A series of essays....
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| "THE VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST MONK, THICH NHAT HANH'S FINAL MINDFULNESS LESSON: HOW TO DIE PEACEFULLY......." |
By: Jacqueline E. Hughes
Every culture has its Guru, Thinker, Sensei, Mentor, Philosopher, Sage, Savant......
These Wisdom Seekers are people who are curious about the world and desire to learn and grow both emotionally and spiritually. They live with a passion for truth and devote the necessary energy to reflect on what it truly means to be wise. They make the decision to embark on a journey to discover and learn life’s lessons in order to become the wise elders who will lead their people forward into a brighter, more purposeful world. Because they live in the present, they grow stronger by changing the stigma of past regrets and earnestly seek to eliminate an anxiety ladened future.
I have had a lifelong fascination with three areas of beliefs that include deep thinking, a focus on the inner self, and a nomadic inner wisdom of survival based on common sense and practice. It has been a hope of mine to learn, grow, and prosper from their teachings, with the ability to live a more enlightened life.
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| "IT'S BETTER TO DIE ON OUR FEET THAN TO LIVE ON OUR KNEES." |
As a freshman in high school, I became captivated by a book entitled Uhuru written by a remarkable author, Robert Ruark. In Uhuru, freedom has come to Kenya in East Africa after the Mau Mau Uprising that lasted from 1952 to 1960, a war between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as Mau Mau, and the British colonists. Ruark describes what Kenyans (both black and white) do with it and how they celebrate and adapt to freedom. Ruark captures a country in flux and brilliantly catches the strong, colorful nuances of the trials and tribulations of a country in turmoil attempting to find its way into the future.
I was hooked.
Devouring several more of his novels the summer before my sophomore year, I had learned every detail about the tyrant, Jomo Kenyatta, who ruled the Kikuyu people, the largest ethnic group in Kenya, without justice and with profound greed as his goal. In the meantime, I discovered a writer who believed in himself and understood the power of the written word. At the same time, he opened up my world to an indigenous people fighting for their freedom from both the white colonists, as well as their own selfish black leaders.
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| ROBERT RUARK |
COURTESY WWW.RUARKSOCIETY.ORG
My desire and need to write had been reinforced and, long before ‘bucket lists’ had been established, a yearning to see as much of the world as possible and be introduced to her people and cultures became my goal, my obsession. I was ready to change the world and make it a better place to live...
Sometime around my final year of college at Michigan State University, mindfulness, meditation, and Buddhism were swiftly becoming a part of my daily practice and general train of thought.
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| HERMAN HESSE PAINTING BY SERGIO PAUL IANNIELLO |
A dear friend gifted me the book Siddhartha, a novel by Hermann Hesse, originally published in German in 1922. It deals with the spiritual journey of self-discovery of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha, around the year 563 BCE to 483 BCE. He was a monk, sage, philosopher, and wise teacher and a leader on whose teachings Buddhism was founded.
Listed as Philosophical fiction, Siddhartha was translated from German into English and published in the United States in 1951 and became influential during the 1960’s. It was a slim book. Only 152 pages. But fully charged with “experience, the totality of conscious events of a human life, that is shown as the best way to approach understanding of reality and attain enlightenment. It is the completeness of all of life’s experiences that allows Siddhartha to attain understanding.” - Wikipedia.
Mindfulness is the psychological process of bringing one’s attention to experiences occurring in the present moment, which one can develop through the practice of meditation and through other training.
The Vietnamese Buddhist monk and peace activist who taught the world Mindfulness awaits the end of his life at a Buddhist temple outside Hue, Vietnam. At 92 years of age, Thich Nhat Hanh awaits liberation from the recurrent nature of existence after suffering a stroke in 2014. He has been quoted by Presidents and praised by Oprah as “one of the most influential spiritual leaders of our time.”
