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Thich Naht Hanh in hospital
karasti
BreathingMinnesota Moderator
The website Chan Indonesia reported earlier that TNH was in the process of passing away. However, supposedly one of the Sisters from Plum Village has said he is still in the hospital, but is doing "ok." What that means of course can be interpreted many ways. The article heading makes it sound as if he has already passed, but that doesn't appear to be the case.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/americanbuddhist/2014/11/the-passing-of-thich-nhat-hanh.html
I did read online (unverified) that he has been ill in recent months.
If you are so inclined, there is a chant in the link that the nuns are doing for him, and it's quite a lovely chant if you should like to do it on your own, or otherwise include him in your thoughts and/or meditations.
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Gracious, I had no idea he had been unwell...I know for whom my candle will be lit, tomorrow....
Poor Thay
..
I will chant for him.
_ /\ _
Here is an updated article. He had a brain hemorrhage
http://plumvillage.org/news/our-beloved-teacher-in-hospital/
I feel overcome with gratitude to Thay. It's filling up in my eyes ....
....
I send much love, peace and strength to all my Brothers and Sisters at Plum Village and Magnolia Grove.
'Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.'
--Thich Nhat Hanh
I can only wish him well on his journey....Metta
Reality, as it is, is called suchness. Suchness means, ‘it is like that.’ You cannot describe it in terms of notions, especially notions of birth and death, being and non-being, coming and going. No word, no idea, no notion can describe reality: the reality of a table, the reality of a flower, the reality of a house, the reality of a living being. To meditate means to be invited on a journey of looking deeply in order to touch our true nature and to recognize that nothing is lost. Because of this we can overcome fear. The ultimate is the foundation of our being, the ground of being…….
Thich Nhat Hanh
I have to admit, I didn't realize he was that old.
Mindfulness has kept him young.
You are evil sometimes!
At least I'm consistent....
I only hope for a peaceful and painless passing for him. He has been a tremendous influence in my life.
He talks about death in this video. Good one! Even if he does die, I'm sure he'll still be OK. Honestly, I think you could chop the guys leg off, and he would still be OK.
I have at least two acquaintances who have been drawn to Buddhism through Thay's books.
I can say without doubt that Thay's "The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching" is the most enlightened and comprehensive introduction to Buddhism I came across with.
I gifted his book to a couple of Born Again friends, not for them to convert, but just to get a better viewpoint of Buddhism, and in both cases it worked.
I enjoyed Brad Warner's ruminations on TNH's situation.
Been thinking about TNH . . . and remembering an elderly woman about his age (near 90 yrs) who had a catastrophic brain hemmorhage and was sent to the unit I worked on so we could provide comfort care until she passed away. Instead, she was eating, drinking and hobbling with a walker a week and a half later. A person's brain slowly loses mass over the years, ironically leaving lots of room in the skull cavity. So when a huge bleed happens, instead of crushing the soft brain tissue in the ungiving skull, it just temporarily squeezes the soft brain and as the body cleans up the hemmorhage, the brain comes slowly back online. A forty year old with such a brain bleed would have died on Tuesday or Wednesday. We might see TNH recover completely or almost completely.
Unfortunately, that may not help TNH.... In fact, his dedicated practice may count against him. :disappointed:
>
Here.
http://peacefulrivers.homestead.com/thichnhathanh.html
Please Call Me By My True Names
By Thich Nhat Hanh
Don't say that I will depart tomorrow--even today I am still arriving.
Look deeply: every second I am arriving to be a bud on a Spring branch, to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings, learning to sing in my new nest, to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower, to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.
I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry, to fear and to hope. The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death of all that is alive.
I am a mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river. And I am the bird that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.
I am a frog swimming happily in the clear water of a pond. And I am the grass-snake that silently feeds itself on the frog.
I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones, my legs as thin as bamboo sticks. And I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to Uganda.
I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat, who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate. And I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving.
I am a member of the politburo, with plenty of power in my hinds. And I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood" to my people dying slowly in a forced-labor camp.
My joy is like Spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth. My pain is like a river of tears, so vast it fills the four oceans.
Please call me by my true names, so I can hear all my cries and laughter at once, so I can see that my joy and pain are one.
Please call me by my true names, so I can wake up and the door of my heart could be left open, the door of compassion.
One of my absolute favorites, @Jeffrey
Good news!!! _ /|\ _
I can't post the link from my phone, but the latest update from Plum Village is very optimistic.
Try link: http://plumvillage.org/news/an-update-on-thays-health-16th-november/
^ Not very optimistic, IMO, about his physical prospects.
Whether he lives or dies within the next month or two or three, the world will be much impoverished by what has transpired with him in the last several days.
Well, let's face facts: He WILL die, and the world will be impoverished by his absence.
Full stop.
I was going to post Call me by my True Names as that is my favorite of his poems but was beaten to it... The guy has just been there for me even as he's never met me. I've leaned on his wisdom and understanding of the dharma at some very crucial points in life as so many others have.
But don't say that he will depart tomorrow for even today he still arrives.
Well having neurologists looking after him is a positive. I'm still here and active because of neurologists. It's all in your perspective. I prefer to see the good in the situation _ /|\ _
If you believe he is a man he will die, if you believe he is consciousness, how can that die? His teaching and stories will live on as well. What a gift to us all.
an update on Thay as of the 22nd....
http://plumvillage.org/news/an-update-on-thays-health-22nd-november/
A reminder from the Nuns and Monks.....
"....Let us support Thay by sustaining our practice of mindfulness throughout the day, wherever we are, keeping Thay alive within us and within our community. With deep conscious breaths and mindful steps, let us allow Thay’s teachings to ripen within us, helping us see Thay’s continuation body and Thay’s sangha body.
May we let go of resentments against those who have hurt us, and release our fear and sorrow, by coming back to the calm and gentle breathing that Thay has transmitted to us. This is the best way we can support Thay and be his beautiful continuation."
Update 3rd January 2015
What a legacy!