The well-known Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn was in Boston yesterday, Aug 17th at the Opera House.
I had the fortune of seeing him speak. I must confess it was more out of curiosity than anything else. I enjoy and admire some of his writing, but like many people wonder if he does not oversimplify things to reach a wider audience. Yet, there is something refreshing and sunny about his books: they are lightweight in heft but that can be deceptive as some of them pack a lot of good stuff. Also, I admire him at attempting modern-day interpretations, especially his take on the word "suffering" in his book "Heart of Buddha's Teaching."
There was a great crowd at the Opera House, which I discovered is quite a large venue once I went inside with a huge mezzanine section. I would say at least 3/4ths of the hall was full and that must have accounted for about a 1000 people or more, which is pretty good for a spiritual talk from a Buddhist monk these days. But of course, Thich Nhat Hahn is certainly the best known among modern Buddhist preachers and the attendance was well deserved.
He speaks very softly, almost in a whisper, but quite distinctly and with relish. He also pauses between speaking, quite like a person who knows what he has to say and also knows the value of it all, so want his words to sink in. Also, this must be in accord with his mindful, unhurried way of things, a funadamental tenet of not rushing through anything, unmindfully, unskillfully. He sprinkles his talk with amusing anecdotes and gentle humor. Though he requests mindfulness and stresses it so often, my monkey-mind kept wandering. Yet, there was one very powerful image that stuck in my mind: how must it have been to watch the Buddha himself lecturing the bhikkus and bhikkunis?
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