Thursday, October 2, 2008

Thich Nhat Hanh visits India


Thich Nhat Hanh (pronounced Tick-Naught-Han) is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk. During the war in Vietnam, he worked tirelessly for reconciliation between North and South Vietnam. His lifelong efforts to generate peace moved Martin Luther King, Jr. to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. He lives in exile in a small community in France where he teaches, writes, gardens, and works to help refugees worldwide. He has conducted many mindfulness retreats in Europe and North America helping veterans, children, environmentalists, psychotherapists, artists and many thousands of individuals seeking peace in their hearts, and in their world. ...Thich Naht Hanh biography 
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Order of Interbeing 


One of the best known Buddhist teachers in the West,[4][5] Thich Nhat Hanh's teachings and practices appeal to people from various religious, spiritual, and political backgrounds. He offers a practice of mindfulness adapted to Western sensibilities.[6] He created the Order of Interbeing in 1966, and established monastic and practice centers around the world. As of 2007 his home is Plum Village Monastery in the Dordogne region in the South of France[2] and he travels internationally giving retreats and talks. He coined the term Engaged Buddhismin his book Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire.[7]
'Terrorists are victims who create more victims'
Times of India 2 Oct 2008, 0019 hrs IST,TNN
Midway through the news meeting on Wednesday, the grim news came in: Agartala had been rocked by serial blasts. All eyes immediately turned to Ven
Thich Nhat Hanh
TOI Guest Editor Thich Nhat Hanh. (TOI Photo)
erable Thich Nhat Hanh, the Guest Editor for our special Peace Edition. As journalists, what should we do on a day like this?

The Zen master, who has rebuilt bombed villages, set up schools and medical centres, resettled homeless families and for a lifetime advocated tirelessly the principles of non-violence and compassionate action, pondered for a while.

When he spoke, it was with great clarity, ''Report in a way that invites readers to take a look at why such things continue to happen and that they have their roots in anger, fear, hate and wrong perceptions. Prevent anger from becoming a collective energy. The only antidote for anger and violence is compassion. Terrorists are also victims, who create other victims of misunderstanding.''

This, remember, is the monk — now 82 years old — credited with a big role in turning American public opinion against the war in Vietnam — for which Martin Luther King Jr had nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. And so, his words are not to be dismissed lightly.  more from Wikipedia 

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