Thich Nhat Hanh’s Teachings from the Hospital

Thich Nhat Hanh,the most famous and one of the most loved living buddhist teachers. 88, is hospitalised in Bordeaux, France, for a severe brain hemorrhage. While millions of people are worried and are afraid of losing an important point of reference, it is interesting to know what the people nearest to him feels in these days. These people are the monks and the nouns living in Plum Village practice centre.

Yesterday ther has been a meeting with five of them in Rome, so it has been possible for us to collect fresh first-hand accounts. The zen master is at hospital, his condition are stable – even if still critical – but he’s recovering energies.

Despite this critical situation, this danger, monks and nouns are smiling. Why?

Thich Nhat Hanh at present is assisted by ten bembers of the community: all people very close to him in the last years. So he is sorrounded by people who know him very well and who love him. Health care for him is the best that France can offer at present. The nurses are so happy to assist him that they came bak to his room also out of work time. According to a noun, it is taking place a sort of retire inside the hospital room. So the context is very encouraging. Sometimes it seems as he is completely in his breath, as it he is following his own teachings: “stop, come back to breath, cpome back to breath; use your breath to take care of yourself…”

“In these days happiness and sorrow live together in my hearth”, a young noun says. Happiness comes precisely from him, the master who taugth to transform every moment in a happy moment. We can’t deny there is sorrow at present, but sorrow and happiness are the two sides of the same coins, as Thay (the familiar name for Thich Nhat Hanh) said many times.

“We know that Thay is with us in every thing we do” is the account of another noun. “When I have seen you today I have understood that Thay is in everybody of us. If he hadn’t travelled so much, this miracle wuouldn’t have beeen possible. We are his continuation. Every time we practice, he is with us”.

Ad a monk adds: “In this moment Thay is 1 per cent in his own body and 99 per cent in the body of the Sangha“. Anyway, he remind us, getting old, getting sick and dying are part of our life and there is nothing bad in them.

Fear of Future

Uncertain conditions of such a leader are a source of concern. It is the same fear of future that we have so often in our unstable life.

“When fear arises – fear for Thay’s life, fear for our future – I observe this fear and I can see the seeds of fear which were plantend in my mind a long time ago, so I can practice also with these seeds”, a noun reveals.

And a monk adds: “Living fully in the present moment id the best way for taking care of the future. If we observe deeply the trees along the river, here in Rome, as they are in these autumn days, we can see clearly that all the conditions for blossoming are already present. Seeds of fear are already in our mind. The most important thing is not to nourish them continously with thoughts of concern”.

It is amazing how many things we can learn by this teacher, even when he is in such conditions in a hospital bed!

What does this moment mean for you? Please, share your feelings with a comment!