Last night at 0:00 January 22, 2022 in Tu Hieu Pagoda, Hue, Vietnam, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh passed away. He was a zen master who devoted his life for Buddhism and his open for Engaged Buddhism, also known as socially engaged Buddhism.
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh
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He said "I did not want you to build a burial tower in the pagoda. Building a tower is meaningless if today you do not continue what we are doing... I do not like the way that you take my ash, put it in a jar, then in a tower. I am not that ash... I do not want a tower". Because Monk Dam Nguyen already built a tower in Dinh Quan pagoda for him, Master Thich Nhat Hanh replied: "If it was built already, write this on the tower - There is nothing inside. If people can not understand, please write There is nothing outside.
As the second Buddhist influencer after Dalai Lama, the Zen Master did not want to be remember as a name, a title or a fame. The desire of fame is a pursuit to suffering. During his life, he has been bringing Buddhism to Western and making Buddhism easier to approach. I joined a walking meditation at Tu Hieu pagoda with monks and nuns there, I felt that living in mindfulness and awareness is meditation. Every single action is a step of meditation. Surely I do not understand fully what he taught as well as Buddha taught more than 2500 years ago. However, Engaged Buddhism is actually closer to us when we see happiness in peace is not too far, that we can find in little things every day.
"...take my ash to spread for grass to grow, to nourish plants. Do not stop the continuity of that ash..." Life is a stream of living and the death is not an end.
Many people politicize his life. In 1966 Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh met Martin Luther King as they were both antiwar activists. As a result, Vietnamese people from the South blamed him as a Commie supporter in Paris Peace Accords 1973, while Communist did not welcome him as a uncontrollable religious leader. In my opinion, he did well as a teacher, an instructor, an inspirer, a peace activist and a true Buddhist rather than a politician as many blamed.
In last 60 years, his heritage has been spreading around and it will continue. Master Thich Nhat Hanh's compassion and commitment to religious pluralism will be memorized by those met him, read his books and practice his Buddhism. He departed his journey from Tu Hieu pagoda and he ended it at the same place, but not his stream of practice...
"There is nothing inside" - "No self is the Nirvana"
Garden of Tu Hieu pagoda
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