Rebecca Janke

Thich Nhat Hanh: Wisdom for the Classroom

I met Thich Nhat Hanh in 1994. Until that time I had never heard of him. Little did I know that within a span of a few hours, during a weekend peace retreat in the hills of Virginia, that he would come to play such a significant role in my life. He was just another “teacher” until he announced to us adults that he would be inviting the children to do a Walking Meditation with him after lunch and that we were welcome to join. Now I was curious. How would a world-famous teacher engage the children? Rather than join in, I perched myself at the top of the nearest hill where I could get a bird’s eye view of their walk.

As the children gathered round him, I heard him say, “As your heel touches the earth, send your love and energy to the earth. When your heel leaves the earth receive the energy and love the earth offers to you.” And then they began to walk. As they ascended out of the valley, onto the grassy hill before me, the air held the beauty of their intention. In a few short steps they were in a relationship with the earth. It wasn’t a curriculum, it was a spiritual moment. The quote that says, “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but we are spiritual beings having a human experience” had come to life before my very eyes.

I wanted to know more about this teacher. He was relating to the children as the “spiritual embryos” referred to often by Maria Montessori. I had already learned upon my arrival that Thich is a Buddhist monk, poet, scholar and human rights activist. In 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. He is the author of more than 60 books and lives at Plum Village, his meditation center in France, and travels worldwide, leading retreats on the art of mindful living. Now I wanted to know more. What other kinds of hands-on experiences does he teach that makes peace doable and touchable at such a profound level?

Since he’s a prolific author, I headed over to the bookstore and bought my first stack of Thich Nhat Hahn books. Peace is Every Step did not disappoint. There too the daily acts of living were shown to be profound opportunities for peace. The simple washing of my face in the morning became a time for thanking my ancestors for the gift of life. As I looked at my eyes in the mirror I could see the generations of those who had gone before me and I was genuinely full of gratitude.

With Thich as a teacher I was back in the space that I experienced during my Montessori training—the spiritual nature of learning—the place where we derive more meaning, purpose, happiness, joy and can experience the interconnectedness of life.

Most recently I’ve been reading his book Teachings on Love. Even though it is written for adults, my goal in this, and upcoming articles, is to translate some of those teachings into some doable, practical, but deeply profound, activities that will nurture the spiritual embryos in our care.

4 Immeasurable Minds

Thich teaches that during the lifetime of the Buddha, those of the Brahmanic faith prayed that after death they would go to Heaven to dwell eternally with Brahma, the universal God. One day a Brahman asked the Buddha, “What can I do to be sure that I will be with Brahma after I die?”

The Buddha replied, “As Brahma is the source of Love, to dwell with him you must practice the Brahmaviharas: love, compassion, joy and equanimity.” The Four Brahmaviharas are also called the Four Immeasurable Minds, because if you practice them, they will grow in you every day until they embrace the whole world. You will become happier, and everyone around you will become happier, also.

The Four Immeasurable Minds are the four elements of true love:
Maitri – loving kindness (the desire to offer happiness)
Karuna – compassion (the desire to remove suffering from the other person)
Mudita – joy (the desire to bring joy to people around you and allowing their happiness to bring you joy)
Upeksha—equanimity (the desire to accept everything and not to discriminate).

When you love because living beings need your love, not because someone belongs to your family, your nation, or your religion, then you are loving without discrimination and practicing true love.

When you dwell in these elements you are living in the most beautiful, peaceful and joyous realm in the universe (cosmos). If we learn ways to practice love, compassion, joy and equanimity, we will know how to heal the illnesses of anger, sorrow, insecurity, sadness, hatred, loneliness and unhealthy attachments.

Love

Thich goes on to teach that sometimes words get sick and we have to heal them. We have been using the word “love” to mean appetite or desire, as in “I love hamburgers.” We have to use language more carefully. “Love” is a beautiful word; we have to restore its meaning. The word “maitri” has roots in the word mitra, which means friend. In Buddhism, the primary meaning of love is friendship.

Maitri is the intention and capacity to offer joy and happiness. To develop that capacity we have to practice looking and listening deeply so that we know what to do and what not to do to make others happy. If you offer someone something she does not need, that is not maitri. You have to see her real situation or what you offer might bring her unhappiness.

Without understanding, love can’t be true love, We must look deeply in order to see and understand the needs, aspirations and suffering of the ones we love. We all need love. Love brings us joy and well-being. It is as natural as the air. We are loved by the air; we need fresh air to be happy and well. We are loved by the trees. We need trees to be healthy. In order to be loved, we have to love, which means we have to understand. For our love to continue, we have to take the appropriate action or non-action to protect the air, the trees and those we love.

In my next articles we will look at the other three elements–compassion, joy and equanimity. But for now let us look at these four elements in terms of the four directions and their meanings as practiced in the Native American tradition and label our environment with the elements of The Four Immeasurable Mind words.

Make a red Loving Kindness label and put it under the label you already have in the environment—South from a previous geography lesson on learning directions. Explain to the children that it is the loving kindness of the south winds that bring warmth and sunshine that nurture the plants, animals and us humans. In the next articles we will look to the west (black) for compassion, the east (yellow) for joy and the north (white) for equanimity.

To practice loving kindness here are a few ideas: 1) Put a plant in the circle of children this week. Share with them that plants put oxygen in the air for us when they “breathe out” during the photosynthesis process so we can live. Also share that when we breathe out during the respiration process we give the plants carbon dioxide so they can live. Express your gratitude about this relationship and then sit for a few minutes just breathing in the oxygen from the plant and breathing out carbon dioxide so the plant can live. Then bow your head to the plant and say thank you.

2) When children are having a difficult time being kind to one another go back to the circle and point to the Loving Kindness label and ask them, “What can we do to bring the south winds of loving kindness to this situation?” Let them problem solve. “What can we do that the south winds do for us—bringing warmth and sunshine to our dilemma? How can we get back into relationship and help each other to live with happiness?”

3) Read Each Breath Is a Smile by Thich Nhat Hahn. This resource shows children of all cultures breathing in and breathing out and what it can bring to their lives. Other suggested resource The Tree in the Ancient Forest.

4) And lastly, since the children know the earth, the wind and the trees love them, ask them in which ways can we give our love back to the earth. Go on a Walking Mediation and experience the air holding your intent.

Let your mind dwell in the concept of loving-kindness and see what other extension lessons you can create.

Let us look deeply at the individual child—and respond with loving-kindness and remember they are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Thich Nhat Hanh’s latest book, The Art of Power, was published in August by Harper Collins

A trained 3-6 and 6-9 Montessori teacher and former owner of Hudson Children’s House, Rebecca Janke is the co-founder and executive director of Growing Communities for Peace (GCFP), a non-profit organization specializing in peace education. GCFP in partnership with the University of Minnesota Human Rights Resource Center has developed a PreK-College on-line bookstore, www.humanrightsandpeacestore.org. where peace educators can find many useful resources for building a culture of peace and nonviolence.