In May 2008 Thich Nhat Hanh and the Sangha made a third voyage to Vietnam, this time for a historic occasion: the United Nations Day of Vesak. This was the first time this biannual gathering of the world’s Buddhists was held in Vietnam. As the official U.N. report stated, “Thich Nhat Hanh and his delegation contributed an important spiritual energy to the UNDV events with three retreats offered in Vietnam in the weeks leading up to the UNDV conference.
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In May 2008 Thich Nhat Hanh and the Sangha made a third voyage to Vietnam, this time for a historic occasion: the United Nations Day of Vesak. This was the first time this biannual gathering of the world’s Buddhists was held in Vietnam. As the official U.N. report stated, “Thich Nhat Hanh and his delegation contributed an important spiritual energy to the UNDV events with three retreats offered in Vietnam in the weeks leading up to the UNDV conference. They held two retreats for young people, attended by over 3500 people with a thousand who took refuge in the Three Jewels and Five Mindfulness Trainings… A retreat for Westerners had over 400 participants from forty-one nations. A busy city hotel was transformed into a peaceful monastery ... demonstrating the transformative and healing nature of the Dharma.”
Inspired by Thay and his Engaged Buddhism, the three-day conference that followed the celebrations focused on “Buddhist Contributions to Building a Just, Democratic and Civilized Society.” It featured presentations by dozens of teachers and practitioners, including many disciples of Thich Nhat Hanh, who gave the principal keynote address.
In addition to Thay’s Dharma talk from the Hanoi retreat, we offer a couple of essays about the events, along with an interview of Thay Phap Kham, one of Thich Nhat Hanh’s senior monks from Plum Village who now lives primarily in Vietnam. The next issue of the Mindfulness Bell will feature more articles about the UNDV, including some of the presentations from the conference.
