Zen and the art of protecting the planet
In a rare interview, zen buddhist master Thich Nhat Hahn warns of the threat to civilisation from climate change and the spiritual revival that is needed to avert catastrophe
It is not exactly a traditional Sunday stroll in the English countryside as 84-year-old Vietnamese zen master Thich Nhat Hanh leads nearly a thousand people through the rolling Nottinghamshire hills in walking meditation.
The silent procession takes on the shape of a snake as it wends its way extremely slowly through a forest glade and an apple orchard. The assembled throng are asked to deeply experience each step they take on the earth in order to be mindful in the present moment.
Thay, as he is known, steps off the path into a field of tall grass and sits quietly in meditation. He exudes a sense of serenity, born of his 68 years' practice as a monk.
Despite having hundreds of thousands of followers around the world and being viewed with the same reverence as the Dalai Lama, Thay is little known to the general public. He has chosen to shun the limelight and avoid the shimmer of celebrity endorsement in order to focus on building communities around the world that can demonstrate his ethical approach to life. There are monasteries in France, America and Germany as well as groups of supporters that meet all over the world, including more than 20 "sanghas" across the UK.
He is seeking to create a spiritual revival that replaces our consumption-based lives with a return to a simpler, kinder world based on deep respect for each other and the environment.
He rarely gives interviews but recognises that the enormous challenges facing the world, combined with his own increasing age and frailty, means it is important to use what time and energy he has left to contribute what he can to re-energising society and protecting the planet.
For a man of his age, Thay keeps to a punishing schedule. After having lectured to thousands at London's Hammersmith Apollo, Thay has come to Nottingham for a five day retreat, then goes on to a three month tour of Asia, before returning for a winter retreat at his Plum Village community in France, where he has lived in exile for more than 40 years.
Thay, a prolific author with more than 85 titles under his belt, has taken a particular interest in climate change and recently published the best-selling book 'The World We Have – A Buddhist approach to peace and ecology.'
Tranquilising ourselves with over-consumption
In it, he writes: "The situation the Earth is in today has been created by unmindful production and unmindful consumption. We consume to forget our worries and our anxieties. Tranquilising ourselves with over-consumption is not the way."
In his only interview in the UK, Thay calls on journalists to play their part in preventing the destruction of our civilisation and calls on corporations to move away from their focus on profits to the wellbeing of society.
He says that it is an ill-conceived idea that the solution to global warming lies in technological advances. While science is important, even more so is dealing with the root cause of our destructive behaviour: "The spiritual crisis of the West is the cause for the many sufferings we encounter. Because of our dualistic thinking that god and the kingdom of god is outside of us and in the future - we don't know that god's true nature is in every one of us. So we need to put god back into the right place, within ourselves. It is like when the wave knows that water is not outside of her.
"Everything we touch in our daily lives, including our body, is a miracle. By putting the kingdom of god in the right place, it shows us it is possible to live happily right here, right now. If we wake up to this, we do not have to run after the things we believe are crucial to our happiness like fame, power and sex. If we stop creating despair and anger, we make the atmosphere healthy again.
"Maybe we have enough technology to save the planet but it is not enough because the people are not ready. This is why we need to focus on the other side of the problem, the pollution of the environment not in terms of carbon dioxide but the toxic atmosphere in which we live; so many people getting sick, many children facing violence and despair and committing suicide.
Spiritual pollution
"We should speak more of spiritual pollution. When we sit together and listen to the sound of the [meditation] bell at this retreat, we calm our body and mind. We produce a very powerful and peaceful energy that can penetrate in every one of us. So, conversely, the same thing is true with the collective energy of fear, anger and despair. We create an atmosphere and environment that is destructive to all of us. We don't think enough about that, we only think about the physical environment.
"Our way of life, our style of living, is the cause of it. We are looking for happiness and running after it in such a way that creates anger, fear and discrimination. So when you attend a retreat you have a chance to look at the deep roots of this pollution of the collective energy that is unwholesome.
"How can we change the atmosphere to get the energy of healing and transformation for us and our children? When the children come to the retreat, they can relax because the adults are relaxed. Here together we create a good environment and that is a collective energy."
Capitalism as a disease
Thay talks about capitalism as a disease that has now spread throughout the world, carried on the winds of globalisation: "We have constructed a system we cannot control. It imposes itself on us, and we become its slaves and victims."
He sees those countries that are home to Buddhism, such as India, China, Thailand and Vietnam, seeking to go even beyond the consumerism of the West: "There is an attractiveness around science and technology so they have abandoned their values that have been the foundation of their spiritual life in the past," he says. "Because they follow western countries, they have already begun to suffer the same kind of suffering. The whole world crisis increases and globalisation is the seed of everything. They too have lost their non-dualistic view. There are Buddhists who think that Buddha is outside of them and available to them only after they die.
