Listening Deeply for Peace
By
Thich Nhat Hanh
A traditional Vietnamese Zen garden is very different from
a Japanese Zen garden. Our Zen gardens, called hon non bo, are wild and exuberant,
more playful than the formal Japanese gardens with their restrained patterns.
Vietnamese Zen gardens are seriously unserious. For us, the whole world is contained
in this peaceful place. All activities of life unfold in true peace in the garden:
in one part, children will be playing, and in another part, some elderly men will
be having a chess game; couples are walking; families are having picnics; animals
are free to wander around. Beautiful trees are growing next to abundant grasses
and flowers. There is water, and there are rock formations. All ecologies are
represented in this one microecology without discrimination. It is a miniature,
peaceful world. It is a beautiful living metaphor for what a new global ethic
could bring.
War is not a necessary condition of life. The root of war, as
with all conflicts, is ignorance, ignorance of the inherent goodness-the buddhanature-in
every human being. The potential for ignorance lives in all of us; it gives rise
to misunderstanding, which can lead to violent thoughts and behavior. Although
ignorance and violence may not have manifested in your life, when conditions are
sufficient, they can. This is why we all have to be very careful not to water
these seeds and not to allow them to develop roots and grow into arrows.
The
Roots of War
When one country attacks another, it is out of great fear and
a kind of collective ignorance. For instance, the French fought to keep Vietnam
as their colony, because they thought that if they possessed Vietnam, they would
be happy. So they sent many young men to Vietnam to kill and to be killed. We
know, when we look deeply, that happiness does not come from possessing something
or someone; it comes from kindness and compassion, from helping to ease suffering.
If the American people had sat down and practiced looking deeply, they would
have seen that the Vietnam War was entirely unnecessary, that their own lives
could not be improved through the suffering of another country or the suffering
of their own young men. The United States senselessly wasted many lives in this
war when it could have supported both North and South Vietnam in their different
models of development, helping the Communists and the non-Communists alike to
rebuild their societies. This would have been much wiser than supporting one side
and fighting the other. If France and the United States had yielded autonomy to
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, helping these countries to develop instead
of waging war, all sides would have profited from such a friendly relationship.
After a long period of suffering, these countries are finally moving in this direction,
but this could have happened much earlier without the terrible loss of life.
All
violence is injustice. We should not inflict that injustice on ourselves or on
other people. Historians and teachers as well as politicians should look deeply
at the suffering caused by wars, not just at the justifications that governments
give for them. We have to teach our children the truth about war so they learn
from our experiences and understand that violence and war are not the right way,
that they are not the right actions to take. We have to show our children that
people on both sides of war-the French and American soldiers in Vietnam as well
as the Vietnamese people-were victims of the ignorance and violence rooted in
their societies and governments. Remember, there were no winners.
As long
as we allow hatred to grow in us, we continue to make ourselves and others suffer.
As we look deeply at the wars in our recent history, we have to transform our
hatred and misunderstanding into compassion. We have to recognize that those who
have made us suffer are also victims. Many who had a father, brother or friend
killed in the Vietnam War have been able to transcend their suffering and to reconcile
with the other side, Vietnamese and American. They have done this for their own
sake and for the sake of their children.
How can we as individuals influence
the collective consciousness of our nations and move in the direction of peace?
We do this by uprooting the roots of violence and war within ourselves. To prevent
war, we cultivate nonviolence. We practice mindfulness in our daily life so that
we can recognize and transform the poisons within us and our nation. When we practice
nonviolence in our daily life, we see the positive effects on our families, society
and government.
Peace Is Possible
In the summer of 2001 in our community
in Plum Village, France, about eighteen-hundred people came and practiced with
us. Among them were a few dozen Palestinians and Israelis. We sponsored these
people hoping they could have the opportunity to practice walking meditation together,
to share a meal together, to listen to the teachings of mindfulness practice and
to learn the act of deep listening and gentle, loving speech. The Israelis and
Palestinians spent two weeks with us and participated in all activities.
At
the end of their stay, the whole community gathered together and our visitors
stood up and gave a report. After only two weeks of practice, they had transformed
very deeply. They had become a community of brothers and sisters, Palestinians
and Israelis. They said to us, "Dear community, dear Thich Nhat Hanh, when
we first came to Plum Village we couldn't believe it. Plum Village did not look
real to us because it is so peaceful. In Plum Village, we did not feel the kind
of anger, tension and fear that we feel constantly in the Middle East. People
look at each other with kind eyes, they speak to each other lovingly. There is
peace, there is communication and there is brotherhood and sisterhood." One
member of the delegation said, "We spent two weeks in paradise." Another
person wrote to me after he returned home and said, "This is the first time
that I have believed that peace is possible in the Middle East."
