Silk Roads: China, The Middle East, and The New World

Sue Ardington

Silk Roads

Hirsh Diamant/Char Simons

March 7, 2007

 Peaceful Living Is Possible, Even in the United States of America 

Renowned Zen master and author Thich Nat Hanh in this book Peace Is Every Step presents simple Buddhist practices that create mindful living, even in fast paced American society. H.H. The Dalai Lama supports Hanh’s premise by saying that though “attempting to bring about world peace through the internal transformation of individuals is difficult, it is the only way.”[1] Hanh creates a scenario for the reader desiring this metamorphosis which is as simple as breathing, smiling, and savoring sensory experiences.

According to Hanh, we have a chance for peace and joy that presents itself to us with the dawn of each new day. We simply have to embrace our opportunities for mindful and meaningful living. These choices can take us through a gamut of emotions or can be transformed by our own actions. One of the easiest and most basic processes to remember that we are alive is to breathe, which itself can be a source of joy. Deep breathing slows down our physiological systems including the brain and it allows us an opportunity to give our minds a rest. A deep and cleansing breath can restore our inner harmony and bring us into the present moment. Hahn presents a simple recitation that can help us breathe consciously, “Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out I smile. Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is a wonderful moment.”[2] Entering in to the present can relieve emotions and stress. Most can find peace and joy in the present rather than focusing on what may come in the future. In the poem for breathing practice, Hahn combines deep cleansing breathing with our capacity to smile, a second easy step toward mindful living. Smiling can bring peace within us and peace to those around us. Hahn sees the smile as affirmation of choosing life. When we’ve lost our smile we can find it again through practice, until it becomes a part of our approach to each and every day. Conscious breathing and smiling slows our physiological processes down and brings us into the present moment. In that mindful state of being, we can then focus on developing awareness of sensory experiences. We can choose to eliminate sensory experiences that cause unease or distress such as the viewing of a bad television show, turning away from a news story with the purpose of fostering fear, closing damaging social images from the Internet. We can use our sensory perception to seek enjoyment, to experience love, and to spread peace to others. We will “sustain ourselves by choosing our surroundings carefully and nourishing our awareness in each moment.” [3] Through maintaining our own inner peace we are then able to fully love others and foster healthy community. Peace is in every step, breathe, smile, and allow your senses awareness. Those are the steps of love in action.

Hanh reminds us that self-care is important for sustaining healthy individuals, healthy societies, and a healthy world.  As Americans we have a view of the world every day provided through media that reminds us of the suffering others go through as they face realities we often can’t bear to imagine, such as extreme poverty, genocide, political and personal oppression, and more. In a land where we have so much, we often cannot accept that our own stresses of a modern technological society also cause disharmony and interfere with peace.  Our society offers us tremendous opportunity to achieve, earn money, to multi-task. Our opportunities are not stifled by rampant disease and physical affliction or government domination. We forget that we can lose our way in life simply through the abundance of possibilities that we are presented with every day. Whether from eastern or western culture, a leader like Hanh can help us transform our individual life into one that has deep spiritual meaning. [The] This most desirable inner peace comes from the fusion of mind, body, and spirit. This mindfulness is something we have in common with people all over the globe. Through simple actions of breathing, smiling, and feeling we can find peace here in our homeland, and perhaps generate peace that will sustain the people and the planet itself.

Verdict: Editing due to goals of anthology writings (book reviews included?)