"In the past there were people who were not rich but contented with their living style, laughing and happy all day. But when the new rich people appear, people look at them and ask why don't I have a life like that too, a beautiful house, car and garden and they abandon their values."
While Thay believes that change is possible, he has also come to accept the possibility that this civilisation may collapse. He refers to the spiritual principle that by truly letting go of the 'need' to save the planet from climate change, it can paradoxically help do just that.
The catastrophe to come
"Without collective awakening the catastrophe will come," he warns. "Civilisations have been destroyed many times and this civilisation is no different. It can be destroyed. We can think of time in terms of millions of years and life will resume little by little. The cosmos operates for us very urgently, but geological time is different.
"If you meditate on that, you will not go crazy. You accept that this civilisation could be abolished and life will begin later on after a few thousand years because that is something that has happened in the history of this planet. When you have peace in yourself and accept, then you are calm enough to do something, but if you are carried by despair there is no hope.
"It's like the person who is struck with cancer or Aids and they learn they have been given one year or six months to live. They suffer very much and fight. But if they come to accept that they will die and they prepare to live every day peacefully and they enjoy every moment, the situation may change and the illness may go away. That has happened to many people."
Thay says that the communities his Order of Interbeing is building around the world are intended to show that it is possible to "live simply and happily, having the time to love and help other people. That is why we believe that if there are communities of people like that in the world, we will demonstrate to the people and bring about an awakening so that people will abandon their course of comforts. If we can produce a collective awakening we can solve the problem of global warming. Together we have to provoke that type of awakening."
'One Buddha is not enough'
He stops for a moment and goes quiet: "One Buddha is not enough, we need to have many Buddhas."
Thay has lived an extraordinary life. During the Vietnam War he was nearly killed several times helping villagers suffering from the effects of bombing. When visiting America, he persuaded Martin Luther King to oppose the war publicly, and so helped to galvanize the peace movement. In fact King nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968.
In the following decade Thay spent months on the South China Sea seeking to save Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees from overcrowded boats and, in more recent years, he led members of the US Congress through a two-day retreat and continues to hold reconciliation retreats for Israelis and Palestinians at Plum Village.
His whole philosophy is based on watching the breath and walking meditation to stay in the present moment rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.
He says that within every person are the seeds of love, compassion and understanding as well as the seeds of anger, hatred and discrimination. Our experience of life depends on which seeds we choose to water.
To help the creation of a new global ethic and sustain those positive seeds, Thay's Order of Interbeing has distilled the Buddha's teachings on the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path into five core principles.
The Five Mindfulness Trainings, updated in the last year to make them relevant to our fast changing world, are not a set of rules but a direction to head in. Beyond calling for mindful consumption, they encourage an end to sexual misconduct as well as a determination "not to gamble, or to use alcohol, drugs or any other products which contain toxins, such as certain websites, electronic games, TV programmes, films, magazines, books and conversations."
Mostrando postagens com marcador Thich Nhat Hann. Mostrar todas as postagens
Mostrando postagens com marcador Thich Nhat Hann. Mostrar todas as postagens
8.12.2010
Zen and the art of saving the planet
Zen and the art of saving the planet
He has set up an eco-friendly village and is a best-selling author. Tomorrow, this green crusader will fill the Hammersmith Apollo with fans. But Thich Nhat Hanh is no rock star – he's a Zen master. Nick Harding meets a monk on a mission
As a vision of the future, the community of Plum Village in the French wine region of the Dordogne doesn't conform to stereotype. It doesn't bristle with technology, scientific endeavour and cutting-edge innovation. It is austere, tranquil and basic, and it is inhabited by brown-robed monks.
Yet this co-operative of three hamlets that includes fruit orchards, vegetable gardens, dormitories, temples and meditation halls is the headquarters of a monastic order that is at the forefront of a grassroots green movement, attracting increasing numbers of inquiries from people disaffected with modern living and looking for a greener, more sustainable future.
Plum Village is the headquarters of The Order of Interbeing, a Buddhist movement that is tapping into the post-financial meltdown zeitgeist and drawing hundreds of new devotees each year. At a time when most monastic orders are suffering a crisis of faith and dying out, the Order of Interbeing is expanding across the globe, broadcasting its underpinning ideology of sustainability and mindful consumption as it grows. And while the numbers of green-living monks in its monasteries increases, the order's outreach programme is connecting with tens of thousands of young people thanks to its internet presence and regular retreats.
