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One Buddha Is Not Enough: a Story of Collective Awakening

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One Buddha Is Not Enough: a Story of Collective Awakening Table of Contents Title Page Dedication Epigraph The Miracle of Sangha Love Letter One 1: This Is It Mindful Breathing Mindful Walking Mindful Eating Listening to the Bell and Stopping Noble Silence Sitting Meditation 2: A Cloud Never Dies Got Milk? 3: No Mud, No Lotus Looking Deeply Looking at Our Hand 4: Breathe, It’ll Be Okay 5: A Story of Collective Awakening The Four Right Efforts 6: We Inter-are True Love Breathing with Thay 7: The Miracle Is to Walk on Earth 8: Go as a River 9: I Know You Are There and I Am Very Happy Beginning Anew by Sister Thoai Nghiem Brother Phap Ho Questions and Answers 10: You Continue In Us: A Hospital Diary Love Letter Two Dear Friends, 11: We Have Arrived, We Are Home Your Happiness Is Here A Spiritual Family Acknowledgements Copyright Page To all awakened Buddhas and Buddhas-to-be. In order to save our planet Earth, we must have a collective awakening. Individual awakening is not enough. That is why one Buddha is not enough. —Thich Nhat Hanh The Miracle of Sangha The Monastic Brothers and Sisters of the Plum Village Sangha One Buddha Is Not Enough is a collection of essays, stories, and letters by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhist monks and nuns, and laypeople. The book is dedicated to the idea that awakening is a collective process, and that we and our community are our own most important teachers. In August of 2009, close to one thousand people gathered at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado, to enjoy a retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh, called “Thay” (teacher) by his friends, students, and the monks and nuns in his tradition. Thich Nhat Hanh lives in France and is now more than eighty years old, so the retreat was a special occasion. Eager practitioners traveled from across the United States and other parts of the world. Many made great personal and financial sacrifices to get there. Everyone had come hoping to practice mindfulness surrounded by the majesty of Rocky Mountain National Park. When they got there, they found something completely unexpected: Thay wasn’t able to attend the retreat. He had been diagnosed with a severe lung infection while he was conducting the previous retreat in Massachusetts. Thay was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital for a two-week course of intravenous antibiotics. Seven monastic brothers and sisters stayed behind with him. The other monastics, over sixty of them, went to the YMCA of the Rockies to prepare for the retreat as had been planned. It was to be the largest retreat that the monastics had ever conducted without Thay’s physical presence. A miracle happened at that retreat in Colorado. Each person there felt they were surrounded by many Thays, and that they themselves were also Thay. More than a thousand Thays practiced deeply and joyfully together. The retreat, titled One Buddha Is Not Enough, affectionately came to be known as One Thay Is Not Enough. The monastic brothers and sisters held several meetings to discuss the best way to support our teacher and our retreatants. The practices of deep listening and loving speech were practiced more intensely than ever. Unified by the urgency of the situation, and by our love for Thay and our lay brothers and sisters, we experienced a profound solidarity in our brotherhood and sisterhood. Every person stepped up to take on responsibilities that we might have hesitated to in other times. We realized that the success of the retreat depended on the energy of the whole community, the whole Sangha, and as monastic practitioners, we had to contribute our best. On the night of the orientation, all the monks and nuns arrived early. Without planning to, when we gathered on the stage to formally begin the retreat, we stood closely together as one unit. The entire Sangha was invited to listen to three sounds of the bell and to touch a spacious, calm place within. From his hospital bed, Thay had written a letter for the Colorado retreatants. Brother Phap Khoi read Thay’s love letter aloud very slowly and clearly: “My dear friends, I am writing to you from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. I know the Sangha has manifested today in Estes Park. I miss the retreat. I miss the beautiful setting of the retreat. Especially, I miss the Sangha, I miss you....” Tears were streaming down many faces. One retreatant later shared that in the moment she felt a strong urge to scream, but everyone around her was so still she didn’t dare. Others said they felt overwhelmed with disappointment, worry, and grief. But because everyone had already agreed to stay in silence until the next day, no one could complain! The practice of Noble Silence gave everyone an opportunity to listen to the unpleasant, painful feelings inside and to embrace them. Leaving the meditation hall that first evening, everyone walked ever so quietly and attentively. Did we come to a retreat to see Thay the way we’d go to a rock concert to see Madonna or to a basketball game to see the star center? If the rock star or sports hero doesn’t show up, we’re entitled to a full refund. In Colorado, some people smiled and practiced “being home in the present moment.” Others were so heartbroken and angry, they didn’t feel they could stay. Out of nearly a thousand participants, eight individuals went home. Those who stayed held those who needed to leave deep in the heart of their practice. We regretted that we were not able to make the retreat what they needed it to be for their own peace and healing. Thay’s absence forced us to reevaluate our intention. We could not rely on Thay for energy and inspiration. Instead, everyone came to a decision to invest ourselves wholeheartedly in the practice. Everyone walked so stably, spoke so compassionately, and thought with so much gratitude—for Thay, for each other, and for this path we were sharing. Thay was everywhere. All of us experienced Thay’s presence in ourselves and in each other. This powerful energy of our collective practice also enabled us to look into our past experiences with love, loss, expectations, and disappointments. By staying together as a Sangha, we broke through our habitual patterns of avoiding and running away from pain. Transformation and healing took place in every person, monastic and lay, beginning and long-term practitioner. We experienced directly the immense value and strength of our spiritual community, our Sangha. We realized that Thay and his teachings will continue well into the future, because we are a Sangha. Wherever we are, when we come together as a community of practice, we can generate this powerful energy of peace and healing. Over seventy-three people signed up to help organize the retreat in Colorado next year. One teenager said that, even though Thay won’t be there, he was happy there will be a retreat next year because he couldn’t bear the thought of having to wait two years for the next scheduled retreat with Thay. A boy of six or seven said, “This is the best retreat of my life!” One man reported that after he left the YMCA, he shared with many friends about his wonderful experience at the retreat. At one point, he realized that he was telling them: “I was at the retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh.” Indeed, we were at the retreat with Thay in the deepest possible way. From his hospital in Boston, Thay stayed in close contact with everyone at the retreat. He wrote that it brought him great joy that the community was thriving despite his physical absence. This confirmed his belief that “in order to save the Earth, individual awakening is not enough.” Thay recovered quickly and went on to lead retreats in California and New York, inspired by the stories from Colorado. Those of us in Colorado left with a deep sense of interbeing. We know now, more than ever, that we must all see ourselves as Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, awakened beings who nurture, care for, and preserve Mother Earth for future generations. This book is a testament to the possibility and the reality of collective awakening. Love Letter One Boston August 21, 2009 Dear Friends and Co-practitioners at the Retreat One Buddha is not enough Estes Park, Co. My dear friends, I am writing to you from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. I know the Sangha has manifested in Estes Park. I miss the retreat. I miss the beautiful setting of the retreat. Especially I miss the Sangha, I miss you. I always enjoy sitting with the Sangha, walking with the Sangha, breathing with the Sangha. The joy of being together, sharing the Dharma and the Practice together is always very nourishing and healing. But i do not suffer, because i know i am taking care of myself. And taking care of myself is to take care of you. The doctors here decided that i should stay fourteen days for the treatment of a lung infection by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Please do not worry. It is only an infection. But it has to be treated right away. My kidneys, my liver, my heart, my digestive tract all function well. I am given two strong antibiotics, four I.V. injections per day. And the clinicians here are monitoring closely the process of treatment. I am allowed to go out of the hospital to the park nearby one hour per day to do walking meditation.
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