The novel Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh shows how the world can be made a better place though the application of Buddhism and meditation in our daily lives. Thich Nhat Hanh describes practices and suggestions that the common person can apply in their daily lives immediately in order to create peace in their life and in the world.
Thich Nhat Hanh begins by stating that we are often aware of suffering, however that is not enough. We need to be aware and peace and happiness in order to create peace. He also mentions that today, humans have a very difficult time being alive in the present moment. We are constantly looking to the future for our next goal or our next to-do list to accomplish in order to make us happy. We are always saying, “I will be happy when…” looking ahead of ourselves. According to Hanh, we need to refocus on ourselves and a way to do that is through meditation. Through meditation we can be with ourselves, breathe, smile and become peace all of which make peace in the world, unlike war and violence.
Hanh says that those who sit still and smile have the ability to save the world because they have the ability to meditate and create peace. Therefore, a way to make the world better is to be a Buddha. “Buddha” means to wake-up, to understand, and to love and anybody to practices this is considered to be a Buddha. Thus, if we are to practice Buddhism we can work towards the betterment of society. In Buddhism, there are three gems: Buddha (the awakened one), Dharma (the way of understanding and loving), and Sangha (the community that lives in harmony and awareness). By incorporating all three gems of Buddhism into our daily lives we all can awaken within ourselves, be more understanding and loving of ...
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...eathing room, practice breathing a little bit every morning with your children, and practicing walking meditation every evening. By following all of these teachings the world can transform into a more peaceful place.
This book is an excellent look into a world of meditation for the achievement of peace. I think that one does not even need to be interested in practicing Buddhism in order to appreciate this novel because of its real-life applicability. I truly believe that everyone can benefit from the concepts of breathing, understanding, and peace. We can all take ten minutes out of our lives to breathe and think as this book has shown. Especially with our ever busy schedules, it is easy to get ahead of ourselves and forget the present. It is important for us to stop and check in with the world around us in order to transform civilization for the better.
Hạnh, Nhất, and Arnold Kotler. Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life.
In a world of suffering and pain the Dalai Lama said, “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive”. The Dalai Lama has become a figurehead for Buddhism worldwide for his compassion and warm smiles. Buddhism has extended beyond meditation and even monks such as the Dalai Lama. The basic concepts of compassion and mindfulness in Buddhism are being applied in the daily lives of lay people who need it the most.
The book Buddhism Plain and Simple, by Steve Hagen, caught my attention and became more interesting to me than I thought. I have always heard of the religion Buddhism, but I never knew what it was all about. I never thought that Buddhism was as huge as it is. I knew that it existed in other countries, but I never knew what exact countries. Many of the views in this book surprised me and the book taught me a lot about morals and better ways to live your life. The word “ Awareness” is talked heavily all through this book. For Buddhists, this is probably the most important aspect in their religion.
In The Heart of Understanding, Thich Nhat Hanh’s uses simple but powerful words and real world examples to illustrate the profound Buddhist philosophy from the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra, an important representative of Mahayana Buddhist literature. The Mahayana school of Buddhist teachings emphasizes the doctrine of Sunyata- emptiness. The doctrine of emptiness, one of the most important Mahayana innovations, focuses on the relational aspect of existence. Thich Nhat Hanh coins and introduces a new word- interbeing to explain the state of emptiness. This idea of interbeing not only illustrates emptiness well but also provides understanding of other fundamental Buddhist ideas such as No-Self, impermanence and non-duality.
Meditation is an important psychological practice that protects the brain against aging as well as enhancing an individual’s ability to learn new things. This practice achieves this through sharpening focus, lessening stress, lowering blood pressure, and relieving chronic pain. Generally, it helps a person to experience greater calm, connect with deepest feelings, and challenges tendencies of self-judgment. Consequently, meditation leads to open doors for actual and accessible happiness for an individual. According to Salzberg (2011), meditation is basically training an individual’s attention in order to become more aware of inner workings and external incidents (p.7). After becoming more aware of inner workings and external incidents, a person can choose his/her actions towards things that are visible. While each global religion incorporates some kind of thoughtful exercise, meditation in today’s world is usually practiced separately from any belief system.