At the helm of this movement is revered 84-year-old Vietnamese zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh, among the world's most influential Buddhist leaders. His contemporary Western Buddhist doctrine incorporates a strong environmental strand that has made him an unlikely poster boy for the green movement. He has a CV many world leaders would be envious of. He was instrumental in mobilising the peace movement against the Vietnam War and has inspired environmentalists such as Joanna Macy and Alan Weisman. His teachings on the environment have influenced the Prince of Wales, and the Dalai Lama and Oprah Winfrey are admirers. His book on ecology, The World We Have, is a best-seller and tomorrow he is making a rare visit to the UK to give a talk at London's Hammersmith Apollo.
The environmental principles of his doctrine teach respect and compassion for the environment through a code of practice called the five mindfulness trainings. Rooted in Buddhist tradition, this system of behaviour represents a vision of global spirituality and ethics. Devotees are encouraged to adopt and practise these in everyday life. The system encourages followers to take responsibility for their actions and to consider carefully the consequences of their consumption, not only of food and material goods, but also of culture and sensory stimuli. Thich Nhat Hanh says the wrong type of media is toxic and promotes wrongful consumption, which in turn is bad for the individual and the planet. In The World We Have he writes: "The situation the Earth is in today has been created by unmindful production and unmindful consumption. We consume to forget our worries and our anxieties. Tranquilising ourselves with over-consumption is not the way."
In common with James Lovelock's popular Gaia theory, Buddhists believe the Earth is a living organism of which we are all a part and are all interdependent. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches that if we harm the environment, we harm ourselves. The message is simple but effective – consume with compassion. To do this, devotees are encouraged to practice regular silent contemplation and to punctuate their day with meditation, during which they bring themselves to the present moment to contemplate life and focus on the implications of their actions. All meals at Plum Village are eaten in silence, and diners are encouraged to consider each mouthful carefully, reflecting on the amount of food they eat, the provenance of it and the ethical implications of consuming it. The effect of this exercise, when done in the belief that every organism is part of a singular whole, is profound and is the reason why Plum Village monks eat a vegan diet.
In a rare interview, Thich Nhat Hanh says: "Unesco reports that every day 40,000 children die because they do not have enough food. Meanwhile many of us eat a lot of meat and drink a lot of alcohol. In order to make a piece of meat you have to use a lot of cereal and grain and that grain could be used to feed dying children. So eating that meat is akin to eating the flesh of your own son. We should eat in such a way that conserves our compassion."
While his vegan dietary advice may not resound with everyone, his clarion call for a return to a more simplistic way of life has struck a chord with many. In the last few years the Plum Village community has grown from 100 monastic disciples in France and America to more than 600 across the world, with monasteries in Germany, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong. The average age of new recruits is 22. Increasingly the message of simple living is being accessed by the young. The order's outreach programme for young people, Wake Up – Young Buddhists and non-Buddhists for a Healthy and Compassionate Society, runs programmes around the globe and its theme tune has been downloaded from the internet by more than 40,000 fans.
Thich Nhat Hanh acknowledges the increasingly important role young people play in the green movement. He says: "The future belongs to the young and if they wake up early, for the sake of everyone on the planet, that is a good thing. Young people are more free, they are not bound by so many things." While some may argue that living according to his trainings is difficult in modern society and that his doctrine presents an unattainable idealism, the message of appreciating simple pleasures and freedom from attachment to material goods has become increasingly relevant during the credit crunch. Since the economic downturn, Plum Village has received more inquiries about the retreats it hosts.
Thich Nhat Hanh says: "Yes, we have to earn a living, but it is possible to earn a living according to the five trainings and to be content. If you have a salary that is not as high as others, if you have to live in a smaller house and have a more humble car, you can live according to the noble path and you can laugh, you can love. If you live with compassion then your life is a happy life. Simple living is possible. I know of many rich businessmen who live simply, they eat simply and their joy comes from knowing they are allowing many people to have jobs and that they are not damaging the planet by conducting their business."
At 84, Thich Nhat Hanh maintains a sharpness of mind that allows him to deliver many hours of insightful theological musing without notes. He takes a keen interest in the contemporary and has continued to engage with world leaders despite sometimes failing physical health. He does not shy from controversy and, during an address to Congress soon after 9/11, he criticised US foreign policy for a rise in the level of global violence. About the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico he says: "There are businessmen who have been doing destructive things to the planet and they want to feel less guilty so they donate money for compensation. That is not enough. They have to reconsider and examine their actions."
