What is the hardest thing to do for Thay?

Thay answers questions on 21 June 2014. Question 6

Topics: mindfulness, Buddhism, Thich Nhat Hanh, Thay, Blue Cliff, teenagers, teens, despair, Vietnam, war, peace, school of youth for social service, compassion, activism

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What is the hardest thing
that you practice?

That is not to allow yourself
to be overwhelmed by despair.

That is the hardest thing.

Because when you are
overwhelmed by despair,

that is the worst thing
that can happen to you.

I remember when the war was going on.

We did not see the light

at the end of the tunnel.

It seemed that the war
would go on and on forever.

The young people
came and asked:

'Dear Thay,

do you think that
the war will end soon?'

It is very difficult to answer.

Because you have not seen the light
at the end of the tunnel.

But if you say: 'I don't know',

then you water
the seed of despair in them.

So Thay had to
breathe in and out a few times

and then what he said was:

'Dear friends,

the Buddha said
that every thing is impermanent.

The war should be impermanent also.

It should end some day.

Let us continue to work for peace.'

During the war,

we, young nuns and monks,
and lay practicioners

we organized the School of
Youth for Social Service

like the Peace Corps
created by John F. Kennedy.

We went into the war zone
and we helped the wounded people.

We helped create refugee centers,

we gave them a chance
to go back to normal life.

We rebuilt the villages
that had been bombed.

There was a village called Tra Loc

not very far from the demilitarized zone

separating North and South.

The village of Tra Loc was bombed,
completely destroyed.

Our young social workers,

including monks and nuns
and lay practitioners,

they had rebuilt the village.

But it was bombed again
and destroyed again.

And our social workers wired us

and asked whether
they should rebuild it.

We said: 'Rebuild it'.

And we rebuilt it.

And it was bombed again.

Four times.

If we gave up,

that would create a feeling of despair.

That is why we kept
rebuilding it and rebuilding it.

So the hardest thing is
not to lose your hope,

not to give up, to despair.

That is the hardest thing.

We have gone through
two wars like that.

We saw French soldiers came,
killed and get killed.

We saw young Americans came
and killed and get killed.

50.000 young Americans
were killed in Vietnam.

Hundred of thousands of them were wounded

and many had to be cared
by psychotherapists and so on.

In a situation of
utmost suffering like that

if we don´t have a practice
we cannot survive.

We practice in such a way

that we can preserve
our hope and our compassion.

When the journalists
asked us questions about that,

about how do we felt
about young Americans coming

and killed and died in Vietnam,

we said: 'They are victims,
we don't hate them.

They are victims of a kind of policy
that is not very intelligent.

A policy based on fear.

Fear of the taking by the communists
of the whole South East Asia.

They are victims.

They have to come here
to kill and to die.'

You understand,
so you are not angry at them.

In 1966, Thay was invited
to come to America.

He had the chance to talk
to the American people about the war.

There was a very angry young American

who stood up
and told Thay this:

'You should not be here.

You should go back and fight
American imperialism in Vietnam.

You have to kill
the American soldiers there.'

Thay's answer was:

'I thought that
the root of the war is here.

It is not in Vietnam.

The young Americans
who came in Vietnam

they are just victims.

So I had to come here
and tell the American people

that this war
is not helping Vietnam at all.'

So without that kind of
understanding and compassion,

you will lose yourself
in anger and hate.

And you will not be able
to say things like that

and help the American people understand

and change the policy.

There was a peace movement in America
oposing the war in Vietnam.

As people demanded peace
and did not get it,

they got very angry.

So there was a lot of anger
in the peace movement.

And when Thay toured America
and talked to these groups,

Thay said: 'If you have
a lot of anger in you

you cannot touch the peace.

You have to be peace
before you can do peace.

Understanding is very important.

You need to know
how to write a love letter

to your president, to your Congress,

and tell them that
you don't support the war.

If you write a strong, angry letter,

they will not read it.'

Thay was able to speak like that

and help somehow to end the war.

Understanding suffering

helps compassion to be born in you.

You will be free
from despair, from anger,

and you can help the cause of peace.

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