Peaceful Action, Open Heart: Lessons from the Lotus Sutra

Thich Nhat Hanh

01/2005 · Parallax Press

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A landmark work by Thich Nhat Hanh, this book shines 60 years of study and practice upon one of the crowning scriptures of Buddhism—the Lotus Sutra

The Lotus Sutra is one of the most revered of Mahayana sacred texts and is sometimes called “the king of sutras.” Despite this fact, there are very few commentaries in English available today. In Peaceful Action, Open Heart, Thich Nhat Hanh explores the Sutra’s main theme—that everyone has the capacity to become a Buddha, and that Buddha-nature is inherent in everything—but he also uniquely emphasizes the sutra’s insight that Buddha-nature is the basis for peaceful action. Since we all will one day become a Buddha, he says, we can use mindfulness practices right now to understand and find solutions to current world challenges. In his interpretation of the sutra, he suggests that if the practices, views, and insights of the Lotus Sutra would find application not only by individuals but also by nations, it would offer concrete solutions to transform individual suffering and the global challenges facing the world today.

Stamped with his signature depth of vision, lucidity, and clarity, Thich Nhat Hanh’s insights invoke a wide range of contemporary topics and concerns, such as the Palestinian-Israeli war, the threat of terrorism, and the degradation of our environment. In proposing radical new ways of finding peaceful solutions to universal, contemporary conflicts, he not only challenges the United Nations to change from an organization to a real organism working for peace and harmony in the world, but also encourages all branches of all governments to act as Sangha. In so doing, he demonstrates the practical and direct applicability of this sacred text to today's concerns.

This book has been re-released with a new title. The earlier hardcover edition was entitled Opening the Heart of the Cosmos.

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Thich Nhat Hanh was a world-renowned spiritual teacher and peace activist. Born in Vietnam in 1926, he became a Zen Buddhist monk at the age of sixteen. Over seven decades of teaching, he published more than 100 books, which have sold more than four million copies in the United States alone. Exiled from Vietnam in 1966 for promoting peace, his teachings on Buddhism as a path to social and political transformation are responsible for bringing the mindfulness movement to Western culture. He established the international Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism in France, now the largest Buddhist monastery in Europe and the heart of a growing community of mindfulness practice centers around the world. He passed away in 2022 at the age of 95 at his root temple, Tu Hieu, in Hue, Vietnam.