A00015 - Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace in Rest
I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Thich Nhat Hanh over this past weekend.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/world/asia/thich-nhat-hanh-dead.htmlI was deeply saddened, and surprised, because I had planned on visiting his Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, California, while I was on my recent MLK celebration/vacation in the San Diego area.
However, I learned that to visit the monastery you have to schedule the visit in advance and you must commit to spending five hours to begin to learn how to properly meditate ... and how to properly walk. I had not learned of these requirements in time to schedule a weekend "retreat" so I opted for an alternative spiritual journey to the Self-Realization Fellowship Meditation Garden in Encinitas instead. But that is another story.
In any event, I had wanted to visit the monastery just so I could better understand the spiritual forces that shaped the man. Each year, I purchase a Zen calendar and, inevitably, sometime during the year, a saying of Thich Nhat Hanh will come forth to provide guidance. Indeed, one of my favorite Thich Nhat Hanh quotes has a particularly San Diego feel to it. The quote is
"Enlightenment is when a wave realizes it is the ocean."
Priceless.
In any event, for those not acquainted with Thich Nhat Hanh, I invite you to begin here
and I also invite you to contemplate the fact that it was Thich Nhat Hanh who was Martin Luther Klng's brother in a divine endeavor to expand beyond American civil rights to address Universal human rights and to create a global "beloved community".
Given their brotherhood, it seemed to me rather appropriate that while on my MLK celebration/vacation, Thich Nhat Hanh's presence should be there as well. After all, from a Buddhist perspective, whatever inspiration Thich Nhat Hanh may have ever provided us, is available to us all ... still... and the beloved community that Martin Luther King and Thich Nhat Hanh "dreamed" continues to be what we should strive to create.
Peace,
Everett "Skip" Jenkins
Fairfield, California
January 24, 2022
P.S. Along with purchasing a Zen calendar every year, I also purchase a Science calendar. The posting for January 21, 2022 reads as follows:
'2011: Meditation changes our brain's structure
'Scientists from the MGH Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research program released the results of their study into the physical effects of consistent and sustained mindfulness-oriented meditation practices., The study, led by Dr Sara Lazar, used MRI technology to track the structural, physical changes of sixteen participants as they began and sustained a mindfulness meditation routine. Surprisingly, the team found that, after only a short eight weeks of practicing less than thirty minutes of meditation daily, the participants exhibited decreased density in their amgydalae, the area of the brain most responsible for anxiety. Following their results, the authors of the study suggested that further meditations over a longer timeline may produce even more profound effects on the brain."
Perhaps it is only coincidence that this posting appeared the day before the mindfulness master died. Perhaps...
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