OM-11/16/2014 Thich Nhat Hanh

Aleathia says:

I recently discovered that Thich Nhat Hanh fell ill around November 1st.  It is said that he has suffered a stroke and though he is weak there is possibility of survival for him even at the great age of 88.

He has been a source of peace for so many people, Buddhists and non-Buddhists.  Let us send a little light and good thoughts his way for recovery, so he can continue to do his work in this body, in this life.

For me personally, I was introduced to his gentle nature when I requested instruction from my lama on walking meditation.  In those days I walked everywhere and thought it would be helpful to walk and meditate on those days when I did not have time for sitting.  Since that point, I have been looking to his words in times of need.

From "Two Treasures" by Thich Nhat Hanh

"Many people are victims of their fear.  If we can alleviate someone's fear, that is the greatest gift that we can offer them.  Our life will be filled with happiness if we can help others around us.  But if we spend our whole life building up our name and our fortune, then we cannot find happiness.  We might have a lot of money, a big house, a luxurious car, but that's not real happiness.  We can only taste real happiness when we can help others around us.  And we have to start with those in our family and the dear friends around us.  We have to help family, relatives, and friends before we are capable of helping others outside our circle."

OM - 6/1/2014

Aleathia says:

Recently I have been working the land that I bought in the winter.  I was definitely appreciative of those that farm before, but I gained a new respect as this project has lingered on.  It is back breaking work, but incredibly meditative at the same time.  I find as I had moved the earth with my hands that my mind was more empty than it had been in years.

I realized that this may have been why my mother, in her tortured life, loved the solitude of working in the garden.  She could be at peace and the plants did not judge her.  It was a good reason to get dirty.

In relation to this thought, I reference a passage from Thich Nhat Hanh's book Peace is Every Step.  In that there is a section called Ecology of Mind:

"We need harmony, we need peace.  Peace is based on respect for life, the spirit of reverence for life.  Not only do we have to respect the lives of human beings, but we have to respect the lives of animals, vegetables, and minerals.  Rocks can be alive.  A rock can be destroyed.  The Earth also.  The destruction of our health by pollution of the air and water is linked to the destruction of the minerals.  The way we farm, the way we deal with out garbage, all these things are related to each other.

Ecology should be a deep ecology.  Not only deep but universal, because there is pollution in our consciousness.  Television, for instance, is a form of pollution for us and for our children.  Television sows seeds of violence and anxiety in our children, and pollutes their consciousness, just as we destroy our environment by chemicals, tree-cutting, and polluting the water.  We need to protect the ecology of the mind, or this kind of violence and recklessness will continue to spill over into many other areas of life."