Introduction
The Blue Cliff Monastery is located in Pine Bush, New York, more commonly known as the Hudson Valley area. It has two sister monasteries–Deer Park Monastery and Magnolia Grove Monastery. In total, the location is eighty acres and contains over sixty acres of forest. Today, you can visit the various halls of practice twice a week for their days of mindfulness. It is open to the public and monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen practice mindfulness together there. There are regular retreats at Blue Cliff during the year.
It was founded in 2007 by both monastics and laypeople. The initiative for creating Blue Cliff was due to monks and nuns converging from two other Monasteries in Vermont. All three of these monasteries are children of the Plum Village Monastery in France. Their head founder was Thich Nhat Hanh. Thich Nhat Hanh is a monk, author, peace activist, and currently teaches at the Monastery.
The monastery’s current leading beliefs come from Thich Hanh’s Order of Interbeing, which branches from the Vietnamese Zen tradition. Those who are members of the community are disciples of Thich Nhat Hanh, colloquially called “Thay” by his disciples.
Thay Thich Nhat Hanh – Tik · N’yat · Hawn
Thay is a Zen Master revered for his knowledge and skills in peace and mindfulness. “Through mindfulness, we can learn to live happily in the present moment—the only way to truly develop peace, both in one’s self and in the world.” – TNH. He has a large collection of published books on mindfulness, aiding the transmission of Buddhism to the West. In addition to authorship, Thay founded six monasteries in the US, Asia, and Europe, which adds up to six hundred monks and nuns, as well as thousands of lay students.
As mentioned previously, the monastery is based on the Vietnamese Zen tradition, thanks to Thay himself. Thich Nhat Hanh was born in Vietnam in 1926, becoming a monk at sixteen. At the time, monastic efforts were directed toward a revival of Vietnamese Buddhism. Unfortunately, war arrived in Vietnam, threatening the peace and lives in the monasteries. Thich Nhat Hanh decided to stay, meditate, and assist those affected by the perils of war. Thay moved to the United States to teach at Princeton and Columbia Universities. During that time, he founded a non-violence school back in Vietnam.
In 1975, Thich Nhat Hanh established the Plum Village community, which eventually feeds into the Blue Cliff Monastery in New York thirty-one years later. We would be remiss not to add that the Plum Village Monastery is one of the West’s largest monasteries.
Today, Thich Nhat Hanh is weak in health. Nonetheless, he continues to have his creations and disciples apply techniques and lessons that make it easier for people in the challenging times of 2020.
Order of Interbeing
Thay established the Order of Interbeing with six of his colleagues and students in 1966. Once again, Thay founded another organization dedicated to mindfulness, ethics, and compassion. These are constant strings throughout his life and work. The war prevented Thay from ordaining new members into the Order. Finally, he was able to grow the fleet in 1981.
The Order of Interbeing, Tiep Hien in Vietnamese, is a community of monastics and laypeople who have committed to living their lives in accord with the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings, a distillation of the Bodhisattva (Enlightened Being) teachings of Mahayana Buddhism
- Emphasis is on Four Spirits
- Non-attachment from views
- Direct experimentation on the nature of interdependent origination through meditation
- Appropriateness
- Skillful means
Activism
Notably, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. It’s no secret that Thich Nhat Hanh was busy in the 1960s. He even lobbied Western leaders to end the war in Vietnam. Additionally, he headed the Buddhist delegation in Paris Peace Talks.
Thay’s Teachings
Thich Nhat Hanh has five main areas of teachings: mindfulness, ecology, peace, business, and education. He worked with activists earlier in life to teach them about the Zen ways to approach these topics.
Mindfulness
As mentioned previously, Thich Nhat Hanh taught mindfulness during the Vietnam War to people in the country struck by the turmoil of war. His approach to mindfulness addresses small aspects of daily life like brushing one’s teeth or washing dishes. This method of teaching opens the door to beginners who desire to incorporate mindfulness into their daily lives. A key characteristic of Buddhist teachings is that methods like these are paths and not tools. This means that mindfulness is a way of life and not something you can use just to brush your teeth; you should use mindfulness throughout your day as much as you can.
Ecology
Remember the Order of Interbeing? Thich Nhat Hanh has been an influential figure in ecological activism because of the idea of “interbeing.” He said, “We cannot separate human beings from the environment.” And he says that humans must work together to address environmental issues. According to Thich Nhat Hanh, a revolution is necessary for us to show our love to the Earth. An overarching theme of his teachings is love: love for each other, love for the planet, and love for the mundane.
“Activists have to have a spiritual practice in order to help them to suffer less, to nourish happiness and to handle suffering, so they will be effective in helping the world. With anger and frustration, you cannot do much.”
Peace
Simply, Thich Nhat Hanh teaches that peace in the world starts within. He teaches also that war comes from internal fear and violence. A person without a tense body and mind could not start a war, thus you must seek peace within. Perhaps controversially, Thich Nhat Hanh said that a war cannot exist for peace. If you wanted peace, stop the bombs, he said in the 1960s.
Thich Nhat Hanh shows us the connection between personal, inner peace, and peace on earth. – His Holiness the Dalai Lama
A cool part of Thich Nhat Hanh’s monasteries is that he welcomes veterans and police officers, hoping that they can find peace within through his teachings.
Business
For businesses seeking teambuilding, Thich Nhat Hanh has an answer. He has teachings on business, time, money, and success. Simply put, “You can be a victim of your success,” he says, “but you can never be a victim of your happiness.” Once again, this is a lesson of searching within yourself to find what you want. Both peace and happiness come from within, not from money or success.
Education
Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings for educators and students rings a bell for me. My fourth-grade teacher had us meditate a few times each week. It helped me bond with my teacher and my classmates as well as let my brain settle before we moved on to a new topic. Unfortunately, I did not get to learn from the Vietnamese Zen methods, but I recognize the benefits of teaching children Buddhist lessons. They show children compassion, peace, and respect for not only themselves but also one another. Thich Nhat Hanh also argues that it helps children with communication and healing, which is great for young people who often have a tough time expressing how they feel.
Published by Claire McClintick