Awakening the Source of Love

Sister Chân Thuận Nghiêm

Four monastics, Sr. Thuan Nghiem, Sr. Trang Linh Di, Br. Troi Pham Hanh and Br. Troi Ruong Phap, embarked on a mindfulness tour in Israel and Palestine from 17 September to 9 October 2023 when the Israel-Hamas war broke out. The editorial team had a chance to interview Sr. Thuan Nghiem about the trip.

Sharing the Dharma in Israel

The local sanghas organized mindfulness retreats and Days of Mindfulness for the people of Israel and Palestine. The first retreat, lasting four days, took place in Israel with the help of Ms. Hagit, a member of the Order of Interbeing. This was a retreat for only Israelis. Due to limited housing, we could only receive about 40 people.

Before the retreat started, a few women shared that they did not want to harbor hatred in their hearts; therefore before the first Dharma talk, the monastics offered the Namo Avalokiteshvara chant to calm their minds. Everyone’s face at the retreat was filled with stress and worry. Many cried after listening to the chanting. The words of the chant had sprinkled drops of compassion and softened the listeners’ hearts. The retreatants shared that they wanted to continue to listen to the chants; so, we offered a chant before every Dharma talk. We also invited the two lay Dharma teachers present to join us in the chanting to fortify the collective energy of the chant.

Everyone expressed their longing for peace and a sense of safety in their daily lives. In response, the brothers and sisters shared about concrete practices to cultivate peace within oneself, as well as understanding the interconnectedness between one another, all living species and the environment. Although the retreat was short, we witnessed a lot of transformation among the retreatants. They had tasted the essence of the Dharma. If a person practices wholeheartedly, the Dharma has the ability to help heal and soothe the burning pains of the heart.

Day of Mindfulness in Neve Shalom

Over a hundred people attended this Day of Mindfulness, several of whom were Palestinians. Everyone put their hearts into practicing walking meditation, eating meditation and deep relaxation. The event ended after a session of Questions & Answers with many practical questions. Many Palestinians shared that they deeply yearned for events like this in their regions so they could learn how to generate peace in every breath and every step.

Sharing the Dharma in Palestine

The brothers and sisters drove a rented van from Israel to Palestine, crossing many checkpoints. At each stop, everyone in the van could sense the wariness and unease of the young Israeli soldiers who checked our documents. Since we did not have local sanghas in Palestine, except for a few young people who had attended retreats in Plum Village, there was much confusion and many mishaps in the logistical planning. Upon arrival, the brothers and sisters stepped in to guide and coordinate the organizers.

There were about 30 Palestinian women who came to the Day of Mindfulness. They were very curious and surprised to find out that the sisters were not married or had children like them. They seemed to carry so much anxiety and unrest in their bodies that no matter how much the sisters tried, they could not relax. Through conversations and sincerity of the sisters, the women slowly set aside their reservations and opened up about their difficulties and suffering. They don’t know how to listen to each other; everyone only wants to speak their thoughts, making communication within their families very difficult. Yet, after a few minutes of listening to the bell, they were able to practice deep listening and became much calmer. They allowed the sisters to finish sharing without interrupting as before. After two hours of practicing together, all the women must go home to cook for their families. They wanted to continue the mindfulness practice but find no support from the surroundings.

The sangha groups from Palestine and Israel hosted two events for people from both sides to attend. Those who attended from Palestine were mainly social activists in various areas, such as the environment, non-violence, etc. All together, there were several dozen Palestians at these two events. Everyone was interested in practicing breathing meditation, walking meditation, and eating meditation. We hosted Dharma sharing in the afternoon for everyone to have a chance to listen to each other. The friends from Palestine shared that the utmost thing they wished for was peace, but it seems like a dream beyond their reach.

When the Israelis interacted with and listened to the Palestinians, they realized that they took so many things for granted, they can enjoy the freedom of movement, residing and travelling while those from Palestine were not even granted these basic human rights. Upon seeing that, many Israeli friends began to empathize with their counterparts and wanted to collaborate with the Palestinians to advocate for non-violence so that they could regain their rights to live on their land.