Thich Nhat Hanh became an activist when he opposed the South Vietnamese government during the Vietnam War and dodged bullets in the jungle to bring aid to bombed villagers. His opposition to that conflict led to him being exiled from his homeland for 40 years. His peace work influenced civil rights leader Martin Luther King, who subsequently nominated him for the Nobel Peace prize. In the Seventies, when a tide of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees took to dangerously overcrowded boats to flee persecution, Thich Nhat Hanh spent months traversing the South China Sea saving lives. He is a vocal critic of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and his monks hold reconciliation retreats for Israelis and Palestinians at Plum Village. When he was finally allowed back into Vietnam in 2005, thousands attended the retreats he held there and so many followers joined his order, the communist government instituted a crackdown, fearful of his influence. Many of those persecuted monks fled the country or now live in hiding.
After his London appearance he will hold a week-long retreat in the Midlands, where 500 people, including children and families, will be able to experience his blend of environmental spiritualism.
He says: "We all have to reconsider our values in society and live a simpler life. We have to reconsider our version of happiness.
"People are getting busier and busier. We are like fishes living in a place where water is lacking. We don't feel comfortable, we don't have space, we lack time. We may have more money than in the past but we have less space and less happiness and less love. So we should have a revolution which must start with a collective awakening. We have to stop and look for another direction."
Ultimately, the impassioned humanist and wise sage believes we can still salvage our ailing planet.
"It is possible for us to be something and to do something now, don't despair. There is something we can all do. There is still is a chance. Recognise that and do it and you will find peace. Don't allow yourself to be carried away by despair." His eyes flash with passion as he speaks and you can't help but believe and hope that maybe he is right.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/zen-and-the-art-of-saving-the-planet-2048029.html
He has set up an eco-friendly village and is a best-selling author. Tomorrow, this green crusader will fill the Hammersmith Apollo with fans. But Thich Nhat Hanh is no rock star – he's a Zen master. Nick Harding meets a monk on a mission
As a vision of the future, the community of Plum Village in the French wine region of the Dordogne doesn't conform to stereotype. It doesn't bristle with technology, scientific endeavour and cutting-edge innovation. It is austere, tranquil and basic, and it is inhabited by brown-robed monks.
Yet this co-operative of three hamlets that includes fruit orchards, vegetable gardens, dormitories, temples and meditation halls is the headquarters of a monastic order that is at the forefront of a grassroots green movement, attracting increasing numbers of inquiries from people disaffected with modern living and looking for a greener, more sustainable future.
Plum Village is the headquarters of The Order of Interbeing, a Buddhist movement that is tapping into the post-financial meltdown zeitgeist and drawing hundreds of new devotees each year. At a time when most monastic orders are suffering a crisis of faith and dying out, the Order of Interbeing is expanding across the globe, broadcasting its underpinning ideology of sustainability and mindful consumption as it grows. And while the numbers of green-living monks in its monasteries increases, the order's outreach programme is connecting with tens of thousands of young people thanks to its internet presence and regular retreats.
At the helm of this movement is revered 84-year-old Vietnamese zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh, among the world's most influential Buddhist leaders. His contemporary Western Buddhist doctrine incorporates a strong environmental strand that has made him an unlikely poster boy for the green movement. He has a CV many world leaders would be envious of. He was instrumental in mobilising the peace movement against the Vietnam War and has inspired environmentalists such as Joanna Macy and Alan Weisman. His teachings on the environment have influenced the Prince of Wales, and the Dalai Lama and Oprah Winfrey are admirers. His book on ecology, The World We Have, is a best-seller and tomorrow he is making a rare visit to the UK to give a talk at London's Hammersmith Apollo.
The environmental principles of his doctrine teach respect and compassion for the environment through a code of practice called the five mindfulness trainings. Rooted in Buddhist tradition, this system of behaviour represents a vision of global spirituality and ethics. Devotees are encouraged to adopt and practise these in everyday life. The system encourages followers to take responsibility for their actions and to consider carefully the consequences of their consumption, not only of food and material goods, but also of culture and sensory stimuli. Thich Nhat Hanh says the wrong type of media is toxic and promotes wrongful consumption, which in turn is bad for the individual and the planet. In The World We Have he writes: "The situation the Earth is in today has been created by unmindful production and unmindful consumption. We consume to forget our worries and our anxieties. Tranquilising ourselves with over-consumption is not the way."
