Engaged Buddhism: To Ensure A Future, We Must Act Today | Dharma Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh, 2006 10 12

A Dharma talk offered by Thich Nhat Hanh in October 2006, a few days after his 80th birthday (and a few days after getting back from UNESCO): “If you ask me how old I am, I will reply that fifty years ago, I was thirty….”

And that’s how Thay opens a beautiful talk about his time at An Quang in his 30s, editing the magazine of the National Buddhist Association. He then talks about UNESCO, war in the Middle East, terrorism, and climate change, and the importance of practicing peace rather than just talking about it.

“In Plum Village you can see the kind of Buddhism we need to respond to the needs of our times.”

“You can call Plum Village a centre for the practice of peace and non-violence”

“If I had to choose between Buddhism and peace, I would choose peace. Because if you choose Buddhism and war, you lose both, and you destroy Buddhism in the process, because Buddhism is peace.”

Thay hands it over to everyone at the end: “If you are thirty, you may have 50 years ahead of you and you have to think how you would like to spend them. When people get older they have regret, because they did not do what they should have done. You need to be the arms of the Buddha…. and the Buddha will be there to support you. Do not wait until tomorrow, tomorrow will be too late. You need to do it today."

This is the transcript of Thay's speech at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, October 7, 2006 here: https://plumvillage.org/letters-from-...

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