Without deep listening and gentle loving speech it is very difficult to move towards peace. Peace will only become a reality, says Thich Nhat Hanh, when world leaders come to negotiations with the ability to hear the suffering at the root of all conflicts. A traditional Vietnamese Zen garden is very different from a Japanese Zen garden. Our Zen gardens, called hon non bo, are [...]
Three Means to Peace: Mindfulness, Compassion, and Wisdom
In this teaching from 2004, Joseph Goldstein explains how three principles of meditation can be applied to the world's conflicts. The method is mindfulness, the expression is compassion, and the essence is wisdom. A central question confronting spiritual life today is how we can best respond to the tremendous conflicts and uncertainties of these times. The war on terror, [...]
Choosing Peace
There is a key moment, says Pema Chödrön, when we make the choice between peace and conflict. Here she describes a practice we can do at that very moment to bring peace for ourselves, for others, and for the world. If we want to make peace, with ourselves and with the world at large, we have to look closely at the source of all of our wars. So often, it seems, we want to [...]
A Buddhist Cop’s Approach to Justice
Cheri Maples, a student of Thich Nhat Hanh and former police officer, addresses the U.S.'s crisis in policing and how a Buddhist outlook could help foster more positive relations between citizens and police. A cop meets Thich Nhat Hanh I became serious about developing a consistent mindfulness practice when I attended my first retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh (known [...]
The Failure of War
Whether it’s in diplomacy, politics, or economics, the warfare model no longer works for the modern world, says Wendell Berry in this 1999 article from our archives. In modern war, everyone is defeated. If you know even as little history as I do, it is hard not to doubt the efficacy of modern war as a solution to any problem except that of retribution—the “justice” of [...]
Countering Oppression by Cultivating Peace
What started as a mindful walk became a personal "disturbance of the peace." Ray Buckner on how taking a moment to pause can transform an unsettling situation into a chance to break down barriers. I had Pema Chödrön’s Practicing Peace in my pocket when I was stopped by a police officer. I was out on a mindful walk in a suburb of Dallas, Texas, while visiting my friend [...]
Daily Life is Practice
All the moments of your day are teachings. If you look at them clearly, says Sylvia Boorstein, you’ll see the same fundamental truths the Buddha did. When I teach people how to use the breath to calm the mind and focus attention, I often mention something the Buddha said: that you should know, upon awakening, whether an inhalation or an exhalation is happening. He also said [...]
Thich Nhat Hanh to receive Catholic “Peace on Earth” award
Thich Nhat Hanh has been chosen to receive this year's Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award. A representative of Nhat Hanh, along with 120 monastics in his order, will accept the award on his behalf on October 31 — the 50th anniversary of the same honor being granted to his friend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Given annually since 1964 by Davenport Catholic Interracial [...]
New York Buddhist Church to mark sixtieth anniversary of iconic statue
On Friday, September 11, the New York Buddhist Church will rededicate its iconic statue of Shinran Shonin, the founder of the Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism. The ceremony marks the statue's 60th anniversary in New York. It originally stood in a park in Hiroshima, where it survived the 1945 atomic bomb blast. On September 11, 1955, the statue was donated to the New York Buddhist [...]
Buddhist-Muslim peace called for in Yogyakarta Statement
“If we want peace and justice, it is very important for Buddhists and Muslims to come together because these are two major world religions.” So says Chandra Muzaffar, president of International Movement for a Just World, in explaining the need for the newly issued Yogyakarta Statement, in which, as the Jakarta Post reports, "religious leaders from 15 countries [have] called on [...]
