Martin Luther King jr. nominated him for
the Nobel Peace Prize join me for a rare
and enlightening conversation with the
legendary author peace activist and
Buddhist monk ticked not Han I wanted a
place for people to go every Sunday to
wake up thought-provoking
oh you couldn't have said that better
opening and inspiring this is my
favorite thing to talk about this Alif
deride honor it
for yourself every single Sunday this is
super soul Sunday at 85 the Vietnamese
Buddhist monk tick not Han is one of the
most influential spiritual leaders of
our time tick not Han or Thai as the
students call him
timings teacher his author of more than
100 books a copy of his living Buddha
living Christ never leaves my bedside
his spiritual journey began at the early
age of seven when he felt the calling to
become a monk
but this monastic has always been active
on the world stage in the early 60s
horrified by the escalating civil war in
Vietnam
Tai spearheaded one of the great
nonviolent resistance movements of the
20th century Martin Luther King jr. took
notice and spoke out against the Vietnam
War for the first time at not Hans
urging and later nominated tick not Han
for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982 Tai
established a monastery and retreat
center in France where thousands of
followers still walk every year he lives
there today devoting his life to mindful
meditation helping people to be
passionately present in the here and now
what a treat it was to finally meet tick
not Han on one of his trips to New York
City well thank you for the honor of
talking to me today thank you for that
already just being in your presence for
a short time I feel less stressed than I
did when I started out the day less
stressed because you have such a
peaceful aura that follows you I and
that you carry with yourself are you
always this content and peaceful this is
my training this is my practice and we
try to live every moment like that relax
darling peacefully in the present moment
and respond to event with
compassion so in a moment where you are
perhaps going to miss a plane or be late
for an appointment or something is
causing you to be stressful you do what
go back to my breathing and try to me in
that moment deeply because there is a
possibility to handle every kind of
event and essential is to keep the peace
in yourself so let's start with 1926
born in Vietnam any wonderful memory
that you can share of your childhood
your favorite childhood memory one day I
saw the picture of the Buddha on a
Buddhist magazine and he was sitting on
the grass how old were you seven eight
and he was sitting on the grass very
peaceful who smiling and I was impressed
around me people were not like that so I
had the desire to be someone like like
him and I noticed that kind of desire
until the age of 16 when I had the
permission of my parents to go and
ordain si in this one did your parents
encouraged you or were they were locked
in for this to happen to you in the
beginning they were reluctant because
they thought that the library monkeys
are hot difficult so this desire to
become a monk started when you were
seven years old yeah yes and what did
that feel like what did those urgings
that sense of this is what I must do or
must become what did that feel like I
would not be happy if I cannot become a
monk and that is the feeling
and we call it the beginner's mind
beginner's mind yeah the deep
intentioned deepest desire that one
person may have and I can say that since
that time until it's this day this
beginner's mind is still alive in me
let's go back to 1966 when you invited
to speak at Cornell and shortly after
that you weren't allowed back into your
country and were exiled for 39 years how
did you deal with those feelings what
first of all what did you feel at the
time I have left my community at home I
was like a be taken out of the Beehive
and if I don't practice and then I won't
dry up did you feel sadness yes did you
allow yourself to feel the sadness in
the first year of my Minich exile I I
dreamt almost every night of going home
can you explain to us three people who
don't understand you were not allowed
back in the country because you were in
essence a peaceful warrior you were
practicing peace they didn't appreciate
your Buddhism what was the reason you
weren't allowed back in the country
during the war well the warring parties
all declared that they wanted to fight
until the end and those of us who try to
speak out against the war to speak about
reconciliation within brothers and
brothers they didn't want us to raise
our voice so when you were a man without
a country you made another country made
a home in other countries and the United
States was one of them yes how did you
meet Martin Luther King in June the
first 65 I'd wrote him a letter
explaining to him why the monks in
Vietnam will be more elated himself by
fire I said the distant
the suicide because in a difficult
situation like a Vietnam to make your
voice heard is difficult so sometimes we
have to burn us up alive in order for