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| THE VIETNAMESE MONK AND PEACE ACTIVIST, THICH NHAT HANH |
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A pioneer in bringing Mindfulness to the West, Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh has taught that we can all find happiness in the simple things in life such as peeling an orange or sipping a cup of tea and we can learn to live with peace and joy, fully awake to the present moment. Nominated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967, Thich Nhat Hanh teaches us that the way to peace and happiness is through personal transformation, and that Mindfulness is the key. - Mindfulness and Meditation
Through Nhat Hahn’s many writings I have learned that, “A Buddha is someone who is enlightened, capable of loving and forgiving.” I believe we are all a Buddha in our own right at certain times in our lives. I love the simplistic teachings of this beautiful and honorable man. I wish him well.
Within the last couple of decades I have been learning more and more about the history, habits, traditions, and culture of our own indigenous people. Native Americans, American Indians, Indigenous Americans and other terms, are the original peoples of the United States, with the exception of Hawaii. There are over 500 federally recognized tribes within the continental United States today.
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| MOON BEAM AND STRONG ARM OF THE POTAWATOMI TRIBE THAT SETTLED AROUND LAKE MICHIGAN |
Growing up with black and white television shows in the 1950’s such as Broken Arrow, The Lone Ranger, and Gunsmoke, we had become familiar with ‘Hollywood Indians’ and formed preconceived ideas as to who and what the American Indian was all about. It wasn’t until later, and after much library research and reading various novels, such as Native American Wisdom by Kent Nerburn and Pushing The Bear: A Novel of the Trail of Tears by Diane Glancy, did I begin to truly understand more about our Native Americans and the major role they continue to play in our nation’s history and development.
I soon became enthralled by their nomadic lifestyle, sense of honor and traditions, natural medicines and herbal healing, devotion to family and their tribe, and connection with the spiritual world and how it honors and protects the knowledge and beliefs of their ancestors.
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| THE AMERICAN INDIANS GIVE PRAISE TO THE SPIRIT OF ALL THE SACRED ANIMALS WHO GIFT THEM WITH FOOD AND PROTECTION |
Spoken by someone who believes that animals have souls, I know that many of us have experienced the oneness we have with the spirit of an animal. Our indigenous population value our natural world and it is included within their views regarding the importance of life, death, nature, The Creator, and their experiences with white culture today, as well as throughout history.
The tale of sorrow, struggle, and betrayal suffered by the Cherokee Indians is told in their forced walk in 1838-39 from North Carolina to their ‘new territory’ of what is now Oklahoma and is called the Trail of Tears.
Even after a peace treaty had been signed between the Cherokee people and the U.S. Government securing their homelands prior to his election, President Andrew Jackson believed that all American Natives were savages and had no rights to their own land. He signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830 and set in motion one of the most horrific acts toward the Cherokee Nation when in 1838 they were forced out of their lands and marched shackled in chains and at gunpoint over 1,200 miles over rough terrain. Over 4,000 of the 16,000 Native Americans died from hunger, exposure, and disease.
The Trail of Tears is yet one more example of the blight on the history of our country and its relationship with her people. The United Nations underscores the need to celebrate indigenous peoples, not confine them, and has organized the annual United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues with the idea of acting to recognize indigenous people all over the world and defend their collective rights.
Patience, however, has never been my forte. If I feel the need for positive change to be made, it is difficult for me to have to wait too long to have that change happen. When people have been so blatantly wronged, it is imperative to set things right as swiftly as possible. Even in this, our country fails at....miserably.
Native Americans have always been Wisdom Seekers. They seem to have the patience of saints. Their quotes regarding nature, healing, and living a life filled with kindness and hope are being used more and more today due to their positive connection between nature and mankind. With global warming, being brought about by man’s disregard for Earth’s fragile makeup, and looming so large ahead of us, we should all listen to our Wisdom Seekers. If we make the necessary changes within us, both emotionally and spiritually, this will help guide us in making the physical changes we need to make in order to save our planet for ourselves and for future generations.
Copyright © 2019 by Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved
