Thich Nhat Hanh is the world's best known teacher of the practice of mindfulness. He has lived an extraordinary life in an extraordinary time. Born in Viet Nam in 1926 he has been living the life of a monk and a seeker of the truth since the age of sixteen.

He has survived persecution, three wars, and more than thirty years in exile. He is a Zen Master and the author of more than 100 hundred books of poetry, fiction and philosophy. He has founded universities and social service organisations, rescued boat people, led the Vietnamese Buddhist delegation at the Paris Peace Talks and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

He now makes his home in a small meditation community in Southern France. He has founded two similar communities in Vermont and California. Here is an article about the war on terrorists in Afghanistan written by Thich Nhat Hanh while visiting Shanghai, China on the 19th of October, 2001.

My understanding, after reading Thich Nhat Hanh's article, is that each of us is responsible for looking more deeply at the violence, hatred, darkness, misunderstanding that we all hold to some degree in our hearts, and that we must have the courage to act upon our truth to change these seeds of misunderstanding.

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"Terror is in the human heart. We must remove this terror from the heart. Destroying the human heart, both physically and psychologically, is what we should avoid. The root of terrorism should be identified, so that it can be removed. The root of terrorism is misunderstanding, hatred and violence. This root cannot be located by the military. Bombs and missiles cannot reach it, let alone destroy it. Only with the practice of calming and looking deeply can our insight reveal and identify this root. Only with the practice of deep listening and compassion can it be transformed and removed.

Darkness cannot be dissipated with more darkness. More darkness will make darkness thicker. Only light can dissipate darkness. Violence and hatred cannot be removed with violence and hatred. Rather, this will make violence and hatred grow a thousand fold. Only understanding and compassion can dissolve violence and hatred.

"Strike against terror" is a misleading expression. What we are striking against is not the real cause or the root of terror. The object of our strike is still human life. We are sowing seeds of violence as we strike. Striking in this way we will only bring about more hatred and violence into the world. This is exactly what we do not want to do.

Hatred and violence are in the hearts of human beings. A terrorist is a human being with hatred, violence and misunderstanding in his or her heart. Acting without understanding, acting out of hatred, violence and fear, we help sow more terror, bringing terror to the homes of others and bringing terror back to our own homes. Whole societies are living constantly in fear with our nerves being attacked day and night. This is the greatest casualty we may suffer from, as a result of our wrong thinking and action. Such a state of confusion, fear and anxiety is extremely dangerous. It can bring about another world war, this time extremely destructive.

We must learn to speak out, so that the voice of the Buddha/the Christ (sic) can be heard in this dangerous and pivotal moment of history. Those of us who have the light should display the light and offer it, so that the world will not sink into total darkness. Everyone has the seed of awakening and insight within his or her heart. Let us help each other touch these seeds in ourselves, so that everyone could have the courage to speak out. We must ensure that the way we live our daily lives (with or without mindful consumption, with or without discrimination, with or without participating in injustice) does not create more terrorism in the world. We need a collective awakening to stop this course of self-destruction."

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The Mindfulness Practice Community of Bermuda meets weekly to support all who wish to lead a more awakened life. Sitting and Walking Meditation, Mindfulness Readings followed by supportive mindful discussion. Call 236-4988 or email iamhomeibl.bm