📅 Thought for today:
‘Many people are alive but don’t touch the miracle of being alive.’
— Thích Nhất Hạnh
#thoughtfortoday #mindfulness #meditation #plumvillage #ThichNhatHanh #alive #miracle
When I was being trained as a Mindfulness teacher, the primary focus was on the work of Mark Williams. This is no surprise, I was being taught at Oxford Mindfulness Centre and that is his “home”.
During this time I also embraced the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, and from him, Jack Kornfield. Each man a significant part of my personal journey.
Then I discovered Thích Nhất Hạnh, a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk and peace activist.
I was saddened today to learn that Thích Nhất Hạnh has died, at the age of 95, yet as someone else once said (Terry Pratchett), “for as long as your name is spoken you are not dead.”
I think Thích’s work will live on and his name will be spoken for many years to come, not least at the Plum Village Centres around the world (except in Vietnam where the Government closed it down). I also see many of his quotes online.
He was often referred to as the “father of mindfulness” although Mindfulness has a traditional origin going back thousands of years. I wonder how he felt about this title.
In case you are wondering why there are so many men mentioned here, I will add that there are many significant women in the Mindfulness movement – if you Google “Powerful Women of Mindfulness” you will find a good guide at mindful.org. It just so happens that on my learning journey the men mentioned above were most prominent.
