Reverence for Life – Thich Nhat Hanh

In order to simplify or make accessible the four noble truths and eight fold path (Buddhist teachings/percepts) to the diversity, especially English speaking people, the great sage Thich Nhat Hanh came up with the ‘five mindfulness trainings’. Here we shall examine a few verses mainly from the first mindfulness training “Reverence for Life”. In the following quotation Thich Nhat Hanh summarises the first mindful training in an interview with Andrea Miller:

“..The first one is about protecting life and is motivated by the insight of interbeing and compassion…” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Before we go any further, we can see Buddhism or at least Thich Nhat Hanh places a high price on protecting life and that the key motivations for this discipline are insight of inter-being and compassion. There are some sects of Buddhism that adhere to this primary belief and we shall update this page in due course but in short the Shaolin monks adhere to the simple vegan diet, dispelling any myths about animal protein being consistent with strength as the Shaolin have probably the most powerful and effective non-violent defence techniques in the world and have done so for millennia. However the fact that they abstain from animal protein is not for the health benefits but is rather more in line with ‘Thich’s’ primary belief. However, unfortunately other than the simple adheres to plant based nutrition we do not hear of any other expressions of this primary belief coming from the Shaolin, unlike the Mahāyāna sects who engage in various direct actions and or civil disobedience. Again we shall consider their actions in more detail in due course but for now let us complete the first mindful training:

Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I am committed to cultivating the insight of interbeing and compassion and learning ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to support any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, or in my way of life. Seeing that harmful actions arise from anger, fear, greed, and intolerance, which in turn come from dualistic and discriminative thinking, I will cultivate openness, non-discrimination, and non-attachment to views in order to transform violence, fanaticism, and dogmatism in myself and in the world.

Again it is unclear to what extent the later sect of Buddhism adhere to simple plant based nutrition but it is highly likely that they are indeed vegans excluding all animal protein and products from their chain of interbeing (their lives). Their expressions of this  mindful training as noted is acted out in acts of direct action and civil disobedient ranging from ‘tree hugging’ covering trees with various materials of which render it immoral, disrespectful and offensive to harm such trees. Furthermore, other sects look to liberate animals directly obtaining them from their ‘slave masters’ and returning them to the wild or places of sanctuary, the Kopan Monastry offers a good example of this.

It doesn’t stop there, it is not always possible for Buddhists to express their commitment to non-violence, some of who in desperation to be heard and evoke change attempt self-immolation here explained by Thich. Thich’s explanation echos that of the animal rights activist Keith Mann who explains that due to corruption within the established order, activists are being forced into a corner whereby their is very little they can do to be heard than some controversial non-violent action. One might argue there is an element of self-harm but we support Thich and Mann’s views, that in some cases it may be more harmful for a person, and activist a Buddhist not to take action – and their is a long line of complacency in humanity which now sees the planet earth and all its glory on the brink of destruction, either through devastating amounts of green house gases caused primarily by the animal production industry, or else the threat of nuclear wars. From animal standpoint theory, this is no coincidence.

A Case in Point: