{"id":3528,"date":"2012-05-03T17:02:35","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T21:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/?p=3528"},"modified":"2012-05-03T17:02:35","modified_gmt":"2012-05-03T21:02:35","slug":"other-paths-thich-nh%e1%ba%a5t-h%e1%ba%a1nh-speaks-with-oprah-about-possible-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2012\/05\/other-paths-thich-nh%e1%ba%a5t-h%e1%ba%a1nh-speaks-with-oprah-about-possible-lives.html","title":{"rendered":"Other paths: Th\u00edch Nh\u1ea5t H\u1ea1nh speaks with Oprah about possible lives ~"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/files\/2012\/05\/OWandThichNhatHanh-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-3554\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/239\/2012\/05\/OWandThichNhatHanh-3-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beginnersheart\/2012\/05\/coming-up-oprahs-interview-with-buddhist-monk-nobel-prize-nominee-thich-nh\u1ea5t-h\u1ea1nh.html\" target=\"_blank\">Yesterday<\/a> I wrote a bit about \u00a0Oprah&#8217;s upcoming Sunday\u00a0 interview \u00a0w\/Th\u00edch Nh\u1ea5t H\u1ea1nh. In the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.oprah.com\/own-super-soul-sunday\/Thich-Nhat-Hanh-on-Living-the-Life-of-a-Monk-Video\" target=\"_blank\">excerpt<\/a>, she asks him if he has regrets &#8212; if the Nobel-nominated, quiet Buddhist monk ever contemplates a path that might have held a wife, children. And the answer reassured me:<\/p>\n<p><em>Yes,<\/em>\u00a0he answered. Walking once, he saw a beautiful young woman, w\/ a lovely child, and thought for a moment &#8212; <em>if I were not a monk, I might have had a wife and child like that.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I found this simple admission profoundly comforting. Here&#8217;s Th\u00edch Nh\u1ea5t H\u1ea1nh &#8212; Nobel Prize nominee, major influence on so many lives, resister of a horrific war&#8230; And he sometimes has 2nd thoughts. The difference, of course, is that (as he told Oprah), &#8220;<em>I don&#8217;t get lost in that kind of deviation &#8230;. I recognize it and I overcome it very quickly<\/em>.&#8221; In other words? He doesn&#8217;t dwell on things. Just goes on w\/ his life, knowing that &#8220;<em>the intention is so strong that it can protect and keep you alive<\/em>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hmmm&#8230; It doesn&#8217;t work quite the same for this far more <a href=\"http:\/\/www.plumvillage.org\/photo-albums\/gallery\/8.html\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-3558\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/239\/2012\/05\/Th\u00edch-Nh\u1ea5t-H\u1ea1nh-in-Plum-Village-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>flawed vessel. But at least I realise &#8212; once again &#8212; how hard this work we set for ourselves is. If Th\u00edch Nh\u1ea5t H\u1ea1nh has questioned the choices he made &#8212; even if only once, in a park in France, then it&#8217;s hard. And like meditation teaches us, it&#8217;s not putting thoughts &#8216;out&#8217; of our heads and hearts. It&#8217;s the coming back to this point, this practice. It&#8217;s the stepping back from those other, possible lives (<em>air castles, fictions, distracting thoughts of nevermore<\/em>&#8230;) that constitutes the practice.<\/p>\n<p>So thank you yet again, inimitable monk. Thank you for reminding me that to be human is to have to return, over &amp; over &amp; over, to the business at hand ~<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday I wrote a bit about \u00a0Oprah&#8217;s upcoming Sunday\u00a0 interview \u00a0w\/Th\u00edch Nh\u1ea5t H\u1ea1nh. In the excerpt, she asks him if he has regrets &#8212; if the Nobel-nominated, quiet Buddhist monk ever contemplates a path that might have held a wife, children. And the answer reassured me: Yes,\u00a0he answered. Walking once, he saw a beautiful young&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[209,1],"tags":[11,1181,1187,262,1237],"class_list":["post-3528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thich-nhat-hanh","category-uncategorized","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-thich-nhat-hanh"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Other paths: Th\u00edch Nh\u1ea5t H\u1ea1nh speaks with Oprah about possible lives ~ - Beginner&#039;s Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yesterday I wrote a bit about \u00a0Oprah&#039;s upcoming Sunday\u00a0 interview \u00a0w\/Th\u00edch Nh\u1ea5t H\u1ea1nh. 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Years spent living on the margins - in places with exotic names and food shortages - have left her with a visceral response to folks \u2018without,\u2019 as well as a desire to live her Buddhism in an engaged fashion. She\u2019s a writer and a teacher, the former director of a federal non-profit for teachers who write. She believes that if we talk to each other, we can learn to love each other (but she's still learning how). And she believes in tea. 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