Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and 'Happy Teachers Will Change the World'

That statement has covered very broadly the vision of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh on education . As well as many simple but profound Dharma talks he gave on October 27, 2014 during the mindfulness retreat for teachers and educators held at Plum Village (France) in 2014. He said: "If teachers are not happy, do not have peace and harmony with each other, how can we help young people to suffer less and succeed in their studies?"

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

Kelvin Cheuk - Plum Village

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's funeral will take place in silence.

From the School of Youth for Social Service

It can be said that the educational mark in the "committed" life of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh began when he proposed to establish the "School of Youth for Social Service", although before that he was one of the founders and directors of the famous Van Hanh University at that time.

In the article “Peace in Every Step” by author Andria Miller published in Shambhala Sun magazine in July 2010, he recounted that in December 1963, after flying back to Vietnam, facing the current situation, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh made 3 proposals. Among those 3 proposals, there was a proposal to establish an Institute of Applied Buddhist Studies and another proposal was to establish a School of Youth for Social Service. However, initially, the Institute of Propagation of Buddhism only accepted to support the Institute of Buddhist Studies and later became Van Hanh University. This University later became very famous for the management of Venerable Thich Minh Chau, but Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh was also one of the people who contributed to its establishment.

According to Andria Miller, although the establishment of the School of Youth for Social Service was not yet approved, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh was still very determined with this idea. His view was that this place would become a training center for social workers to take care of infrastructure, help the poor, and transform social injustice with the spirit of love, responsibility, and volunteerism.

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh began sending people to two villages to pilot to help the villagers, starting a social revolution. Villagers were given ideas, stood up to open classes, take care of health care, public sanitation, and develop the economy for each family with the help of volunteer disciples. Young people in the village were trained to learn how to raise livestock or grow crops, and to build their own toilets to improve community sanitation.

Thanks to these successes, the School of Social Service Youth was supported to be established and became a branch of Van Hanh University in September 1965. In the first year of enrollment, more than 1,000 young people registered to take the entrance exam for the School of Social Service Youth, although the school only accepted 300 people.

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in the movie "Walk with me"

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As recounted in an article by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh on the Plum Village website, the School of Youth for Social Service trains young people, including monks and young nuns, to go into the countryside to help farmers rebuild their villages. They support the villagers in four areas: education, health , economics, and organization.

The "agents" went to the villages, played with the children, taught them to read, write, and sing and dance. When the villagers began to like the agents, they offered to build a school for the children. People contributed bamboo, houses contributed coconut leaves, and so the children had a school. The agents all worked without pay.

After the school was built, a health station was set up to provide medicine for common diseases to the villagers. In addition, the workers organized cooperatives and tried to teach the villagers handicrafts so that they could improve their family income.

The School of Social Service Youth was organized in the spirit of not waiting for or relying on government assistance. Eventually, there were more than ten thousand workers operating from Quang Tri and further south. During its time of operation, the school sponsored more than ten thousand orphans.

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh said that "young people are an indispensable part of the Engaged Buddhism movement." That educational perspective on engaged monks is also the reason for the birth of his "Order of Interbeing" order, which has developed strongly since then, emphasizing the self-happiness of the practitioners themselves so that they can become happier through the process of engagement and engagement.

International media praises the influence and merits of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

To the "sangha" of "happy teachers"

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's very important concept about education is to create happy teachers to have happy students. In Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh's dharma talk on October 27, 2014 at the mindfulness retreat for teachers and educators, he talked a lot about teachers "transforming themselves", living happily and helping those around them and the children to be happy like themselves.

He said: "We know that children and students in our time have a lot of suffering and pain in their hearts because their parents are suffering. Parents cannot communicate with each other or between parents and children it is not easy to talk to each other. There is loneliness and emptiness in the children and they try to fill the void with video games or other pastimes that you know. There is a lot of suffering and pain in young people and this makes the work of education more difficult... If teachers and colleagues are not happy, how can they create happiness for young people? That is a big problem!"

To be happy, Thich Nhat Hanh says teachers need a spiritual dimension that helps them transform themselves, and then they can help transform those around them, starting with their family members and spouses. If they succeed, they will become more pleasant, more refreshing, more compassionate. They will be able to help their colleagues do the same and will bring the practice into the classroom.

The first step is to return to self-care, then "generate a mindful energy" to calm painful emotions whenever they arise, practice loving speech and listening to re-establish communication and bring about reconciliation. The important thing after that is to build a sangha (community) of "happy teachers".

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh in Hue with his monks

AFP

"We cannot continue as we are now, because if teachers are not happy, do not have peace and harmony with each other, how can we help young people suffer less and succeed in their studies? Building a Sangha is the most important task and every teacher must be a Sangha builder. After enlightenment, the first task the Buddha did was to build a Sangha. He knew very well that without a Sangha, he would not be able to complete the career of a Buddha. Teaching is a very noble, beautiful, and respectable profession. But without a Sangha, we cannot do much. Therefore, building a Sangha is the most important task!", said Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.

In the letter to teachers published in the book "Happy Teachers Will Change the World" (Thich Nhat Hanh - Katherine Weare), Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh also said: "We know that young people and parents in our time have a lot of suffering and pain in their hearts. Parents cannot communicate with each other or parents and children cannot easily talk to each other. In the hearts of young people there is always loneliness and emptiness and they try to fill that loneliness and emptiness with video games, movies, addiction or harmful entertainment. The more suffering in the hearts of young people, the more difficult the education work becomes. As teachers, we also have difficulties. We have always tried but our living and working environment is too difficult. As teachers, if we are not happy, how can we expect our children to be happy? This is an extremely important issue."

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/thien-su-thich-nhat-hanh-va-thay-co-hanh-phuc-se-thay-doi-the-gioi-1851423628.htm