in thanks for the life of Jim Forest

 

 

Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen: Western Explorers of the Christian East

 

 

NHAT HANH: ... If you cut yourself off from something --

 a tradition, a community -- the hope of things will be lost. 

Right at that moment. So it is not a problem of a word or a term -- 

it is the problem of life. And that problem of being simultaneously

inside and outside yourself is a very wonderful idea. 

Not an idea but a way of life, a way that retain one's self and the link

 between one's self and the other part of one's self.

DAN: This was very much a part of the style of Merton --

 the inside/outside. And it had very rich consequences, 

I think. For him and for others. He used to say that he would never

 become a monk again, but now that he was a monk, 

he would be a monk. Absolutely. Yes.

JIM FOREST: A man playing hide and seek with tradition.

NHAT HANH: Anyway, being a monk or not being a monk,

 that is not the problem. The problem is the way you are a monk 

or the way you are a non-monk. I think if we greet events

 in that way, we can master the situation.

In China, they tell the story of a man who lost his horse.

 He was sad and he wept about it. But a few days later the horse returned

 with another horse. So the man was now very happy. His loss turns

 out to be lucky. But the next day his son tried the new horse

 and fell and broke one leg. So now it is not good luck any more,

 but bad luck. So he deserts the other horse and takes his son to the hospital

 and is content with what he has. So they say, if you greet these events 

with a calm mind, then you can make the most of these events

 for the sake of your happiness. 

 

That's not me, but the Chinese! (Laughter.)

 

 

 

 

 

~ from a slightly edited transcript of a conversation

recorded in Paris in 1973 by Jim Forest between 

Thich Nhat Hanh and Daniel Berrigan. 

 

 Jim Forest died yesterday

 

with thanks to louie, louie