Thich Nhat Hanh, Engaged Buddhism, & Burma

With all that is happening in the world today, it is easy to overlook spots that drew our attention just a few weeks or even days ago. After the protest led by Buddhist monks in Burma (Myanmar) in the fall of 2007, the issues there seemed to slip away from new coverage until the devastating cyclones recently drew the world’s attention back to that Southeast Asian land.

The issues related to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, her party, and the valiant protests of the Buddhist monks still exist, even as the media centers on the cost of oil, disaster in China, the U. S. Presidential race, etc. This was brought back to me this morning as I followed a link from the Digital Dharma blog to the site Tricycle magazine’s wonderful Change Your Mind Day 2008. There I found numerous videos including a couple featuring the Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk with whom I hope you are familiar.

I was so impressed with these words of Thich Nhat Hanh that I want to share them with you:

Every day we do things, we are things that have to do with peace. If we are aware of our life..., our way of looking at things, we will know how to make peace right in the moment, we are alive. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh