Meet Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh who left his body January 22nd 2022

Meet Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh who left his body January 22nd in his root temple, Tu Hieu in central Vietnam, where he was ordained as a bhikshu 70 years prior…70 years! Among his students, he is affectionately also known as Thay (pronounced “Tay” or “Tie”), which is Vietnamese for teacher.

In his book, At Home in the World, published in 2016, Nhat Hanh addressed the idea of his death, writing:

“Even when the cloud is not there, it continues as snow or rain. It is impossible for the cloud to die. It can become rain or ice, but it cannot become nothing. The cloud does not need to have a soul in order to continue. There’s no beginning and no end. I will never die. There will be a dissolution of this body, but that does not mean my death.”“I will continue, always.”

Sitting/Resting and Not Worrying

One of my favorite quotes by him:

“When the crowded Vietnamese refugee boats met with storms or pirates, if everyone panicked all would be lost. But if even one person on the boat stayed calm and centered it was enough. It shows a way for everyone to survive. “
In a magnificent way, Thich Nhat Hanh became that steady and wise one, showing the way for us all, crossing the seas of this world.

This also is a beautiful essay on the loss of his Mother and the realization that his mother is always with him:

“The day my mother died I wrote in my journal, ‘A serious misfortune of my life has arrived.’ I suffered for more than one year after the passing away of my mother. But one night, in the highlands of Vietnam, I was sleeping in the hut in my hermitage. I dreamed of my mother. I saw myself sitting with her, and we were having a wonderful talk. She looked young and beautiful, her hair flowing down. It was so pleasant to sit there and talk to her as if she had never died. When I woke up it was about two in the morning, and I felt very strongly that I had never lost my mother. The impression that my mother was still with me was very clear. I understood then that the idea of having lost my mother was just an idea. It was obvious in that moment that my mother is always alive in me.
I opened the door and went outside. The entire hillside was bathed in moonlight. It was a hill covered with tea plants, and my hut was set behind the temple halfway up. Walking slowly in the moonlight through the rows of tea plants, I noticed my mother was still with me. She was the moonlight caressing me as she had done so often, very tender, very sweet… wonderful! Each time my feet touched the earth I knew my mother was there with me. I knew this body was not mine but a living continuation of my mother and my father and my grandparents and great-grandparents. Of all my ancestors. Those feet that I saw as “my” feet were actually “our” feet. Together my mother and I were leaving footprints in the damp soil.
From that moment on, the idea that I had lost my mother no longer existed. All I had to do was look at the palm of my hand, feel the breeze on my face or the earth under my feet to remember that my mother is always with me, available at any time.”
Thich Nhat Hanh