Worthy Words, Part 6: Thich Nhat Hanh

If one must carry the burden of being a genius in a particular discipline, I suppose the most useful to society would be one of the human condition. Composers, musicians, painters, sculptors, dancers—they all have their huge place in inspiring and entertaining us, and you could rightly argue that such artists are themselves communicators of the human condition. But as much as I love the performing and fine arts, I do not know a quarter from a sixteenth note, can barely draw stick figures at best, and dance more with my hands than with my feet. Yet, I breathe. I think. I look at and listen to the world around me. I encounter life's mysteries. I have no words to describe to you the moments my senses experience so that you can experience them the same way. 

These remarkable capabilities are the specialties of Thích Nhất Hạnh (1926-2022), and from what we can tell of his voluminous writings, he bore his genius with grace. Nhất Hạnh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who traveled globally to promote peace and teach the Way of the Buddha, had a singular influence on many other renowned authors, including Daniel Berrigan, bell hooks, and Thomas Merton.

In A Lifetime of Peace: Essential Writings by Thích Nhất Hạnh appears this excerpt from one of his many best-selling books, The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation (1987): 

Keep your attention focused on the work, be alert and ready to handle ably and intelligently any situation which may arise—this is mindfulness. (p. 76)

This simple statement may seem too obvious to acknowledge as wisdom, until we realize that we spend most of our waking hours pursuing personal goals, attending business meetings, and running all sorts of errands. Nhất Hạnh insists that we can be mindful in those situations as well. One of the keys to mastering mindfulness is focused breathing, a practice beyond the scope of this brief post. My intention here is to draw attention to a master of life who shows us that living at peace requires exercises that are rather easy to practice, but not so easy because of their demand on our persistence.