- tombien
In Memoriam, Thich Nhat Hanh
On January 22, 2022, a great being departed from this life. Thich Nhat Hanh was 95 years old. Instrumental in bringing Buddhism, in general, and mindfulness, in particular, to the West, the last several years of his life were spent following a stroke that left him largely incapacitated, and unable to speak or teach.
I don’t know what his consciousness was like in those last years. What was it like for his indefatigable spirit to inhabit his limited body? I can only assume that somehow, given his level of spiritual attainment, he was okay. But at the same time, he must have been ready to leave this existence.
Shortly after his death, I came across these words which he had written, inspired directly from the words of the Buddha:
This body is not me, I am not caught in this body.
I am life without boundaries. I have never been born, and I shall never die…
Birth and death are just a game of hide and seek.
So laugh with me,
hold my hand,
let us say goodbye,
say goodbye, to meet again soon.
We meet today.
We will meet again tomorrow.
We will meet at the source at every moment.
We meet each other in all forms of life.
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