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Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals, 1962-1966

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At one point Thich Nhat Hanh writes: "The storm will break at any moment. We can't hide our heads in the sand. We must be like the trees. We must dispel all indifference and uncertainty and be ready to face the storm. We cannot remain attached to our youthful innocence. We must strengthen ourselves for the coming test." And this for me is representative of the book - simple yet strong, rooted, inspiring. Beautifully written and fascinating. Nhat Hanh is 36 years old; in exile in America, remembering the community he built in Vietnam. It is remarkable that he wrote it nearly 40 years ago; and for those who know of his subsequent achievements and writings it reads prophetically also - the strength and simplicity of his outlook shine through.

Reading Thich Nhat Hanh's 'Essential Writings' is like having Michael Jordan teach you how to play basketball. The focus is not on the dazzling tricks. It's about the fundamentals. And they are few --- compassion, mindfulness, tolerance, breathing.

Hearing Thich Nhat Hanh lecture is to experience holiness on a very high order. We once drove hours to hear him talk about death. You would expect him to focus on theology. But what I took away was completely practical: Hold the dying person's feet, as he/she may not feel connected to the earth.

But it is when he is most personal that Thich Nhat Hanh is at his best. And 1962 to 1966 were key years for him. With some other "committed" Buddhist monks, he had tried to broker peace in his native Vietnam. No one --- not even the Buddhist hierarchy --- wanted any. In 1966, he was exiled. (He didn't return to Vietnam for 40 years.)

'Fragrant Palm Leaves' begins in a cabin in the New Jersey woods. It's 1962. Thich Nhat Hanh is 36. American troops have not yet been dispatched to Vietnam, but there has already been death aplenty. Thich Nhat Hanh, sick of heart, has come to teach and study at Columbia University.

The journals begin with scenes of a peace that Thich Nhat Hanh can find anywhere, even in this unfamiliar country: "Some mornings I stay in the woods all day, strolling leisurely beneath the trees and lying down on the carpet of soft moss, my arms folded, my eyes looking up to the sky. In those moments, I'm a different person; it would probably be accurate to say that I am 'my true' self." He is childlike: "Today I went with two eight-year-old boys to pick some [berries], and we stuffed our mouths until they turned blue!"

Surrounded by nature, he can't help recalling Phuong Boi, the monastery he and some friends built in Vietnam. In 1957, its 60 acres cost $140. "Here, for the first time," he recalls, "we were sheltered from the harshness of worldly affairs." On full moon nights, in deep silence, he watches, in awe, as the moon and forest merge. By day, he works the land, meditates and prays. Walking can't express his joy at being here --- so he runs.

You may feel a great peace as you read his account of daily life at the monastery. At the same time, you'll feel a deep dread --- you know this peace can't last. And, soon enough, the arrests begin: "You could be accused of being a Viet Cong by anyone who opposed you."

For Thich Nhat Hanh, the war is both external and internal. "Finding truth is not the same as finding happiness," he cautions. "You aspire to see the truth, but once you have seen it, you cannot avoid suffering." And does he ever suffer! "I feel the unbearable pain of a woman who is about to give birth to a child she already knows will be sentenced to death." But he always finds a balance. Suffering is a wonder. It helps us learn "how to ride the waves of impermanence, smiling as one who knows he has never been born and will never die."

In 1964, he returns to Vietnam, and the ideas he explored in America are put to the test. He's ten miles from Saigon now; he can hear gunfire. Phuong Boi has been abandoned. And the United States is pushing an unworkable strategy: "How can you win a war with bullets when you do not even know where the front line is?"

Now it is 1965. The house at Phuong Boi "is a pile of ashes where wild mushrooms grow." And yet, for Thich Nhat Hanh, the house still exists --- it was a place of love, and love endures. Indeed, if he too is burned to ashes, "those ashes will be love and will nestle in the heart of the earth to nourish the flowers."

His conclusion couldn't be more gorgeous: "We will return to the circle of life as flowers, grasses, birds or clouds to bring people the message of eternal love. Like the village children who, even in this time of war, sing: 'We will love others forever and ever, hand holding hand. We love others forever.'"

What a thing to learn from war! And he learned it the hard way: "not from intellectual investigation but from my actual experience of suffering." To have compassion for those who have made you suffer --- I have such trouble with that. And yet, as Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us, there is no other answer.

From the New Jersey woods to Vietnam, and then beyond --- in just 212 pages, Thich Nhat Hanh takes you very far. Like all the way to peace.

