Dear Friends,

I hope you are well.

Foremost in my mind and heart lately has been the question of how to support peace in our world so full of war. Thich Nhat Hanh was a strong proponent for peace during the Vietnam war and throughout his life. His message, as I understood it, was to work on creating peace in ourselves alongside the creation of the conditions needed for peace in the world. Both are necessary and they are interrelated.

Thầy writes in Peace is Every Step:

Mindfulness Must Be Engaged
When I was in Vietnam, so many of our villages were being bombed. Along with my monastic brothers and sisters, I had to decide what to do. Should we continue to practice in our monasteries, or should we leave the meditation halls in order to help the people who were suffering under the bombs? After careful reflection, we decided to do both—to go out and help people and to do so in mindfulness. We called it engaged Buddhism. Mindfulness must be engaged. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise, what is the use of seeing?

We must be aware of the real problems of the world. Then, with mindfulness, we will know what to do and what not to do to be of help. If we maintain awareness of our breathing and continue to practice smiling, even in difficult situations, many people, animals, and plants will benefit from our way of doing things.

To realize our hopes for more peace, several mindfulness communities have decided to come together to offer a silent meditative peace walk in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh here in Washington DC. We will practice walking meditation together to raise awareness for the lives lost every day in Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, Congo, Sudan, and so many other places. I hope you will join us (see here for details).

In what ways are you practicing to create more peace in your own heart as well as in the world?

with love,

annie.

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