In common with James Lovelock's popular Gaia theory, Buddhists believe the Earth is a living organism of which we are all a part and are all interdependent. Thich Nhat Hanh teaches that if we harm the environment, we harm ourselves. The message is simple but effective – consume with compassion. To do this, devotees are encouraged to practice regular silent contemplation and to punctuate their day with meditation, during which they bring themselves to the present moment to contemplate life and focus on the implications of their actions. All meals at Plum Village are eaten in silence, and diners are encouraged to consider each mouthful carefully, reflecting on the amount of food they eat, the provenance of it and the ethical implications of consuming it. The effect of this exercise, when done in the belief that every organism is part of a singular whole, is profound and is the reason why Plum Village monks eat a vegan diet.
In a rare interview, Thich Nhat Hanh says: "Unesco reports that every day 40,000 children die because they do not have enough food. Meanwhile many of us eat a lot of meat and drink a lot of alcohol. In order to make a piece of meat you have to use a lot of cereal and grain and that grain could be used to feed dying children. So eating that meat is akin to eating the flesh of your own son. We should eat in such a way that conserves our compassion."
While his vegan dietary advice may not resound with everyone, his clarion call for a return to a more simplistic way of life has struck a chord with many. In the last few years the Plum Village community has grown from 100 monastic disciples in France and America to more than 600 across the world, with monasteries in Germany, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong. The average age of new recruits is 22. Increasingly the message of simple living is being accessed by the young. The order's outreach programme for young people, Wake Up – Young Buddhists and non-Buddhists for a Healthy and Compassionate Society, runs programmes around the globe and its theme tune has been downloaded from the internet by more than 40,000 fans.
Thich Nhat Hanh acknowledges the increasingly important role young people play in the green movement. He says: "The future belongs to the young and if they wake up early, for the sake of everyone on the planet, that is a good thing. Young people are more free, they are not bound by so many things." While some may argue that living according to his trainings is difficult in modern society and that his doctrine presents an unattainable idealism, the message of appreciating simple pleasures and freedom from attachment to material goods has become increasingly relevant during the credit crunch. Since the economic downturn, Plum Village has received more inquiries about the retreats it hosts.
Thich Nhat Hanh says: "Yes, we have to earn a living, but it is possible to earn a living according to the five trainings and to be content. If you have a salary that is not as high as others, if you have to live in a smaller house and have a more humble car, you can live according to the noble path and you can laugh, you can love. If you live with compassion then your life is a happy life. Simple living is possible. I know of many rich businessmen who live simply, they eat simply and their joy comes from knowing they are allowing many people to have jobs and that they are not damaging the planet by conducting their business."
At 84, Thich Nhat Hanh maintains a sharpness of mind that allows him to deliver many hours of insightful theological musing without notes. He takes a keen interest in the contemporary and has continued to engage with world leaders despite sometimes failing physical health. He does not shy from controversy and, during an address to Congress soon after 9/11, he criticised US foreign policy for a rise in the level of global violence. About the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico he says: "There are businessmen who have been doing destructive things to the planet and they want to feel less guilty so they donate money for compensation. That is not enough. They have to reconsider and examine their actions."
Thich Nhat Hanh became an activist when he opposed the South Vietnamese government during the Vietnam War and dodged bullets in the jungle to bring aid to bombed villagers. His opposition to that conflict led to him being exiled from his homeland for 40 years. His peace work influenced civil rights leader Martin Luther King, who subsequently nominated him for the Nobel Peace prize. In the Seventies, when a tide of Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees took to dangerously overcrowded boats to flee persecution, Thich Nhat Hanh spent months traversing the South China Sea saving lives. He is a vocal critic of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and his monks hold reconciliation retreats for Israelis and Palestinians at Plum Village. When he was finally allowed back into Vietnam in 2005, thousands attended the retreats he held there and so many followers joined his order, the communist government instituted a crackdown, fearful of his influence. Many of those persecuted monks fled the country or now live in hiding.
After his London appearance he will hold a week-long retreat in the Midlands, where 500 people, including children and families, will be able to experience his blend of environmental spiritualism.
He says: "We all have to reconsider our values in society and live a simpler life. We have to reconsider our version of happiness.
"People are getting busier and busier. We are like fishes living in a place where water is lacking. We don't feel comfortable, we don't have space, we lack time. We may have more money than in the past but we have less space and less happiness and less love. So we should have a revolution which must start with a collective awakening. We have to stop and look for another direction."
Ultimately, the impassioned humanist and wise sage believes we can still salvage our ailing planet.
"It is possible for us to be something and to do something now, don't despair. There is something we can all do. There is still is a chance. Recognise that and do it and you will find peace. Don't allow yourself to be carried away by despair." His eyes flash with passion as he speaks and you can't help but believe and hope that maybe he is right.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/zen-and-the-art-of-saving-the-planet-2048029.html
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