제자들의 틱낫한스님 추도사

[월성]

A Eulogy from Thay’s Disciples in Plum Village

28th January 2022

Dear Beloved Thay,

It is the greatest fortune of our life to have been able to become your students, to receive your guidance, and to belong to your Beloved Community. 

You are our Teacher, and you have taught and nurtured us with boundless love, patience, and care. The dewdrops of your compassionate nectar have refreshed our thirst. You have been the torch guiding us through the forest of confusion; the hand reaching out to us when we fall; the ladder rescuing us from our darkest moments. You have given us a path to walk, so that we no longer have anything to fear. 

You have offered us the most profound teachings, and so many practices to realize those teachings in our daily life. You have transmitted to us the precepts, renewed and reinvigorated. You have trained us in a new kind of Buddhism that can serve the world and help respond to the suffering and difficulties of our time. And you have built a healthy and happy community for us to take refuge in, and a vibrant monastic culture to nourish and support us on our way. 

Dear Thay, your deep bodhicitta, which began in the heart of a little child from central Vietnam, has grown to be a vast force of action across East and West. You met your hermit at the well; you saw the kind of Zen master you wanted to become. You had a dream and, dear Thay, you have realized that dream. At every turn you took the path less-traveled; the difficult path. 

Throughout your life you encountered acute moments of loss and injustice—like when you were exiled, heard the news of your students being shot on the riverbank, or when your passport was cancelled, or when your program to rescue thousands of boat people from the South China Sea was shut down—and yet you met these moments with the strength of your mindfulness practice, and your indestructible courage, compassion and clarity. 

Dear Thay, despite all the difficulties, you never gave up—on hope, or on this path, or on your vision of creating a practice that could truly help the world. You found ways to build sangha out of all the non-sangha elements around you. You overcame your gentle shyness to open your heart to embrace new people, cultures and perspectives. 

Amid the rolling fields and oak forests here in France, the Beloved Community has taken root in Plum Village and grown branches wider than anyone could ever have imagined. You touched “the soul of ancient Europe”—and today the sound of the great temple bell resonates across her valleys. Here, you have created a true Pure Land, a beautiful environment of practice, for people of all faiths, backgrounds and nationalities to take refuge in. Today, your Plum Village Tradition has become a beacon of mindfulness in the West. You have taught us how to breathe, how to walk in freedom, how to generate happiness, handle suffering and reconcile with those we love. It is thanks to your vision, creativity, courage and simplicity that the world has the kind of accessible mindfulness we have today. 

Dear Beloved Thay, how can we ever thank you enough for your courage, compassion, and endurance, and for everything you have given the world? Embracing the pain of exile you healed your wounds, and got the breakthrough, to find your true home, right in the heart of the present moment. You transformed your suffering and have given us all the practices we need to transform ours. You have offered us, your students from around the world, the rich spiritual heritage of Vietnam, and accepted us as your spiritual children without ever asking us to abandon our culture or roots. 

Despite the injustices you’ve experienced and the suffering you’ve witnessed, you have always found ways to respond to injustice with the healing balm of compassion and nonviolence; you have found ways to embrace everyone—even those who have caused you harm or harbored ill-will. 

Dear Thay, we honor and cherish your virtue, your ethics and your integrity. You have dug deep into your own experience and the riches of Buddhist heritage to offer us a robust code of global ethics that can guide us through even the harshest storms ahead. You have shown us how to share these “applied ethics” in families, schools, workplaces, prisons, parliaments and town halls around the world. You have shown us how to wake up and fall in love with the Earth, so we may protect and heal her with all our heart. We may spend our whole lives trying to keep up with you, dear Thay, and your vision for a future that is possible—a future whose foundation you have built step by step, breath by breath, page by page.

Dear Thay, you are the gentle and skillful revolutionary—the Zen master who is ready to update our Pratimoksa, remove Buddhas from altars, establish equality for the nuns, and create a truly multi-fold sangha.

==============BELL==============

Dear Thay, we see you sitting in meditation on the podium: so profoundly at peace, natural and relaxed; still and unshakeable. We see your one-pointed mind as you offer incense at the altar; and your deep concentration as you touch the Earth. We see you sitting in silence on Vulture Peak as you watch the sunset—a true “soulmate of the Buddha.” And we see you sitting on the Deer Park mountain with the sangha as you watch the sun rise over the ridge. 

