News of the October 2005 Thich Nhat Hanh  retreat at Magnolia Village in North Mississippi came to me, a Quaker residing in Greenwood S.C., in a round about way.  A Birmingham, Alabama friend from the 1960's sent me an e-mail that connected me to another friend who sent another’s announcement of the retreat which gave the readers about 7 days to decided if they could and would attend. Checking time and financial resources, the distance and the means of travel I looked at this proposal with less interest than at first. What did I know about Thich Nhat Hanh that made me interested? The single concise phrase someone said in a Quaker Meeting that he had said that goes something like “Do not fight for peace. Instead be peace.”  And when first hearing this I felt the slice of a two-edged sword! Deep calling to deep. At the time of my committing to drive 10 hours to the retreat this phrase was actually all that I knew of Thich Nhat Hanh. (Even at the last hour of my decision to go my family’s washing machine belt broke and with no experience I somehow got a belt in this small Southern town and fixed it and left literally minutes after washing my hands of the oil and grease!)

The common thread of thought concerning these events is “peace” through pacifism, a spiritual peace in a person lived out in the world for individuals, families, and cultures to know solidarity by at least this one common thread. Others, non-pacifists,  with whom I have been in verbal and written contention since the proposed Afghanistan invasion and more heatedly the Iraq invasion spoke of peace through love of military order, a peace through war. These others call themselves Christian like I call myself. But the difference is that I follow the “peace” thread I read in the words of Jesus of Nazareth.

In Thich Nhat Hanh’s words “Do not fight for peace. Instead be peace” I find a serious movement harmonious  with the “forgiveness” and “love” paradigm found in Jesus’ teachings. On the first morning at Magnolia Village I heard Thich Nhat Hanh called “Thay” by his followers. This means “Teacher”. I heard in my Judeo Christian mind a ringing of sorts: “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joint and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) The teacher I was about to meet has a Godly message for my ears about peace. This is exciting stuff. A peace solution grounded in peace and only peace is a wonderful path to walk. My conclusions for peace in the teachings of Christ Jesus’ words and deeds and my experience of the workings of the Holy Spirit were being lifted up by Thay to the world, yet he is Buddhist.* And I wondered throughout this retreat why it was only now that I was coming to know him.

At the retreat on the first morning before dawn I experienced the sudden chill of the North Mississippi climate. In the Deep South the weather had suddenly dropped to the upper 30's and crawling out of my sleeping bag when I heard the first bell ringing in camp I felt the flimsy-ness of my little tent. Taking heart I headed on up for a hot breakfast and quite time when some dressed in brown Vietnamese clothing walked slowly around in no particular pattern and some sat in crossed legged meditation and I felt very happy in this Buddhist environment in rural Mississippi. And then after dawn I saw a gathering of people around Thay. He was under a Loblolly Pine Tree and children were playing all around him.  Adults gathered.  A bell hung from a tree limb and a white board with a writing seemed to name the tree. This tree was named in Vietnamese and translated into English: “Peace with every step.”

I moved closer and heard Thay speaking informally with charm and amusement with the 5-7 year old children. There was dissension over a frisbee. Someone was hogging it. Others were upset. Thay seemed to dismiss the children’s upsetedness with a wave of his hand. The youngsters immediately chased, caught, pelted and tackled the litttle one with the frisbee. And I thought that is how our government, our adults in charge of governments have behaved in the world of current politics and war. The schedule for the retreat had not been officially begun and already the depth of matters was apparent.

Thay lead some songs. “Happiness is here and now. I have dropped my worries...” and “Peace is flowing like a river,/ flowing out into the sea / flowing out into the desert / setting all the captives free...” And then he invited the 50 or so there to come walk with him.

The path he walked was through the  North Mississippi farmland pastures. It was slow and deliberately meditative. I enjoyed watching two teenage Vietnamese girls delightfully playing with woodland crickets crawling, hopping which they saw in the grass near rocks and rotting logs. We walked through a rather large dry creek bed and I wondered if beavers had damned up the water somewhere above us. And then we stopped further on up in more pasture and sat in the sun rays and when I came to focus on things I saw the Br. Phap Bi being told to show something to the children. They gathered around and he held out his arms and with his hands he made a lotus blossom and he smiled and they smiled.