our voice to be to be heard around so
that is out of compassion that you do
that this act of love and not of despair
and Jesus Christ died in the same spirit
out of love in honde cryin and exactly
one year after June the first 60 sec I'm
at him in Chicago and he had that
discussion about peace freedom and
community and we agreed with that
without a community you cannot go very
far how long was the discussion with him
45 minutes or so and after that there
was a press conference and he came out
very strongly against the war in Vietnam
do you think that that was a result of
your conversation with him I believe so
and after that well we continue our work
and the last time I met him was in
Geneva during a peace conference called
a passive interest there's an
interesting story from that I heard that
you were running late can you tell me
that story Martin Luther King invited me
up for breakfast to talk well well what
is issues again and I was caught in
account in the press conference
downstair I came late he kept the
breakfast one for me and during the
conversation I was able to tell him that
the people in Vietnam call him a
bodhisattva and lightened being because
of what he was doing for his
people he's a country on the world and
the fact that he was doing it
non-violently yes that is the work of a
Buddhist that vow of a Buddha of an
enlightened person always with the
compassion and non-violence oh and when
I heard of his assassination I couldn't
believe it I thought that the American
people have produced King but I'm not
capable of preserving him I was a little
bit angry at that time for who I did not
eat I did not sleep but my determination
to continue to work building the Beloved
Community continues always always yes
coming up
solving world problems with compassion
that is the best way the only way to
remove a terrorism terrorism or even
difficulties between yourself and family
members or friends
super soul Sunday we'll return in a
moment
what makes you laugh anything that can
have a us laugh uh if you talk to our
young monastics you'll find out you
laugh do you laugh a lot yes we laugh is
my a lot in our community you refer to I
can't remember which book but you talk
about deep listening also deep listening
is the kind of listening that can help
relieve the suffering of the other
person you can call it the compassionate
listening you listen with only one
purpose help him or her to empty his
heart and if you remember that you are
helping him or her to suffer less and
then even if he say things full of wrong
perceptions full of bitterness you are
still capable to continue to listen with
compassion because you know that
listening like that with compassion you
give him or her a chance to suffer less
if you want to help him or her to
correct his perception and then you wait
for another time
but for this the time being you just
listen with compassion and help him or
her to suffer less and one hour like
that can bring transformation and
healing so I love this idea of deep
listening because oftentimes when
someone comes to you and they want to
really vent they want to purge whatever
is going on inside them people start
talking and giving advice so if you
allow the person just to let whatever
those feelings are to come out and then
at another time come back to them with
your advice or your comments you would
you would experience a deeper healing
that's what you're saying yes the fear
anger and the despair is born on the
ground of wrong perception and we have
wrong perceptions concerning ourselves
and the other person and that is the
foundation for conflict and war and by
you've said that the only way we can
begin to end wars be is is due to
communication between people yes and we
should be able to say like this dear
friends dear people I know that you
suffer a lot I have not understood
enough of your difficulties and
suffering it's not our intention to make
you suffer more it is opposite so please
tell us about your suffering your
difficulties I'm eager to learn to
understand it has to start like that
loving speech and if you are honest if
you are true they will open their heart
and tell us and then we practice
compassionate deep listening and during
the process of deep listening you can
learn so much about our own perception
and their perceptions oh and that is the
best way the only way to remove
terrorism terrorism or even difficulties
between yourself and family members or
friends yes and the principle is the
same no matter the conflict yes
terrorists anti-terrorist father and son
right yourself and your boss right
yourself and your children your best
friend yes is there ever a place for
anger anger is the energy which people
use in order to act but when you are
angry you are not lucid and you might do
wrong things that is why compassion is a
better energy and the energy of
compassion is very strong in our country
and in other parts of the world we're
suffering an economic or experiencing an
economic downturn a lot of people have
lost their jobs and because of the loss
