reunite with in Plum Village.
Continue reading A letter to the Buddhist Community – Responding to the Bat Nha Koan, by Chan Phap Lai →
Dear Thay, Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I am a singer, songwriter, and guitar player. I am also a practitioner of the five mindfulness Trainings. I hope that if I were ever confronted with such a difficult situation as the Brothers and Sisters of Bat Nha, that I could respond in the solidly peaceful, compassionate, and upright way that they demonstrated. This is why I practice. It is difficult enough for me to respond with non-violence and love when someone cuts me off on the freeway. How would I respond to direct attacks on my body and on my community? I hope that, like the Brothers and Sisters of Bat Nha, I could choose to respond with fierce and radical compassion and embrace the attackers with love. Wow!
Continue reading Joe Reilly – a response to the Bat Nha Koan →
Dear Respected Teacher,
This is a moment of happiness.
I am sitting with a stick of incense, a pot of tea, sunlight, silence and ease. There are more than enough conditions for my happiness.
I have been through storms in the last few months; storms of doubt, fears, anxiety and despair, or rather disappointment. I think that sometimes I profoundly disappoint myself – I am not able to live up to my highest ideal, and failing to live up to my expectations, or the expectations I feel from others, I sink even lower – I give up on myself, I let go of my principles. I think this is what happened to those policemen, to certain members of the Buddhist Church of Vietnam, and to certain politicians, East and West. A small betrayal leads to a bigger one, and so it goes on.
Continue reading Chan Phap Linh – a Letter to my Teacher →
un puits
a well-spring
a riverbed that may and does change its course, and often
a long stone stairway down which newly ordained novices are descending slowly and gracefully with Thay
a grey robe draped over a young tea bush in full bloom, blowing gently in the warm breeze
a white boulder lying in a bed where a river of tears once flowed, on which to sit in the warm spring sun, facing the moon and soaking one’s feet in the fresh, cool brook
une hutte et son potager, en couleurs et formes géometriques diverses
a hammock
le Bouddha, serein et souriant, toujours assis sur la coline
il fallait/faut/faudra bien retourner à la source
–Tam Dai Hoa/Chan Mat Hanh/Phap Kinh
Continue reading Three poems – in response to the Bat Nha Koan →
THICH NHAT HANH
Lunar New Year’s Eve, 13 Feb. 2010
Celebrating 1,000 Years of Hanoi
INTRODUCTION
In the year 1010, one thousand years ago, the first king of the Ly dynasty founded Thang Long, the city now known as Hanoi. The Ly dynasty has been described as “the most compassionate, peaceful and harmonious in the history of Vietnam” by the eminent historian Hoang Xuan Han. This, he wrote, was “thanks to the influence of Buddhism”. Continue reading Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh offers 12 Proposals for Celebrating 1000 Years of Hanoi →
released Monday 25 January, 2010
Do not just look for what you want to see, that would be futile. Do not look for anything, but allow the insight to have a chance to come by itself. That insight will help liberate you. – Nhat Hanh
Continue reading Bat Nha: a Koan – an invitation to look deeply, from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh →(translated from the Vietnamese)
Fragrant Source Inner Monastery The last days of 2009
To my Bat Nha children,
I know that in these moments, you have to disperse to many places, and you cannot live together to practice as a monastic community anymore, but I trust that my letter will still reach you. Continue reading The Indestructible Seed of Awakening →
By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent
see original article here
A zen master famed for spreading Buddhism in the West, and who was once a confidant of the US civil rights leader Martin Luther King, has accused Vietnam’s Communist government of dispatching violent mobs to attack his followers and force them from their monasteries. Continue reading Vietnamese evicted my flock, says Zen master →
Zen Master: Vietnam Paid Mobs to Evict Followers
see original article here
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 11, 2010
Filed at 7:21 a.m. ET
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A famous Zen master has accused Vietnam’s communist government of hiring mobs of people to violently evict his Buddhist followers from two monasteries. Continue reading New York Times: Vietnam Paid Mob to Evict Followers →