A Handful of Quiet
Image description: Photo of mountain range reflecting on water and pebbles. Photo by James Wheeler from Pexels
When Your Teachings Need No Words
Thich Nhat Hanh— if we were to think of a human whose words both written and spoken, actions, and very presence modeled what peace looks like— Thich Nhat Hanh would surely be one of the best examples.
As a Buddhist Monk and Zen Master, the alignment of his words and actions made him easy to learn from and likely was in large part why his students affectionately referred to him as Thay (pronounced tie or tay)— the Vietmanese word for teacher. With his passing on January 22, 2022, I was reminded how his life and teachings were a calm and steadfast commitment to living out his teaching and making meditation accessible to all.
Thich Nhat Hanh has written over 100 books so selecting one book or teaching that he has written or shared is a tall order. Since this week is specifically about children’s books, let’s look at the book, “A Handful of Quiet: Happiness in Four Pebbles”.
Purpose: This book offers the chance to use pebbles as a touch stone to meditation, focusing on our interconnectedness to and as a part of nature with a meditation using 4 pebbles.
Possibilities:
This book and meditative method can serve as:
An introduction to meditation practice for children or anyone
A method to reduce stress and focus on the present moment
Tactile, hands on cues that help in remembering the meditation practice and provide focus.
A portable practice in managing difficult emotions
A practice to increase concentration
A reminder of all the teachers that surround us— the qualities of flowers, mountain, water, and space are the among nature’s teachers in this meditation— we are interconnected.
Foster a sense of belonging and possibilities beyond our fellow humans. Thich Nhat Hanh coined the phrase “interbeing”. This is a word used to help us “understand our deep connection to each other, nature and all things. This reminds us we are never alone, as he teaches that we cannot “be” by ourselves we can only “interbe” with all that is.” [1]
A chance to co-regulate when practiced with a group. We can see how the practice calms our nervous systems and in turn, we help calm one another.
Build in habits of gratitude practice.
To Learn More
This list is not intended to be complete, rather a starting point for noticing books, authors, and embodied experiences that can help establish healthy daily rhythms and routines. You can find more about the life and work of Thich Nhat Hanh on the Plum Village website where he lived and practiced. Links to the website, as well as directly to a list of books he has published can be found below.
References
[1] https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/key-books/
