This is a story about my hero, Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist Monk.
Thich Nhat Hanh grew up amidst the Vietnam War, an endless and bloody battle between "North Vietnam” and “South Vietnam.”
Raised Buddhist, he placed a high value on compassion for all beings regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation. Thich Nhat Hanh refused to engage in the politics of war by choosing between the "North" or "South," responding to the atrocities surrounding him by demonstrating "love in action," and forgiveness. "
During the Vietnam war, those with political agendas often went as far as to involve children or elders, or pose as members of the Red Cross, or even nuns. Everyone was looking over their shoulder. The killing and paranoia seemed to feed an unstoppable river of blood.
Thich Nhat Hanh founded a group called School of Youth for Social Service (SYSS), whose mission was to simply lessen the suffering of all. SYSS hoped to demonstrate the power of universal compassion and unconditional love to all people of Vietnam and the world.
This was a time when even an unconfirmed rumor of an affiliation with the "North" or "South" would result in death or torture within hours.
The work of SYSS included recovering the remains of young villagers caught in the line of gunfire, offering comfort and prayers as a land mine victim lay dying, rebuilding bombed villages, setting up schools, establishing medical centers, and resettling families left homeless.
On several occasions, members of Thich Hanh Hahn’s group (often teenagers or men or women in their early twenties) were executed based on suspicions that SYSS had an ulterior political agenda.
At one point, a platoon of US soldiers was near Thich Nhat Hanh’s home village. All but one of eleven young Americans were gunned down in an ambush. Consumed with the desire for revenge, the surviving soldier rigged candy with explosives, and placed the candy on a trail traveled by children each day.
Many babies and children were killed. Thich Nhat Hanh and his associates recovered parts of their small bodies, returning the remains to mourning mothers and fathers. For a man deeply committed to non-violence, compassion and love, this was a nearly unbearable task.
After capturing the attention of world media, Thich Hanh Hanh was exiled from Vietnam by the Vietnamese government. Consider the irony: Most of the men and women living in his village were either too frightened to leave their homes, or had been lured into the politics of the war and violence. Thich considered all of Vietnam, and all of it’s people to be sacred, and refused to withdraw his assertion that there is a non-violent solution.
As a result of his decisions and the creation of School of Youth for Social Service, many of Hanh's young friends and co-workers were killed execution-style. Choosing a path of peace placed him near battlefields and minefields where he collected body parts and the remains of children. With this behind him, he is then forcibly deported from his homeland, once beautiful, now a slaughter ground.
In the following years, Hanh was haunted by memories of the brave young men and women who had worked alongside him. More than that, he struggled to maintain a heart that can forgive and remain open while living with the memory of the children and the candy-bombs.
Thich Nhat Hanh wrote books about Buddhism and the virtues of peace, compassion and "listening deeply." He founded Plum Village in France, where he created a community exemplifying these values.
He traveled the world helping those suffering because of war. This included trips to the U.S., where he often received death threats and false accusations.
One day in the United States, while donating time to help Vietnam vets heal from war-related trauma, a man approached him. “I cannot bear to be in a room with children.”
In tears, the man explained that after watching all of his buddies die in an ambush, he became consumed by the desire for revenge. Unaware of the common threads in their past, the veteran continued, confessing that he laced candy with explosives, resulting in the death of Vietnamese children. Since that day, looking into the eyes of a child makes the war veteran suffer from uncontrollable shakes, nausea and unbearable anxiety.
When Thich Nhat Hanh realized this was the US soldier who had killed the small children in his village, he invited the man to kneel with him and pray.
Tormented by depression, nightmares, and thoughts of suicide for more than a decade, the man didn’t think he could go on. Thich Nhat Hanh responded. “Do not make yourself suffer because of the past. There are 60,000 starving children in the world right now. By leaving the past behind and making your home in the present moment, we can help children now. It is never too late to water the seeds of love.”
Thich Nhat Hanh demonstrates a saint-like ability to love and forgive beyond inconceivable pain and cruelty. After the horrific loss of those children, he went on to teach about the beauty of even the tiniest flower, emphasizing the importance of a single smile and the transformative healing power of "listening with your heart."
He could have given up on hope and love, or allowed himself to become cynical. But because Thich Nhat Hanh remained firm in his courage to "be love," the world is a better place. To me, this story teaches that each of us possesses the resilience to move beyond unimaginable hardship. Moreover, that with such a story behind us, we can offer the world an even more powerful example of love's transformative power.
In 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize.
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Extremely moving...
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