|
Buddism
|
|
|
Sister Chan Khong
and Thich Nhat Hanh
|
Learning True Love
by Sister Chan Khong
On the fifth of February in 1966, a full moon
day, Thay Nhat Hanh ordained the first six members Ito of the
Tiep Hien Order, the Order of Interbeing. This Order was created
by Thay to help bring Buddhism directly into the arena of social
concerns during a time when the war was escalating and the teachings
of the Buddha were most sorely needed. Thay proposed that the
Order be composed of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen, and said
that the six of us first ordained were free to choose whether
we preferred to live and practice as formal monastics or as laypersons.
We three women chose to live celibate lives like nuns, although
we didn't shave our heads, while the three men chose to marry
and practice as lay Buddhists. Among the three women was Nhat
Chi Mai, who immolated herself for peace just a year later.
It was a wonderful celebration! Each of us
was given a lamp with a handmade shade on which Thay had calligraphed
"Lamp of the World," "Lamp of the Full Moon," "Lamp of Wisdom,"
etc., in old-style Chinese. During the initiation ceremony, we
six ordainees vowed to study, practice, and observe the Fourteen
Precepts of the Order of Interbeing. Since that day, I have felt
that these precepts are my primary teacher, especially when I
have been under stress and do not know the best way to act. These
are the Fourteen Precepts:
- Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any
doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist
systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute
truth.
- Do not think the knowledge you presently
possess is changeless, absolute truth. Avoid being narrow-minded
and bound to present views. Learn and practice nonattachment
from views in order to be open to receive others' viewpoints.
Truth is found in life and not merely in conceptual knowledge.
Be ready to learn throughout your entire life and to observe
reality in yourself and in the world at all times.
- Do not force others, including children,
by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views, whether by authority,
threat, money, propaganda, or even education. However, through
compassionate dialogue, help others renounce fanaticism and
narrowness.
- Do not avoid contact with suffering or close
your eyes before suffering. Do not lose awareness of the existence
of suffering in the life of the world. Find ways to be with
those who are suffering, including personal contact, images,
and sound. By such means, awaken yourself and others to the
reality of suffering in the world.
- Do not accumulate wealth while millions
are hungry. Do not take as the aim of your life fame, profit,
wealth, or sensual pleasure. Live simply and share time, energy,
and material resources with those who are in need.
- Do not maintain anger or hatred. Learn to
penetrate and transform them when they are still seeds in your
consciousness. As soon as they arise, turn your attention to
your breath in order to see and understand the nature of your
anger and hatred and the nature of the persons who have caused
your anger and hatred.
- Do not lose yourself in dispersion and in
your surroundings. Practice mindful breathing to come back to
what is happening in the present moment. Be in touch with what
is wondrous, refreshing, and healing both inside and around
you. Plant seeds of joy, peace, and understanding in yourself
in order to facilitate the work of transformation in the depths
of your consciousness.
- Do not utter words that can create discord
and cause the community to break. Make every effort to reconcile
and resolve all conflicts, however small.
- Do not say untruthful things for the sake
of personal interest or to impress people. Do not utter words
that cause division and hatred. Do not spread news that you
do not know to be certain. Do not criticize or condemn things
of which you are not sure. Always speak truthfully and constructively.
Have the courage to speak out about situations of injustice,
even when doing so may threaten your own safety.
- Do not use the Buddhist community for personal
gain or profit, or transform your community into a political
party. A religious community, however, should take a clear stand
against oppression and injustice and should strive to change
the situation without engaging in partisan conflict.
- Do not live with a vocation that is harmful
to humans and nature. Do not invest in companies that deprive
others of their chance to live. Select a vocation that helps
realize your ideal of compassion.
- Do not kill. Do not let others kill. Find
whatever means possible to protect life and prevent war.
- Possess nothing that should belong to others.
Respect the property of others, but prevent others from profiting
from human suffering or the suffering of other species on Earth.
- Do not mistreat your body. Learn to handle
it with respect. Preserve vital energies (sexual, breath, spirit)
for the realization of the Way. Be fully aware of the responsibility
of bringing new lives into the world. Meditate on the world
into which you are bringing new beings.
