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Epub ISBN: 9781407061306
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Published in 1995 by Rider, an imprint of Ebury Publishing
First published in the USA by Bantam, an imprint of Random House, Inc., in 1991
Ebury Publishing is a Random House Group company
Copyright Thich Nhat Hanh 1991
Thich Nhat Hanh has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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About the Author
Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Zen master, poet, and peace activist, has been a monk for over 40 years. In Vietnam, he founded the School of Youth for Social Service (the little peace corps), an instrument for rebuilding villages that were destroyed by bombs and for resettling tens of thousands of people fleeing the war zones. He also founded Van Hanh Buddhist University, La Boi Press, and the Tiep Hien Order of Interbeing. In 1966, he came to the U.S. and Europe at the invitation of the Fellowship of Reconciliation to represent the wishes of the Vietnamese people of all faiths who had no means to speak for themselves (New Yorker, June 25, 1966). He was nominated by Martin Luther King, Jr. for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. Unable to return to Vietnam after his overseas tour, he received asylum in France, where he served as chairman of the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation to the Paris Peace Talks. He presently lives in Plum Village, a small community in France, where he continues teaching, writing, gardening, and helping refugees worldwide.
About the Editor
Arnold Kotler was an ordained student at the San Francisco and Tassajara Zen Centers from 1969 to 1984. He is the founding editor of Parallax Press, a publishing company in Berkeley, California, dedicated to producing books and tapes on mindful awareness and social responsibility, including the works of Thich Nhat Hanh.
Thich Nhat Hanh has a retreat community in southwestern France (Plum Village), where monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen practise the art of mindful living. Visitors are invited to join the practice for at least one week. For information, please write to:
Plum Village
13 Martineau
33580 Dieulivol
France
(for women)
(for women)
(for men)
www.plumvillage.org
Please contact the Community of Interbeing, the charity practising in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh in the UK, for information on retreats, events, and local and national sanghas:
Tel: 0870-041-1242
www.interbeing.org.uk
BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Being Peace
Breathe! You Are Alive: Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing
A Guide to Walking Meditation
The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the
Prajaparamita Heart Sutra
Interbeing: Commentaries on the Tiep Hien Precepts
The Miracle of Mindfulness
The Moon Bamboo
Old Path, White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha
Our Appointment with Life: The Buddhas Teaching on
Living in the Present
The Pine Gate
Present Moment Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness Verses
for Daily Living
A Rose for Your Pocket
The Sun My Heart
The Sutra on the Eight Realizations of the Great Beings
Transformation and Healing: Sutra on the Four
Establishments of Mindfulness
Zen Poems
PEACE IS EVERY STEP
The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
Edited by Arnold Kotler
Thich Nhat Hanh
RIDER
LONDON SYDNEY AUCKLAND JOHANNESBURG
Foreword
BY H. H. THE DALAI LAMA
Although attempting to bring about world peace through the internal transformation of individuals is difficult, it is the only way. Wherever I go, I express this, and I am encouraged that people from many different walks of life receive it well. Peace must first be developed within an individual. And I believe that love, compassion, and altruism are the fundamental basis for peace. Once these qualities are developed within an individual, he or she is then able to create an atmosphere of peace and harmony. This atmosphere can be expanded and extended from the individual to his family, from the family to the community and eventually to the whole world.
Peace Is Every Step is a guidebook for a journey in exactly this direction. Thich Nhat Hanh begins by teaching mindfulness of breathing and awareness of the small acts of our daily lives, then shows us how to use the benefits of mindfulness and concentration to transform and heal difficult psychological states. Finally he shows us the connection between personal, inner peace and peace on Earth. This is a very worthwhile book. It can change individual lives and the life of our society.
Editors Introduction
As I walked slowly and mindfully through a green oak forest this morning, a brilliant red-orange sun rose on the horizon. It immediately evoked for me images of India, where a group of us joined Thich Nhat Hanh the year before last to visit the sites where the Buddha taught. On one walk to a cave near Bodh Gaya, we stopped in a field surrounded by rice paddies and recited this poem:
Peace is every step.
The shining red sun is my heart.
Each flower smiles with me.
How green, how fresh all that grows.
How cool the wind blows.
Peace is every step.
It turns the endless path to joy.
These lines summarize the essence of Thich Nhat Hanhs messagethat peace is not external or to be sought after or attained. Living mindfully, slowing down and enjoying each step and each breath, is enough. Peace is already present in each step, and if we walk in this way, a flower will bloom under our feet with every step. In fact the flowers will smile at us and wish us well on our way.
