Thich Nhat Hanh
Accolades
- Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk
- Peace activist
- Founder of the Plum Village Tradition
- “Father of mindfullness”
- Created the Order of Interbeing
- Nominated by Martin Luther King Jr. for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Interbeing
- “Interbeing” is a portmanteau of the prefix “inter-” and the word “being.”
Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, created this practice to help people develop the insight of the interconnected nature of reality and the human experience, which could then lead to a “collective awakening”.
- Source:
The idea of interbeing is related to classic Mahayana Buddhist teachings such as emptiness and dependent arising. It has predecessors in other East Asian Buddhist concepts, particularly the Huayan teachings of perfect interfusion (yuanrong, 圓融) or unobstructed interpenetration. This teaching holds that all phenomena in the universe are interconnected with each other in a web of mutual dependency.[10] It is famously illustrated through the metaphor of Indra’s net.
- Generally and majorly practiced at the Plum Village Buddhist tradition and the Order of Interbeing, a lay community dedicated to its practice. (France)
“I have a disciple in Vietnam who wants to build a stupa for my ashes when I die. He and others want to put a plaque with the words, “Here lies my beloved teacher.” I told them not to waste the temple land…I suggested that, if they still insist on building a stupa, they have the plaque say, I am not in here. But in case people don’t get it, they could add a second plaque, I am not out there either. If still people don’t understand, then you can write on the third and last plaque, I may be found in your way of breathing and walking.”