Thich Nhat Hanh (placeholder)

I know he was in Boston last summer and I missed it…hopefully he’ll come around here somewhere sometime soon.

I would love to meet him but listening to him on DVD and reading his things are amazing…

I have just returned from a weeklong retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh, at Stonehill College in Easton, MA.
It was the most amazing experience of my life. To be in Thay’s presence is very moving. He is truly a Zen master, and nothing less. What an embodiment of peace, love, understanding and compassion. It is humbling and inspiring, and I am so lucky to have been able to be there for the retreat.

To travel a country that was responsable for bruing and raping yours and to speak of peace and pracitce peace this is amazing. Truely a peaceful man for our times.

http://wwww.ericwolf.org

he magnetized my mind, his words could bypass brain.

his books have helped me calm fires & find peace within myself. he does good things.

He is exactly how I would have expected Jesus to be. That may seem a little controversial, but every utterance from his lips manifests a kind of holy peace and loving kindness in a way that I have not experienced other than reading the life of Jesus. Even then Jesus got angry a few times, yet Thich Nhat Hanh seems to have an almost constant divine restraint about him. If half of the Christians out there got to hear Thich Nhat Hanh speak there may well be a whole lot more Buddhists in this world… :)

Thich Nhat Hanh’s books have helped me through some very low points in my life. His easily understandable straight forward look at life and its struggles is of great comfort.

I love his teachings because they are accessable to all regardless of religious tradition. His books, Being Peace, Anger and Living Budhha, Living Christ are life-changing as are his dharma talks on his sangha’s website.

The one book I refer to often is Taming the Tiger Within which is a collection of his advice to those dealing with their anger. Anger is nothing more than part of us, as Thich Nhat Hanh teaches. We are not to punish ourselves for feeling anger. Rather, we are called to treat our anger as we would a crying baby. If we soothe our anger and care for it, it will no longer dominate our lives.

What I do struggle with is his concept of non-duality. In my religous upbringing, I was called to fight against my anger. It was considered a sin to keep anger inside ourselves for it would lead to sinful acts. The problem with duality is that it never works despite its rather ingrained nature. Instead of a fight between the angel and the devil—a rather banal cartoon convention—we fare better if we accept the fact that anger is part of us and care for it in a loving way.

As I work on creating a more loving and non-dualistic life, I have to thank Thich Nhat Hanh for his dharma. Perhaps with the help of this bodhisattva, we can all aspire to becoming enlightened and peaceful people.