Ven. Thich Nhat Nanh is widely recognized as the originator of the global movement that has now come to be known as 'engaged Buddhism'. A Vietnamese Zen monk, he championed a peace movement in Vietnam during the war in the 1960s and '70s and since then has worked to engage spiritual wisdom in problems of politics, and everyday living.
How do you see the role of Buddshim in stopping war and building peace?
I think Buddshim helps stop the war within us first. It helps stop the conflicts within, so that we can really build better relationships with other people, our family, and our community. Without doing that, we cannot help much in stopping the conflicts in society and in the world. PEACE begins with myself, and I think that is very Buddhist in essence. Many Christians and Jews believe the same thing. That principle, that vision is universal, not only Buddhist, but Christian, Jewish, and also humanist, non-religious.
When you are at war with yourself, you can start the war with other people around you, and it's very difficult to help build PEACE in society. That is why the beginning is always to go back and look at and settle the conflicts and war within yourself. You don't need to become a Buddha in order to start building PEACE in society, but as you begin to make PEACE Inside, you already do something to help the PEACE around you.
Can you tell us about your meetings during those days, with people like Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Thomas Merton and (peace activist) Alfred Hassler?
I met Dr Martin Luther King in Chicago, US, for the first time in June 1966 while I was making a tour of North America. After just half an hour of talking together, we held a press conference. And it was very easy to communicate.
I met him the second time at Geneva during a conference on PEACE called Pacem in Terris. He invited me up to his apartment for breakfast, and we discussed the situation in Vietnam, in America, in the world. Then I was able to tell him that in Vietnam many of us consider him to be a bodhisattva working for human rights and peace. He was very pleased. It was only a few months before he was assassinated, so I'm pleased I could tell him that.
Thomas Merton I met in the Trappist monastery in Kentucky. We had a good time together exchanging many things, including our experiences of living in monasteries! At that time I was not sure that I could go home to Vietnam. Because I had spoken out, it was dangerous to go home. He wrote something supporting me, and he asked his friends to do whatever they could do to support me in this difficult moment.
Thomas Merton was the first Christian monk to study the practice of BUDDHISM very deeply.
Yes, he had studied ZEN Buddhism. I gave him a book of mine written in French, Le Buddhisme d'Aujourd'hui. He wrote a review of it.
I spent two days with him, and he took me to visit the childhood home of Lincoln. After I left, he gave a talk to his monks and said, "Just looking at how he closes the door, you know that he's a true monk." (Laughs.) That's funny, because in Plum Village (Thich Nhat Hanh's residence in France) a Catholic lady from Germany once came for three weeks of practice. Before she left us, she said, "I came because I read something from Thomas Merton about Thich Nhat Hanh's closing the door. I was curious. I wanted to come just to see how you close the door. I stayed three weeks for the practice, and I am very glad that I have come. I also have learned how to close the door!"
Recently, I met an American man who was reading Thomas Merton's books. He was very surprised that Merton wrote, "Nhat Hanh is more my brother than most of my Catholic monks". He asked me if Merton became a Buddhist.
He did not have to become a Buddhist, because he had Buddha-nature within himself. A good Christian always manifests the Buddha-nature, and a good Buddhist always manifests the LOVE and COMPASSION of Jesus.
Alfred Hassler? I worked with him in Vietnam. He was the executive secretary of FOR (Fellowship of Reconciliation), and he tried his best to help us. He organized a speaking tour for me, and I went to Australia and many countries in Europe with him. After that, FOR organized a world tour for me. I went to the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. And when I learned that I was barred from going back to Vietnam, I went to France and took asylum there.
In 1966, a journalist in Washington, DC, told me that the government of Vietnam had informed Great Britain, Japan, and the United States that they had invalidated my passport, and that it should not be honored by them. So when I visited Washington, DC, I risked deportation. I asked Sister Cao Ngoc Phuong to come to Washington to accompany me back to France. We were afraid that at the Paris airport, I would be caught, so we asked a number of personalities in Paris to come greet us at the airport and protect us.