Those two events were like two drops of water in the middle of the desert. Nevertheless, they were opportunities for the two sides to sit down, listen to and understand each other’s difficulties, especially the difficulties of the Palestinian friends. On a larger scale, the world needs to listen to and understand these difficulties. Being on-site and in touch with the daily realities of the people helped us deepen our understanding. If we rely solely on news reports to learn about the state of the war, then we might not be able to fully understand the suffering that the Palestians have to endure. However, not only the Palestians, but also the Israeli people suffer. One thing we can see is that there is still much violence, hatred and lack of understanding about the war.

There are two ethnic groups living together on the same land. If they can see that the people of both sides share the same need to live a peaceful and happy life, then both sides can support each other to live peacefully together. In the past, they had lived relatively harmoniously together on this land without conflict; but now, that has become a dream. Especially for the people of Palestine, to be recognized as citizens has become a distant hope.

When the war broke out

On 7 October, we were planning to host the last Day of Mindfulness for the people of Palestine and conclude our tour.

That morning, we were driving to the site of the event when we suddenly heard a loud boom in the sky. We did not know what had happened or where the explosion came from. Around us, people were pointing to the sky where missile fragments were falling in all directions. These missiles were fired into Israel from the Gaza Strip, a region governed by Palestine but with Israel monitoring its airspace and seaway. At that moment, everyone knew a war had broken out.

The Palestinian people were very worried because they knew Israel would avenge the attack but no one could predict the extent of the destruction and massacre that was to ensue in the following months.

The sangha in Israel knew the brothers and sisters had not gone back to Plum Village yet due to the flight cancellations; they continuously contacted us to ask for livestreamed practice sessions to help calm the worry, fear and hatred swelling up in their hearts. It was miserable for them to constantly hear gunfire and bombs exploding on a daily basis; or hear about the killing and kidnapping of hostages.

Throughout our remaining days there, the sound of bombs and gunfire echoed all day and night. Both sides attacked each other mercilessly, especially at night. In those moments, our hearts, liver, lungs… felt fragile from being bombarded with distressing sights and sounds. In those circumstances, the brothers and sisters tried their best to maintain their mindfulness practice. We endeavored to diligently stay with our conscious breathing, focusing our attention on the movements of our bodies to generate the energy of peace in order to offer it to those around us, in-person and online.

The brothers and sisters did all they could to help our friends calm the disquiet, hatred, and hopelessness in their hearts. The Palestinians living in Israel could not travel farther than one kilometer radius from their home to a pharmacy or market. They had to repress immense feelings of hatred and fear.

A young Palestinian who attended a Wake Up retreat in Plum Village shared, “My ancestors, grandparents, and parents have lived on this land. Yet, their children’s generation have to live in fear. We can be killed at any moment, not knowing whether or not we will live till tomorrow. The feeling of hatred is surging in me.”

When living with such hatred, we cannot possibly have peace. Upon arriving on this land, the brothers and sisters aspired to bring the Dharma, especially the teaching on inter-being, to share with the local people, hoping it would be able to transform the situation and remove the hatred and anger. If we can see that the other person is us and we are the other person, then we will not kill each other and be able to live peacefully with one another. The people we met here really longed for the mindfulness teachings. They were very happy to have the brothers and sisters come to their homeland, and the monastic group was fortunate to have three peaceful weeks to share the teachings before the war broke out.

There were many lay Dharma teachers active in the local sanghas in Israel, some of whom had known Thay and practiced mindfulness since 1997. They were the ones who helped Thay organize the teaching tour in the region that year. To this day, they are still applying the practice in their daily lives. However, it seems that Palestine does not have any local sanghas yet.

I believe the monastics of Plum Village will have more opportunities to visit this region in the future and share the mindfulness practice with the people there, so they can know more about how to generate peace within themselves in each moment of daily life. If they practice effectively, their fruits of the practice will radiate to the entire community. Perhaps, one day, the people of Palestine will be able to fulfill their dream of having a nation governed by their people and not resort to violence to achieve that aim.