“Inside the Now” by Thich Nhat Hanh

“Inside the Now” is a rare and beautiful book. Written by the Buddhist monk, poet and Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, it is both a personal account of Hanh’s struggle to bring peace and enlightenment to the people of his native land and a profound meditation on the nature of time, space, consciousness and love.

The first part of the book, “The Way In,” is a moving and often heart-rending account of the 89 year-old author’s early years in Vietnam, a country torn apart by the years-long war between the French colonialists and the Vietnamese resistance. In this introduction of sorts, Thay (as he is known to his disciples) describes his deep friendship with his fellow monks and their shared commitment to bring peace to their homeland through spirituality, poetry and prayer. In a dreadfully simple account, he writes about the murders of his unarmed brothers by the French, and shares the poem he wrote to commemorate the death of the young poet-monk Tam Thuong —

Credit: mindfulness.org

…”On the Mountain of the Immortals,

the ancient pagoda is obscured

Clouded by gunsmoke and the haze of war,

Have you seen the bluebird land by the forest

Uttering without cease its grief-stricken cry?…”

In the same simple, straightforward language, Thay also recounts the monks’ struggles with the dogmatic teachings of traditional Buddhism and the rise of their pacifist weekly, “The Sound of the Rising Tide.” Filled with the monk’s “peace poetry,” the magazine was the most popular periodical in Vietnam during the fighting that ravaged the now-divided country during the 60s and 70s — a source of inspiration to those who worked tirelessly to end the decades long war–

…..” All around, the horizon burns

with the color of death,

As for me, yes, I am still alive,

But my body and the soul in it writhe as

if they too had been set afire

My parched eyes can shed no more tears…”

Sadly, five decades later–as humankind continues to wage war on itself in the name of ideology and dogma –it is clear that Thay’s cries have yet to be heard.

The second part of “Into the Now” is titled “Now I See.” Here, Thay shares a collection of meditations and free verse poetry interwoven with excerpts from the classic Vietnamese epic poem “The Tale of Kieu.” As a relative novice to the teachings of the Buddha, I found some of the concepts explained here difficult to grasp, but I was inspired by them nonetheless. Thay writes, for example, about the continuum of time and space that is contained fully in the “now” –the single moment that is available to each of us with the simple act of taking a breath.

“Looking into your body, you will discover that you are not a separate self, cut off from everything else, but you are a continuously flowing stream–the stream of life itself.”

He also enlightens us about the “then” or “when” thinking that says, “When I am (have, achieve) this, then I will be fulfilled,” warning that it is this focus on the future that steals the joy from our lives by separating us from the beauty of now.

Finally, Thay emphasizes again and again the Buddha’s teaching that there is no separation except the separation that exists in our minds–that we are all part of Mother Earth–the mountains, the wind, the stars and the earth. There is no life and no death-just the single moment that we all share:

“Your nature is her nature –the nature of no birth, no death, no coming, no going, no nonbeing, no sameness, no otherness. You are the green willow, you are the yellow chrysanthemum, you are the red rose, you are the violet bamboo swaying in the wind.”

And, lastly:

“There is no Pure Land

there is no Kingdom outside of the now. “

What a profound and beautiful message from a truly spiritual man.