A Great Man's Passing

Thich Nhat Hanh's passing on January 22 was indeed a great man's passing. The 95 year-old Vietnamese Zen monk who brought mindfulness to the West had been a monk since 16 and had spent 39 years in France after having been barred from returning home to Vietnam. In calling for an end to the Vietnam-American War and refusing to take sides in the conflict, the monk was persecuted by the governments of both North and South Vietnam. A truly religious man indeed for believing that war was fundamentally wrong, Thich Nhat Hanh went a step further by advocating engaged Buddhism, a term he coined; believing that it's not enough to sit on a cushion and meditate. A professor of religious studies had said that historically Buddhists have been really good about talking about compassion but they have not been that great at putting it into practice. Engaged Buddhism would certainly addressed the problem.