of their jobs they feel a sense of
suffering there are other people who
have said that this economic downturn
particularly in the United States was
needed to bring a sense of awareness to
the materialism and the overspending and
the excessiveness of our culture how do
you view the
Namah counter then we can learn and
always learn from our suffering in the
actual suffering a Phoenix can be born
and that is why mindfulness help us to
look deeply into the difficulty the
suffering we have and many positive we
will come out of that it depends on our
way of responding to the event there is
there are ways that can bring more
suffering that there are ways that can
bring relief right away and hope and it
pens on our mind and that is why
mindfulness and concentration can help
tremendously in bringing insight you've
said in one of your most popular books
living Buddha Living Christ what do you
see the similarities between Buddha and
Christ Jesus Christ is a Buddha of the
West and his ditchin is also about
understanding and compassion in the
gospel there is also the teaching of
living happily in the present moment in
the Gospels according to Matthew is that
that don't worry about tomorrow tomorrow
we'll take care of it so it is very
clear and give us the bread of today we
care about today we leave today and if
we know how to handle the present moment
you don't have to worry much about the
future if the present moment has peace
and joy and happiness and then the
future will have also
when we return
mindful living in relationships the poor
little mantras that can make a big
difference the first one cry he's
darling I'm here for you
it's a lovely mantra darling I'm here
for you and get ready to say cheese
SoulPancake proves joy is contagious you
like that
you
the nature of Buddhism as I understand
is to believe that we are all pure and
radiant at our core and yet we see
around us so much evidence that people
are not acting out of a sense of purity
and radiance how do we reconcile that
well happiness and suffering they
support each other they inter-are
they enter our it to be is to inter be
it's like the left and the right if the
left is not there the right cannot be
there so the same thing is true with
suffering and happiness and good and
evil into our own so in every one of us
there I would sit and there are met
seats and that's just the nature of
being human
yeah there is no lotus to grow out of
the but we need the mud in order to make
the lotus you cannot grow Lotus on
marble you have to grow it on the mud
mud so suffering is the kind of mud that
we must be able to use in order to grow
the flower of understanding and love do
you meditate every single day not only
every day but every moment Oh while
drinking by talking by writing while
watering our garden is always possible
to practice living in the here and now
that's what we call meditation but you
ever sit silently with yourself and yes
you see recite a mantra or not recite a
mantra we sit alone we sit together the
more people you sit with the better also
the collective energy is very helpful I
like to talk about the mantras that you
just mentioned the first mantra is
darling I'm here for you when you love
someone the best thing you can offer him
or her in your presence
how can you love if you are not there
it's a lovely monitor darling I'm here
for you and you look into his eyes and
you say darling you know something I'm
here for you you offer him or her your
presence and your true presence you are
not preoccupied with the past or the
future your project you are for your
beloved one the second mantra is darling
I know you are there and and I am so
happy because you are truly there you
recognize the presence of your beloved
one as something very precious and you
use your mindfulness to recognize that
embrace your beloved one with
mindfulness and she will bloom like a
flower to be loved means to be to be
recognized as existing and these two
mantras can bring happened happiness
right away even if you your beloved one
is not there you can use your telephone
and practice the mantra darling I'm here
for you and darling I know you're there
the third mantra is what you practice
when your beloved one suffers darling I
know you suffer that is why I'm here for
you Oh before you do something to help
her to help him
your presence already can bring some
relief and the acknowledgement yeah of
the health of the suffering of the
hurting yeah and the fourth mantra is a
little bit more difficult and that is
when you suffer and you believe that
your suffering has been caused by your
beloved one so you suffer so deeply you
know and you prefer to go to your room
and close to the door and suffer alone
yes you get hurt
and you you want to you want to punish
him or her for having made you suffer
yes and the mantra is to overcome that
the mantra is darling I suffer I am
try my best to practice please help me
you go to him you go to her and gratis
that and if you can bring yourself to
say that mantra you suffer less right
away darling I suffer please help me
please help me