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Remembering Thich Nhat Hanh, who taught mindfulness, ‘interbeing’
As a form of active engagement with every moment of daily life, the practice of mindfulness has energized people across time and place.
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Buddhist monks pray during the funeral of Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh, who died at the age of 95, at the Tu Hieu Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam, on Jan. 23. (AFP/Nhac NGUYEN )
I
t was early on Saturday morning last week that I received a phone call from the pious Buddhist and humanitarian Sudhamek AWS, who told me of the passing of the beloved Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh at the age of 95. After suffering a severe stroke in 2014, Hanh chose to live out his remaining days at Từ Hiếu Temple in Vietnam, where he passed away peacefully.
As an engaged Buddhist, Sudhamek spoke fondly of the cherished leader, who was affectionately known by his students as Thay, or teacher in Vietnamese. Thay carefully and intentionally transformed ancient Buddhist teachings to allow them to be more accessibly applied to the challenges of our contemporary lives, while keeping the integrity of the powerful traditions of Buddhism.
The teachings stayed true to the distinctive concepts of mindfulness and “interbeing”, which are uniquely Buddhist and remain relevant to the current state that our world exists in.
In honor of his teachings and practices, Sudhamek conversed with me in remembrance of the great legacy of Thay as a global spiritual leader in the teachings of mindfulness and interbeing, among others.
Whether you are someone intricately familiar with his philosophies through his writings and talks or someone hearing his name for the first time today, Thay’s passion for mindfulness and interbeing, as Sudhamek articulated, lives on within each of us, connecting and uniting us together as one, as equal and interdependent human beings.
Mindfulness is one of the essential teachings of Buddhism. It is not in the Jewish, Christian or Islamic vocabulary.
“Mindfulness is a Buddhist word,” Thay wrote in Going Home (2013). “Mindfulness is to be aware of everything you do every day. Mindfulness is a kind of light that shines upon all your thoughts, all your feelings, all your actions and all your words. Mindfulness is the Buddha.”
