Peace is Every Step

Tuesday, November 3rd, I viewed a documentary entitled Peace is every Step. The film was a biography on Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, teacher, poet, and peace activist. Thich Nhat Hanh is most famous for his peace efforts during the Vietnam War and for founding the School of Youth for Social Services in Saigon. His organization rebuilt bombed villages set up schools and established medical centers. Today, he travels the world lecturing on world peace and teaching his practices of “mindfulness” and “interbeing.”
Before beginning the documentary, Dr. Grieve a professor of religious studies led us in a meditation. The meditation exemplified the act of “mindfulness” through the process of eating an orange. Our goal throughout the meditation was to concentrate on the orange and rid our minds of all other thoughts. After the film started I learned from Thich Nhat Hanh that “mindfulness” is being aware of your own experience in the world and being completely present at all times. His practice of mindfulness also corresponds to his practice of interbeing. To interbe is to be aware of the inter-connected-ness of all things. “It is impossible to be alone, you must interbe.” Thich Nhat Hanh especially stresses the interbeing between humans and nature as well as the interbeing between countries. Thich Nhat Hanh believes that all conflicts should be resolved with peace.
I found Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings very interesting and applicable in my own life. Taking a few minutes out of my day to meditate and clear my mind could help me be mindful of my experiences in the world and interbe with the nature around me. “Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.”