I am a continuation, like the rain is a continuation of the cloud.
~Thich Nhat Hanh~
Vietnamese Buddhist Monk
In 1967, I found myself assigned to the First Aviation Brigade, at Long Binh, Vietnam. It was a strange place and a stranger war; over 58,000 Americans would die there; a foolish war and waste of sacred blood and souls.
Seventeen soldiers from Washington county, Maryland, were among the dead; one of them, Orville Lee Knight, was my best friend.
‘Thich Nhat Hanh (Nhat Hanh) was a Vietnamese Buddhist Zen Master, poet and peace activist and became one of the most revered and influential spiritual teachers in the world. Born in 1926, he became a Zen Buddhist monk at the age of sixteen.’
Buddhism, to many is not a religion or a philosophy. Siddhartha Gautama, who became the ‘Buddha’ or “Enlightened One” lived in ancient India ‘around 563 BCE (Before Christian Era). He once lived a royal life, but left his riches and wealth to seek enlightenment, which he obtained under the Bodhi tree (a sacred fig, this tree is considered a potent symbol of spiritual awakening, wisdom and the path to Nirvana) In Buddhism, Nirvana is a state of ultimate peace and liberation from suffering, achieved by extinguishing greed, hatred, and delusion.
Thich Nhat Hanh embraced those tenets of Buddhism, and thought the Vietnam war was wrong for both North and South; he voiced his opposition and championed peace and reconciliation through non-violent means.
In 1967, Nhat Chi Mai, one of Nhat Hahn’s students, set herself on fire with 10 liters of gasoline on the streets in Saigon as a ‘peace protest’ calling for an end to the Vietnam war. Nhat Hahn, the Buddhist Leader, shared that this was not an act of suicide, but one aimed, “at moving the hearts of the oppressors, and at calling the attention of the world to the suffering endured then by the Vietnamese.”
Nhat Hanh was exiled from Vietnam because of his war opposition; both North and South saw him as a threat. He did not return for 39 years, but his vocal opposition, and ‘peace movement’ contributed to a whirlwind’ of protests around the world and eventually the war would end in 1975.
Thich Nhat Hanh was granted asylum in France and established Plum Village, a Buddhist monastery, in southwestern France.
Nhat Hanh’s many teachings had a profound impact on many of today’s Buddhist’s followers; some 200 monks and nuns live in Plum Village today, and thousands of visitors come each year to learn the art of mindful living.
One interesting writing of Nhat Hanh is the story ‘a cloud never dies’ a Buddhist belief that life and death is a ‘transformation’ and not a beginning and end;
“Like a cloud, life and death, is a continuum.”
Nhat Hanh suggested that when a cloud transforms into rain, it does not cease to exist; it simply changes form, and so he suggests that life and death is a transformation too.
And as the rain falls from the cloud, the water is once again collected and returns as a cloud later.
He concludes that the cloud, like life and death itself is a ‘continuation’. While a person’s physical form may cease to exist, “their impact on the world continues in other ways.”
“In essence the cloud never dies” but is a transition.
Later in my life, my career in corrections took me to the position of Warden at the Maryland Correctional Institution in Hagerstown, and our institution was able to invite Thich Nhat Hanh to the prison to speak to the inmate population.
I found him a most humble Buddhist Monk. His mark on history led Martin Luther King to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. Although he wasn’t selected for this award, he nonetheless, had a major impact on a troubled world.
I have read some of his writings over the years (The Art of Living). He died at age 95 on January 22, 2022.
Thich Nhat Hanh left us this priceless thought on how to live life fully:
“Waking up this morning, I smile.
Twenty-four brand new hours are before me.
I vow to live fully in each moment.”
Let each of us walk with Nhat Hanh in his awakening above and strive to “live life fully.”
“Amituofo” (a Buddhist greeting of well wishing)