What
did we do to make the third truth-that well-being and peace are possible-real
to them? Honestly, we did not do much. We just embraced these friends from the
Middle East as brothers and sisters. They learned to walk mindfully with us, to
breathe in and out mindfully with us, to stop and be there in the present moment
with us, and to get in touch with what is pleasant, nourishing and healing around
them and within themselves. The practice is very simple, but supported by a practicing
sangha, they were able to succeed more quickly than on their own and to touch
the peace and happiness within each of them.
Together we all followed the
basic practice: to do everything mindfully. We established ourselves in the here
and now in order to touch life deeply. We practiced mindfulness while we breathed
and walked and talked and brushed our teeth and chopped vegetables for meals and
washed dishes. That is the basic daily practice that our friends learned. We in
the sangha offered our support, sitting with our visitors and practicing listening
with compassion with them.
We trained them to speak in such a way that the
other side could hear and understand and accept. They spoke in a calm way, not
condemning anyone, not judging anyone. They told the other side of all the suffering
that had happened to them and their children, to their societies. They all had
the chance to speak of their fear, anger, hatred and despair. Many felt for the
first time that they were listened to and that they were being understood, which
relieved a lot of suffering within them. We listened deeply, opening our hearts
with the intention to help them express and heal themselves.
Two weeks of
the practice of deep listening and using loving speech brought a lot of joy to
our visitors and to all of us in Plum Village. We were reminded, hearing these
stories, that during the Vietnam War, we Vietnamese, too, had suffered terribly.
Yet our practice allowed us then and allows us still to see that our world is
beautiful, with all the wonders of life available every day. This is why we know
that our friends from the Middle East, too, can practice in the middle of war
around them.
There were moments during the war when we wished so hard that
there would be a cease-fire for just 24 hours. We thought that if we had only
24 hours of peace, we would have been able to breathe in and out and smile to
the flowers and the blue sky. But we did manage to breathe in and out and smile,
even then, because even the flowers had the courage to bloom in the middle of
war. Yet still, we wanted 24 hours of peace during the war. We wanted the bombs
to stop falling on us.
During the war in Vietnam, young people came to me
and asked, "Do you think there will be an end to the war?" I could not
answer them right away. I practiced mindful breathing, in and out. After a long
time I looked at them and said, "My dear friends, the Buddha said everything
is impermanent, including war."
Before going back to the Middle East,
our friends promised us that they would continue the practice. They told us that
on the local level they would organize weekly meetings so they could continue
to walk together, sit and breathe together, share a meal together and listen to
each other. Every month they have had an event to do this. They practice true
peace even in the midst of war.
True Peace Negotiations
When you come
to any negotiation, whether at work or in a meeting with other parents, teachers
or neighbors, you have hope for peace. When your representatives go to a negotiation
table, they hope for peace. But if you and they do not master the art of deep
listening and loving speech, it is very difficult to move toward peace in any
situation or to get concrete results. If we have not transformed our inner block
of suffering, hatred and fear, it will prevent us from communicating, understanding
and making peace.
I beg the nations and governments who would like to bring
peace to the Middle East and other countries to pay attention to this fact. We
need our governments to organize peace negotiations so that they will be fruitful.
A very important factor for success is creating a setting where true communication
can be practiced, where deep listening and gentle, loving speech can occur. It
may take one month or two just for people to learn how to listen to each other,
to talk so that the other side can hear and understand. It is important not to
be in a hurry to reach a conclusion or an agreement about what to do for peace
to be possible. One month or two is nothing compared with years of pain and suffering.
But if we have a great determination, then five days may be enough to restore
communication between people. Two weeks were enough for our Palestinian friends
and our Israeli friends to begin to understand and to accept each other as brothers
and sisters, to begin to practice and create peace. Two weeks were enough for
them to have hope.
Too often in the past, peace conferences have been environments
where people came and fought each other, not with weapons but with their fear.
When we are carried away by our fear and prejudices, we cannot listen to others.
We cannot just bring two sides together around a table to discuss peace when they
are still filled with anger, hatred and hurt. If you cannot recognize your fear
and anger, if you do not know how to calm yourself, how can you sit at a peace
table with your enemy? Facing your enemy across a table, you will only continue
to fight. Unable to understand yourself, you will only continue to fight. Unable
to understand yourself, you will be unable to understand the other person.
The
secret of creating peace is that when you listen to another person you have only
one purpose: to offer him an opportunity to empty his heart. If you are able to
keep that awareness and compassion alive in you, then you can sit for one hour
and listen even if the other person's speech contains a lot of wrong perceptions,
condemnations and bitterness. You can continue to listen because you are already
protected by the nectar of compassion in your own heart. If you do not practice
mindful breathing in order to keep that compassion alive, however, you can lose
your own peace. Irritation and anger will come up, and the other person will notice
and will not be able to continue. Keeping your awareness keeps you safe.
