THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN – What Can We Learn from the Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

The Possibility of Peace - Thich Nhat Hanh's calligraphy

THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN –

What Can We Learn from the Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

Like millions of people, my heart is heavy when I learned about the government shut down. I meditated and I saw myself as a liberal, a conservative, and a tea-party member. I am part of the problem, and yet I am part of the solution.

I remembered that Thay -- as the Vietnamese and his beloved Buddhist practitioners called the Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh -- often reminded us: “Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and non-attachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.”

His message is Jesus and Buddha are brothers. Republicans and Democrats are brothers; if one hurts, the one also hurts and vice versa.  Everything is interdependent. Our well-beings also are interdependent.  More precisely, he said flowers are garbage and garbage are flowers, they "inter-are.”  Likewise, he pointed out that our affluent society and our deprived society inter-are. The sufferings of one party are also the sufferings of the other party. The same goes for people and politics. The President, senators and congressional leaders are alike.

As the freedom of speech and freedom of religion are the basic rights;  Perhaps, healthcare for the majority of people in this wonderful and wealthy nation should also be a fundenmental right. The federal government shutdown hurts hundred of millions of families directly and millions more indirectly. Thus, I ask that the President, the senators and the congressional leaders to practice mindfulness.  According to Thay, “it is the energy of being aware and awake to the present moment. It is the continuous practice of touching life deeply in every moment of daily life. To be mindful is to be truly alive, present and at one with those around you and with what you are doing.” It is the time for all involved reflecting and practice deep listening and mindfulness.

He added, “The energy of mindfulness allows us to embrace ourselves, our suffering, our despair, our sorrow; and also plant the seeds of joy and peace and love”.  He once wrote a poem “Call Me by My True Names” to embody the essence of ‘interbeing’ and promote forgiveness, understanding and compassion. To him, love does not exist without understanding and understanding does not exist without love.

Perhaps, this crisis has no name. Yet in the name of the United States of American, "we are the people… and justice and liberty for all." Let end this short article with the last few lines of his poem.

“Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion."