Tea with Thich Nhat Hanh

I know, I know, I've already written two columns on my favorite drink. But this one is much more in depth, for it is about the world-famous Zen Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh from Vietnam, with whom I actually have something in common. And that’s tea drinking.

He even makes drinking a cup of tea sacred. “When you hold your cup, you may like to breathe in, to bring your mind back to your body, and you become fully present. And when you are truly there, something else is also there—life, represented by the cup of tea. In that moment you are real, and the cup of tea is real. You are not lost in the past, in the future, in your projects, in your worries. You are free from all of these afflictions. And in that state of being free, you enjoy your tea. That is the moment of happiness, and of peace.”

Elsewhere he says, “Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.” Sometimes Nhat Hanh, together with his students and colleagues, have what he calls “a tea meditation.” They sit for
maybe an hour together, enjoying their tea  “cultivating joy, brotherhood, sisterhood, dwelling in the here and now.” Elsewhere he comments, ”I am real, and the tea is real. . . . There is a real encounter between me and the tea, and peace, happiness and joy are possible during the time I drink.”

This concept of living every day  in the present seems to be essential for Nhat Hanh’s happiness. As he puts it, “Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.”

Nhat Hanh first joined a monastery in Vietnam when he was 16 and has lived in monasteries most of the years ever since. In the early 60s, he spent time in the West, studying at Princeton and teaching at Columbia University.

Sad to say he was exiled from his own country after leaving on a peace mission in 1966, but rather than complaining and becoming depressed, he moved to France where he founded Plum Village, a Buddhist meditation practice center and monastery.

He is now 87, still living at Plum Village, and over the years he has certainly done a lot more than sitting and drinking tea. He has developed what he called “Engaged Buddhism,” to encourage people to practice “peaceful activism.” Part of this most important peaceful
work was in Vietnam, where he helped with rebuilding bombed villages, setting up schools and medical centers and rescuing families in need. In addition, he has spoken to audiences all over the world and has written over 100 books on various subjects of faith and peace.

He was even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr.back in 1967. As King said of him, “His ideas for peace, if applied,  would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.” Vegetarianism is also central to Nhat Hanh. He eats no eggs or cheese and drinks no milk because, as he puts it, “mindful eating can help save our planet.”

I’m just glad, for his sake--and for mine, too--that drinking tea isn't harming our planet, for he and I both value tea drinking highly and feel that it brings both joy and peace into our lives.