Peace
conferences must create environments that can help people calm down and see that
they are suffering and that the other side is suffering also. Many leaders have
tried to sponsor talks and discussion, but theirs was not the way of practice.
They did not practice to transform anger and fear into deep listening and loving
speech. When leaders do practice, there will be a chance for true reconciliation.
After the practices of deep listening and kind and loving speech have dissolved
bitterness, fear and prejudice, people can begin to communicate with each other.
Then reaching peace will be much easier. Peace will become a reality.
Practicing
Deep Listening with Other Countries
If America invests all her heart and mind
into this practice, then other people will also be able to tell her about their
suffering. If America goes back to herself and restores the spirit of her forefathers,
America will be truly great. She will then be in a position to help other countries
establish similar forums, to invite other groups and countries to express themselves.
The setting must be one of safety and love. Countries from around the world
can come together not as enemies that bomb and destroy each other but as wise
people sponsoring sessions of deep listening. All nations could come and help
with the practice; people from different cultures and civilizations would have
the opportunity to speak to one another as fellow human beings who inhabit the
same planet. In addition, people who are not just politically minded but humanists
who understand the suffering of others could be invited-people who know how to
sit and listen calmly, with compassion. These people would know how to create
an atmosphere of peace without fear so that others can have the chance, the inspiration,
and the desire to speak. We must be patient. The process of learning about each
other's suffering will take time.
If such an international forum were broadcast
around the world, everyone could participate and have the chance to learn about
the causes of suffering. The first and second noble truths of the Buddha, the
awareness of suffering and the awareness of the causes of suffering, could be
practiced together by billions of people.
The first and second noble truths
will lead us to the third and fourth noble truths; namely, the awareness that
there is a path out of suffering and that that path consists of certain concrete
steps, such as right understanding, right thinking, right speech and right action.
Creating Peace in the World
The antidote to violence and hatred is compassion.
There is no other medicine. Unfortunately, compassion is not available in drugstores.
You have to generate the nectar of compassion in your heart. The teaching of the
Buddha gives us the means to generate the energy of compassion. If we are too
busy, if we are carried away every day by our projects, our uncertainty, our craving,
how can we have the time to stop and look deeply into the situation-our own situation,
the situation of our beloved one, the situation of our family and of our community,
and the situation of our nation and of the other nations? Looking deeply, we find
out that not only do we suffer but also the other person suffers deeply. Not only
our group suffers but the other group also suffers. Once awareness is born, we
know that punishment, violence and war are not the answer.
The one who wants
to punish is inhabited by violence. The one who endures the suffering of the other
person is also inhabited by the energy of violence. Violence cannot be ended with
violence. The Buddha said that responding to hatred with hatred can only increase
hatred a thousandfold. Only by responding to hatred with compassion can we disintegrate
hatred.
The future is a notion. The future is made of only one substance,
the present. If you are taking good care of the present moment, why do you have
to worry about the future? By taking care of the present, you are doing everything
you can to assure a good future. Is there anything else you can do? Live the present
moment in such a way that peace and joy may be possible here and now-that love
and understanding may be possible. Dwelling happily and peacefully in the present
moment is the best thing we can do to ensure peace and happiness in the future.
We have to practice looking deeply as a nation if we want to get out of this
difficult situation of war and terrorism. Our practice will help the other nations
to practice. I am sure that America is very capable of punishing. The United States
can send bombs; the whole world knows she is very capable of doing so. But America
is great when she acts with lucidity and compassion. I urge that when we are suffering,
when we are overcome by shock, we should not do anything, we should not say anything.
We should go home to ourselves and practice mindful breathing and mindful walking
to allow ourselves to calm down and to allow lucidity to come, so we can understand
the real roots of our suffering and the suffering of the world. Only with that
understanding can compassion arise. America can be a great nation if she knows
how to act with compassion instead of punishment. We can offer peace. We can offer
the relief of transformation and healing.
It is my deep wish that the American
people and the people of other countries become spiritual allies and practice
compassion together. Without a spiritual dimension and practice, we cannot really
improve the situation of the world. We can come together as a family in order
to look deeply into our own situation and the situation of the world.
Practicing
peace is possible with every step, with every breath. It is possible for us to
practice together and bring hope and compassion into our daily lives and into
the lives of our families, our community, our nation and the world.
Thich
Nhat Hanh is a Zen teacher, poet and leader of the engaged Buddhist movement.
A well-known, anti-war activist in his native Vietnam, he was nominated for the
Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King, Jr. The author of more than forty books,
he resides at Buddhist practice centers in France and Vermont.
From Creating
True Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh © 2003 by the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh. Reprinted
by permission of The Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., NY.