How do you see the role of Buddshim in stopping war and building peace?
I think Buddshim helps stop the war within us first. It helps stop the conflicts within, so that we can really build better relationships with other people, our family, and our community. Without doing that, we cannot help much in stopping the conflicts in society and in the world. PEACE begins with myself, and I think that is very Buddhist in essence. Many Christians and Jews believe the same thing. That principle, that vision is universal, not only Buddhist, but Christian, Jewish, and also humanist, non-religious.
When you are at war with yourself, you can start the war with other people around you, and it's very difficult to help build PEACE in society. That is why the beginning is always to go back and look at and settle the conflicts and war within yourself. You don't need to become a Buddha in order to start building PEACE in society, but as you begin to make PEACE Inside, you already do something to help the PEACE around you.
Can you tell us about your meetings during those days, with people like Dr Martin Luther King Jr, Thomas Merton and (peace activist) Alfred Hassler?
I met Dr Martin Luther King in Chicago, US, for the first time in June 1966 while I was making a tour of North America. After just half an hour of talking together, we held a press conference. And it was very easy to communicate.
I met him the second time at Geneva during a conference on PEACE called Pacem in Terris. He invited me up to his apartment for breakfast, and we discussed the situation in Vietnam, in America, in the world. Then I was able to tell him that in Vietnam many of us consider him to be a bodhisattva working for human rights and peace. He was very pleased. It was only a few months before he was assassinated, so I'm pleased I could tell him that.
Thomas Merton I met in the Trappist monastery in Kentucky. We had a good time together exchanging many things, including our experiences of living in monasteries! At that time I was not sure that I could go home to Vietnam. Because I had spoken out, it was dangerous to go home. He wrote something supporting me, and he asked his friends to do whatever they could do to support me in this difficult moment.
Thomas Merton was the first Christian monk to study the practice of BUDDHISM very deeply.
Yes, he had studied ZEN Buddhism. I gave him a book of mine written in French, Le Buddhisme d'Aujourd'hui. He wrote a review of it.
I spent two days with him, and he took me to visit the childhood home of Lincoln. After I left, he gave a talk to his monks and said, "Just looking at how he closes the door, you know that he's a true monk." (Laughs.) That's funny, because in Plum Village (Thich Nhat Hanh's residence in France) a Catholic lady from Germany once came for three weeks of practice. Before she left us, she said, "I came because I read something from Thomas Merton about Thich Nhat Hanh's closing the door. I was curious. I wanted to come just to see how you close the door. I stayed three weeks for the practice, and I am very glad that I have come. I also have learned how to close the door!"
Recently, I met an American man who was reading Thomas Merton's books. He was very surprised that Merton wrote, "Nhat Hanh is more my brother than most of my Catholic monks". He asked me if Merton became a Buddhist.
He did not have to become a Buddhist, because he had Buddha-nature within himself. A good Christian always manifests the Buddha-nature, and a good Buddhist always manifests the LOVE and COMPASSION of Jesus.
Alfred Hassler? I worked with him in Vietnam. He was the executive secretary of FOR (Fellowship of Reconciliation), and he tried his best to help us. He organized a speaking tour for me, and I went to Australia and many countries in Europe with him. After that, FOR organized a world tour for me. I went to the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. And when I learned that I was barred from going back to Vietnam, I went to France and took asylum there.
In 1966, a journalist in Washington, DC, told me that the government of Vietnam had informed Great Britain, Japan, and the United States that they had invalidated my passport, and that it should not be honored by them. So when I visited Washington, DC, I risked deportation. I asked Sister Cao Ngoc Phuong to come to Washington to accompany me back to France. We were afraid that at the Paris airport, I would be caught, so we asked a number of personalities in Paris to come greet us at the airport and protect us.