Thích Nh’at Hanh is a world renowned Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, religious figure and accomplished writer. Living Buddha, Living Christ is only one of his many famous publications. Thích Nh’at Hanh, is famous for his insights into spiritual heritage and mindfulness in the present moment. Many Americans are seeking religious understanding and personal spirituality, even if they do not practice in the traditional manner. Throughout this book Nh’at Hang encourages readers to find meaning, understanding, mindfulness, and peace in the teachings of Buddha and Christ. His main focus is to open meaningful dialogue between different traditions, cultures, and religious groups around the world, for the betterment
Being at peace can have a different meaning to everyone. We can be at peace with ourselves, our neighbors and even the events that are taking place in the world. In this book, Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Buddhist monk, he attempts to explains to us all the aspects that peace can create for us. No matter if we receive the good or the bad that comes alone with peace, there is always a lesson to be learned. The book is comprised of many of his teaching about peace and the Buddhist lifestyle. The book offers a clear and enjoyable way to comprehend the steps it takes to acquire peace in a personal or even global way. The potential peace that can be brought into this world first has
Without practicing meditation, we do not reflect on or pay attention to our everyday actions, mostly acting on habit. The world is full of defilements and everyday we are infatuated by them, sensual desires, and delusion, although we often do not know it. Meditation weakens these unwholesome temptations and desires by making us aware that they are arising, and by revealing that they are truly unwholesome. The temptation only ceases when the concentration we obtain from meditation results in greater happiness than sensual pleasures can ever provide. While the satisfaction gained from sensual pleasures is fleeting, the clarified, focused state of mind of the meditator accumulates into a constant tranquil state. Only when we have stilled the mind’s incessant wandering and momentarily abandon the attraction to sensory experiences can we become truly aware of our hidden motivations and unconscious feelings that shape our thoughts and behavior. It is also necessary for changing our views of the world and ourselves. Through confronting these delusions, desires, and feelings we are able to renounce them. “During meditation we learn to drop from the mind what we don’t want to keep. We only want to keep in mind the meditation subject. As we get more and more skilled at it, we start to use the same faculty in our daily lives to help us drop thoughts that are
This course has helped to improve my understanding of Buddhism and Buddhist precepts. It has also showed me better ways to live my life and that Buddhism can be acutely studied under the pretenses of scientific means. Buddhism and Buddhist meditation is scientifically proven to be psychologically changing and meaningful.
Buddhism is known for happiness. Happiness can be achieved by genuinely practicing meditation. Meditation is the central practice of Buddhism. Practicing Buddhism gives one a way of finding answers to deep questions about life and the nature of reality. “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “What is the meaning of life?” “Why do we suffer?” and “How can I achieve lasting happiness?” As the Dalai Lama commented,
“We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.” Gautama Buddha, a figure responsible for the founding of the Buddhist culture, urges that those who experienced a fulfilling life will succeed. However, in this generation, social norms placed on citizens prevent this state of spiritual acceptance. For instance, humans have this certain mindset to crave perfection, knowledge, and power; and, as a result, these needs hinder any attempt to succeed. In other words, humans have the condition to continuously strive for success through the means of power and control. Contrarily, this excessive need to succeed, consequently, segways to conflicts; and, as a result, the solution
Story, Francis. "Buddhist Meditation." Access to Insight: Readings in Theravada Buddhism. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
To reach enlightenment in Buddhism, one must overcome attachment to the pleasure of peace. Gampopa defines the pleasure of peace as “the desire to achieve nirvana only for oneself without the altruistic mind for sentient beings, and because of it, one does not benefit others” which is also termed as the lesser vehicle (Gampopa, 126). The remedy for this is the practices of loving-kindness and compassion. When one develops this loving-kindness and compassion, then one will have a mind that wants all sentient beings to meet with happiness as well as be free from suffering and its cause. When one achieves this, then one is attached to all sentient beings and no longer wants to attain liberation only for oneself. Compassion is so heavily ingrained in Buddhist practices, that it has been noted that the Buddha had said “the cultivation of loving kindness and compassion is not just part of our practice, it is all of our practice” (Strain, “Compassion & Stoic Philosophy”). Compassion is not just a crucial aspect of the path to Enlightenment; practicing and training in compassion can function to improve the lives of those unconcerned with achieving Buddahood through means of improving health, well-being and increasing self-motivation. Considering the benefits that can come from compassion, everyone should take part in practicing and experiencing compassion as its benefits extend into other aspects of life.
Meditation is not a time devoted to thinking or reflecting about oneself, but a time to redirect one’s thoughts and emotions away from the outside world and onto something simple, such as the wind or one’s own breathe. By learning how to meditate, an individual can learn how to react appropriately to “the circumstances one finds oneself in, i...
“I desire not of the Lord the greatness which comes by the attainment of the eightfold powers, nor do I pray to him that I may not be born again; my one prayer to him is that I may feel the pain of others, as if I were residing within their bodies, and that I may have the power of relieving their pain and making them happy.” (Santi Deva, pg. 148). This quote is a perfect representation of conflict of interests between values of our society and those of the Buddhists. The quote captivated me because it is completely opposite to the ideals in our society. The “...