Zen master, poet, peace activist, and the author of many books including, two of my favorites, Peace is Every Step and For a Future to be Possible, Thich Nhat Hanh "embodies the art of mindful living". He was born in Vietnam in 1926, and left home as
a teen to become a Zen monk. He founded the School of Youth for Social Services, Van Hanh Buddhist University and the
Tiep Hien Order (Order of Interbeing), in Vietnam. He has taught at Columbia University and Sorbonne, was Chair of the
Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation to the Paris Peace Talks, and was nominated by Martin Luther King Jr. for the Nobel
Peace Prize. He was exiled from Vietnam in 1966 and lives in a monastic community in southwestern France called Plum Village, where he teaches, writes, gardens, and works to help refugees worldwide. He conducts retreats throughout the world on the art of mindful living, and has conducted special retreats for American Vietnam War veterans, psychotherapists, artists, environmental activists, and children. I am happy to have had the opportunity to attend one of his retreats in 1997. It is not my intent to try to explain his teachings here but only to include some of my thoughts and experiences of this wonderful time of my life. Also to illustrate the effect his teachings have had and how I put them into daily practice as a Christian. I think it very important to mention here that as a Christian this retreat, as well as studying, embracing and practicing mindful living did not change my religious beliefs. I have said this before. These teachings have shown me truths of my own religion, without diminishing their value in any way. And while, as a Christian, I could never practice or understand all Buddha's teachings the one valuable tool I did come out of this adventure with was mindful living. It has become a wonderful exercise in dealing with life's stressors and learning to appreciate more, God's gift of life. My Adventure
The pace of New York was just as you could imagine...everyone in a hurry. While awaiting my train at Penn Station I noted no one walked. Everyone ran so I mapped out all gates and watched the board for the announcement of my train and just followed the crowd towards the gate announced hoping that they were all headed for the same train. The trip went very well, to my great relief. While New York City was very intimidating the state is very beautiful, especially in October when all the leaves are at their most brilliant.
Once I arrived at Omega though there was a wonderful transformation. The anxiety level dropped dramatically. That first night Thay asked us to practice silence for the next three days. We were told to carry a piece of paper and pencil with us, and if we felt the need to say something we should write it down. Then at the end of the day we were to look over what we had written to see how much of it would have really been necessary to say. This was a great lesson in how much time and energy we spend on talking mindlessly.
All meals were spent in quiet, even for those not observing the three days of silence. This allowed us to eat mindfully, something we do rarely while at home or work. As a nurse I am often "inhaling" my lunch due to time restraints. There is rarely any time for breakfast and dinners are often eaten with all the noise and distractions of daily life. Thay teaches us while eating we should be very mindful of all elements of the meal. The sun, rain, soil which are essential in nurturing the plants, the farmers who grow and harvest the food, as well as all those who are responsible for bringing it to the table. This practice allowed me to better appreciate what I was eating and made me more aware of the need to only take in foods that will nourish.
It was a truly wonderful experience. To spend 5 days with so many strangers, all smiling and not a word spoken, yet feeling totally comfortable and at peace, was almost unreal to imagine had I not experienced it.
These, in my opinion, were two very important lessons offered during the retreat that I took home with me to put into practice for living "mindfully". There were many more lessons taught but, as I mentioned above, as a Christian these were what I found to suit my needs and help with the stressors of daily life and to take time to appreciate God’s gifts to us.
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