Even if you're not interested in Buddhism, this book offers food for our everyday thoughts. Written in a clean, lucid style, Thich Nhat Hahn shares moments from his life during the tubulent period of the 1960's. From the shores of a lake in New Jersey, to the bustling streets of New York City, back again to his beloved homeland of Vietnam, Nhat Hahn's experiences appear to have provided him with valuable insight, strengthing his resolve in matters concerning compassion and love. For those who enjoy memoirs, this book is a must read. His approach to writing is simple, yet poetic, offering sections both humorous and sad. In other words, it's about life in the here and now.

Thich would not need my review of his work. I can no longer wash my hands and not think of rain and mountain streams.

This is an incredible memoir and philosophical discussion. Thich uses the memoir as a vehicle to teach his philosophy. But in that you can still sense the pain of loss, the pain and frustration of rejection by his country and his abandonment. But it is also a hopeful piece. He does not let the external struggle defeat his soul and his personal peace. He accepts wars and destruction as things he must try to change but must not allow to change him.

The beauty of this book is its honesty. Thich's religion is attractive as a portrait of his individual testimony and light.

There is also a history in the story. A struggle of a simple man and a patriot. A patriot who perhaps lost the war for now.
Also a man who understands that thought and love and peace are separate from the boundaries of politics and culture. He may have lost his war at home, but he certainly won a larger war.

-Mike

I agree with every word of the review written by the Jerusalem reviewer found on this page! This slender volume contains much that could save the world, indeed the profound beauty that emanates from the soul of this revered teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, is such that one is transformed by it fundamentally each time one soaks up its light. These journals, covering especially those periods of his life that manifested for him tremendous human strengths within himself, and from which he has conscientiously built a kind of life-giving ark for the rest of us, are a joy to read, and read again. Everything Nhat Hanh writes is essential. Nothing is wasted, or wastefully passive. Interior action is his watchword, and his own life's example. The milieu of violence and war that so influenced his early adult life he has transformed into a life-giving teaching for humankind. The mark of the poet is everywhere in these pages- slaying the mediocre, lifting up the discarded, transforming the lost. One really cannot praise adequately this unique and gentle volume. If you seek to understand the nature of suffering, its true character, the inevitability of its power to redeem, and are unafraid of confronting the chagrin of your own wastefulness and fearfulness, read this book. It can only leave you freer.

An extraordinary journal - after reading several of Thich Nhat Hanh's key works, I think this may be the best introduction to his ideas.

In FRAGRANT PALM LEAVES, we have writing and ideas expressed with great clarity, and a calm thoughtfulness that contrasts with the turbulence of the era in which they were first written: during these years, Thich Nhat Hanh was moving between New York and New Jersey and the beloved Vietnam he would soon be permanently kicked out of. Through it all, there is a great sense of purpose, and a deep and sophisticated joy in life, but not an ounce of bitterness.

There's a lesson in this - whatever one seeks in Thich Nhat Hanh's writing, you'll find it here, though not perhaps in the expected way - there are few if any 'teachings' here, but instead slice-of-life examples of a mindful life in the face of tremendous adversities.

An unexpected delight.

-David Alston

No matter what the author experiences, he remains hopeful, active and surprisingly positive about each situation and person he encounters. Even in his early years, he was a leader heading in the right direction - quite an example for us mere mortals.

Very interesting to read Thich Nhat Hanh's writings while studying in the US in the 1960'....you can see the seeds of wisdom, compassion and devotion to peace.
A great read for anyone interested in his early works.

It would be easy to assume that Fragrant Palm Leaves is what it says it is---Thich Nhat Hanh's journal between the years 1962-1966.A period chronicling the time he spent at Columbia University, and, in Vietnam where the reality of an escalating war was taking place.However,this book is so much more.If you are someone familar with Nhat Hanh's writings,you will recognize here the essence of his teachings on mindfullness as well as appreciating the beauty and wonder in what seems to be in everything that most people take for granted.Great and insightful writing for sure.
But,there are two things that make this book really special.First, is the bluntness with which Nhat Hanh writes regarding the nature of certain people and governments in general.It's a candor not seen in his later writings, which to me,seem a little too much like self-help Buddhism for the masses.Don't get me wrong,these recent publications are still great but pale in comparison to what's in Fragrant Palm Leaves.The second, is his writing on what him and his associates did on a grass roots level to improve the lives of people and villagers in Vietnam during the war years.Courage,resourcefulness,dedication,love,ingenuity and a persistence in the face of what would seem to most to be impossible odds is the lesson readers will gain from this book.Yes,we can as individuals make a change.
Ever read a book and think as you are reading it,I've got to get this book into the hands of as many of my friends as I can? This is that book.