We see you walking.  You arrive in every step; you are the master of every step, walking in freedom, one step, one breath, and we see you walking with the freedom of a Buddha. You have shown us the healing power of collective energy; and you have shown us that, with a sangha, peace becomes possible.

We see you teaching in the Dharma hall. We feel the silent, healing tears. And we hear the hall erupting in laughter at the story of the hammer and two hands. You have shown patience and compassion for every one of your students, meeting us right where we are. You knew when to be gentle, when to tease, when to challenge us.  

Dear Thay, the Dharma sings through your poems and calligraphies—their truths touch our hearts and lift our spirits. You have lived each day in beauty, no matter what adversity you faced. You know how to take refuge in Mother Earth. Even when you faced the calamity of your stroke, you knew how to take refuge in nature and in your beloved community. With immense compassion you stayed with us, never giving up, teaching us that, even in the most challenging situations, it is always possible to cherish life’s beauty and the miracle of being alive.

Dear Thay, when you returned home to Vietnam and Từ Hiếu two years ago, you brought us all with you. It is a great happiness for us, your students, to know that you could live your final days in peace at our Root Temple, the home of our spiritual ancestors. 

Dear Thay, we know that you are much more than your physical body. You are your teachings, your sangha, your immense compassionate action in the world. You are present wherever one of your students is taking a mindful breath or mindful step. You are also present in your cosmic body, just as the cosmos is present in you. And so, every time we enjoy the golden daffodils, or the purple bamboo, the view from the mountain peak, or the gentle creek winding its way to the ocean, we will enjoy these wonders with your eyes and with your smile. 

You have said that, “Time is stilled in eternity, where love and the beloved are one.” Dear Thay, you are present here with us in this very moment, as we climb the hill of the twenty-first century together. What you have not yet completed, we promise to complete for you. We would like to express our deep love and gratitude as we make the vow to carry your teachings, compassion, and insight far into the future.

This is a legendary moment. 

This is a moment of continuation.

https://youtu.be/sA6mMh0ZXRo 

일대기 슬라이드 영상

https://youtu.be/UEVCuzWhxDQ 

다비식 영상

Thay타이는

베트남어 스승님.

틱낫한釋一行 선사禪師를 

친근하게 부르는

호칭이다.

우리말 스님은

스승님의 줄임말이다.

그래서 스님을

한자로 사師라 한다.

베트남어 타이는

우리말로 스님이다.

플럼빌리지

등 틱낫한스님이 지도하는 세계의

수행공동체의

근본 사찰은

베트남 중부의

후에順化에 있는

베트남 선불교 임제종臨濟宗 사찰

뚜 히우慈孝寺자효사 이다. 

이 절 개산조 스님이 

초가에서 수행할 때 

중국의

진존숙이나

고려 일연스님처럼

보경사의 조선후기

의민스님처럼

어머니(아버지 동생)를

봉양하며 수행했다.

그래서 왕명으로

자효사라는 이름이 하사됐다.

틱낫한 스님은

7,8세에

불교 잡지 표지의

풀밭의 불상 표정이 넘 평화로워 초발심했고

16세에 고향 호이안?을 떠나

뚜 히우로 출가했다.

스님은 수재이어서

20대 초에

프랑스어로 프랑스 병사와

대화가 가능했다.

사이공대에서

철학 문학 심리학을 공부하고

사회봉사청년학교를

설립해 교장으로서

1만명의 청년들이

베트남전쟁의 난민을 

돕는 활동을 하였다.

프린스턴대에 유학갔고

콤롬비아대에서 강의했다.

미국에서 반전평화운동을 하였고

마틴 루터 킹 목사가 노벨평화상

후보자로 추천했다.

100권의 책을 지었다.

코로나 풀리면

프랑스 남부 보르도 지방의

플럼빌리지와

베트남 중부 후에의

뚜 히우 절에 가서

타이의 체취를 느끼고 싶군요 ^^

[서연]

평화 운동가로 전 세계인의 정신적 스승이신
탁닛한 스님의 극락 왕생을 빕니다