The conditions requested by Thay Nhat Hanh from
those of us who formally ordained with him were to practice at
least sixty Days of Mindfulness a year and to practice with a
community of friends. Even though I continued to be extremely
busy, I renewed myself every week with a Day of Mindfulness at
our School of Youth for Social Service temple, from Saturday noon
until Sunday noon. I would always come laden down with worries
about urgent responsibilities, but after a short while I could
slowly calm myself and stop even the most anxious thoughts. I
tried to dwell mindfully on every act, beginning with putting
my overnight bag in my room, boiling some water for washing, and
putting on my meditation clothes. Then I practiced walking meditation
alone in the woods, picking wildflowers and bamboo branches for
arrangements for the meditation hall. After three hours of dwelling
steadily in each mindful act and releasing all my worries, I began
to feel renewed, and we six members of the Order gathered to recite
the precepts and chant the Heart Sutra together. Then we shared
tea and our experiences of the past week, ate dinner silently
together, and practiced sitting meditation before bed. We meditated
together again in the early morning. During individual time before
and after evening meditation and the next day, I sometimes had
to resume my urgent work alone in my room, but I always did it
in a mindful way.
Do not accumulate wealth while millions are
hungry. Do not take as the aim of your life fame, profit, wealth
or sensual pleasure. Live
simply and share time, energy, and material resources with those
who are in need.
One day, Nhat Chi Mai said to me, "We are such
a new Order that the Buddhist Church does not accept us as nuns.
" I comforted her by saying, "Don't worry. We don't need their
acceptance. We were ordained by Thdy because we wanted to follow
the Fourteen Precepts. Others can think of us as laypersons, nuns,
or whatever they want. What is important is that we practice the
precepts as guidelines lighting our path of service and helping
us transform our negative tendencies, like fanaticism, narrow-mindedness,
anger, and hatred." In fact, as we continued to practice sincerely,
many of the high monks came to appreciate us. Although they didn't
call us nuns, they treated us with equal respect.
Today, thousands of friends in Europe, North
America, Australia, and Asia have come to know and practice these
Fourteen Precepts, although most have not had the opportunity
to receive them formally from Thay. I always advise those who
wish to practice the precepts to organize a sangha, a community
of friends, around them, to recite the precepts every month, and
share their experiences of living the precepts. If they do this,
already they are members of the extended community of the Order
of Interbeing.
Reprinted from Learning True Love: How I Learned
and Practiced Social Change in Vietnam (Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax
Press, 1993. Used by permission. Available from FOR). Since 1964,
Sister Chan Khong (Cao Ngoc Phuong) has worked with Thich Nhat
Hanh, with whom she founded the School of Youth for Social Service.
Message
Life has left her footprints on my forehead.
But I have become a child again this morning.
The smile, seen through leaves and flowers,
is back to smooth away the wrinkles,
as the rains wipe away footprints on the beach.
Again a cycle of birth and death begins.
I walk on thorns, but firmly, as among flowers.
I keep my head high.
Rhymes bloom among the sounds of bombs and mortars.
The tears I shed yesterday have become rain.
I feel calm hearing its sound on the thatched roof.
Childhood, my birth land, is calling me,
and the rains melt my despair.
I am still here alive, able to smile quietly.
O sweet fruit brought forth by the tree of suffering!
Carrying the dead body of my brother,
I go across the rice field in the darkness.
Earth will keep you tight within her arms, my dear,
so that tomorrow you will be reborn as flowers,
those flowers smiling quietly in the morning field.
This moment you weep no more, my dear.
We have gone through too deep a night.
This morning,
I kneel down on the grass,
when I notice your presence.
Flowers that carry the marvelous smile of ineffability
speak to me in silence.
The message,
the message of love
and understanding,
has indeed come to us.
by Thich Nhat Hanh
Written in 1964 in Saigon. Printed in 1966
by the Fellowship of Reconciliation as a Christmas card.
Reprinted from Call Me By My True Names:
The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh (1993) with permission
of Parallax Press, Berkeley, California.
|
