Remembering Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh

The beloved teacher, civil rights activist, and pioneer of engaged Buddhism died on January 22 at midnight (ICT) at his root temple, Tu Hieu Temple, in Hue, Vietnam. He was 95. Hanh suffered from a severe brain hemorrhage in 2014, which left him unable to speak, and had been living at Tu Hieu Temple. After the Plum Village Community, Hanh’s sangha, announced his passing, followers, dharma teachers, and world leaders, including the Dalai Lama, immediately started sharing remembrances and condolences.

Nhat Hanh entered a Buddhist monastery at age 16, devoting his life to the faith. He became a teacher, first leaving Vietnam in 1961 to serve as a guest lecturer at Princeton University and Columbia University. Nhat Hanh returned to Vietnam in 1963 to work toward peace during the long and violent war that raged in his homeland, bringing aid to the people and urging North and South Vietnam to work together to end the war. When Nhat Hanh left Vietnam again in 1966 to tour the world calling for peace, his home country banned him from returning.

Exiled from Vietnam, Nhat Hanh became a powerful symbol of peace, nominated by Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. He established the Plum Village Monastery in southwest France and began spreading his teachings throughout the West. Nhat Hanh wrote dozens of books guiding readers toward peace and mindfulness, and he made Buddhism accessible by suggesting that inner peace can be achieved through living an ordinary life with awareness of things like breath and joy. It was the beginning of the mindfulness movement, and Nhat Hanh attracted Western followers who were less interested in traditional Western religion but loved the spirituality they found in his teachings. Mindfulness grew to become a popular 21st century practice. Nhat Hanh became known as Thay, Vietnamese for teacher.

Nhat Hanh first returned to Vietnam in 2005, almost 40 years since his exile began. He traveled the country and published several of his books in Vietnamese, though he received criticism for not speaking out against religious oppression in the country. Nhat Hanh returned for another tour in 2007. In 2018, after suffering a stroke in 2014 that left him unable to speak, Nhat Hanh went to Vietnam a final time, with the intention of living his final days at Tu Hieu Temple, where he first took his vows.

 

Photo by Duc Truong. Source: Legacy.com.

Walking the Red Road

In John G. Neihardt’s book, Black Elk Speaks, Oglala Lakota holy man and visionary Nicholas Black Elk shares a great vision which came to him in the summer when he was nine years old and which guided him throughout his life. That vision was extremely rich in detail and symbolism, all of which became important to him in the years ahead, but one image which was revealed to him in his vision and informs the entire book is the image of two spiritual paths: the Red Road and the Black Road.
 

The Red Road or Chanku Luta, as it is known by the Lakota, is a metaphor for living a spiritual way of life. It is a unique spiritual path that runs north and south. The Red Road is a way of life and enlightenment which has no end. This road is described as narrow, winding and difficult to follow. During times of difficulty, the Lakota people could always rely upon the Red Road for strength and renewal, just as they could rely upon the Inipi, also known as the sweat lodge ceremony.
 

There is also a fearful black road of troubles and of war, which contrasts with a good red road of spiritual understanding. The Black Road or Chanku Sapa, which runs east and west, is a path of non-spirituality and self-centered greed. The two roads are said to cross in the center of the sacred hoop of the world, where the Tree of Life blooms. Walking the Red Road is a deep sense of obligation and a meaningful personal commitment to purposefully live your life each day, practicing and embodying the seven sacred virtues of the Lakota: prayer, honesty, humility, compassion, respect, generosity and wisdom.

Remembering AIM Co-Founder Clyde Bellecourt

A few days ago, we lost an icon of our time. Clyde Howard Bellecourt (May 8, 1936 – January 11, 2022) was a Native American civil rights organizer. An Anishinaabe activist from the White Earth Reservation, he co-founded the American Indian Movement (AIM) in Minneapolis in 1968 with Dennis Banks, Eddie Benton-Banai and George Mitchell. For years, Bellecourt worked to address issues of poverty and police brutality against Native people. He remained active throughout his long life, eventually becoming a strong advocate for eliminating offensive sports mascots. His Anishinaabe name, Nee-gon-we-way-we-dun, means "Thunder Before the Storm."

Under Bellecourt's leadership, AIM raised awareness of tribal issues related to the federal government, monitored police harassment in Minneapolis, created welfare programs for urban Indians, and founded Indian "survival schools" in the Twin Cities to teach children life skills and to help them learn their traditional cultures. He initiated the Trail of Broken Treaties, a long march to Washington, D.C., in 1972 to serve as a first step to renegotiating federal-tribal nations' treaties and relations. In addition, he founded non-profit groups to undertake economic development to benefit Native Americans.

He became a negotiator at the occupation of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the site of an infamous 1890 massacre of more than 300 Lakota by the U.S. Cavalry. The Wounded Knee Occupation began on February 27, 1973 when about 200 Oglala Lakota and followers of AIM seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. The occupation lasted for a total of 71 days, during which time two Lakota men were shot to death by federal agents and several more were wounded. It was a key moment in the struggle for Native American rights.

In 1993, Bellecourt and others led protests against police brutality in Minneapolis when two intoxicated Native men were driven to the hospital in the trunk of a squad car. Bellecourt continued to direct national and international AIM activities. He coordinated the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media, which has long protested sports teams use of Native American mascots and names, urging them to end such practices; the Washington Redskins finally dropped their mascot in 2020 in response to years of protests. He also led Heart of the Earth, Inc., an interpretive center located behind the site of AIM's former "survival school," which operated from 1972 to 2008 in Minneapolis.

Bellecourt died of cancer on January 11, 2022, at the age of 85. At the time of his death, Bellecourt was the last surviving co-founder of the American Indian Movement. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz stated, "Clyde Bellecourt sparked a movement in Minneapolis that spread worldwide. His fight for justice and fairness leaves behind a powerful legacy that will continue to inspire people across our state and nation for generations to come." According to Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, Bellecourt was a "civil rights leader who fought for more than a half-century on behalf of Indigenous people in Minnesota and around the world. Indian Country benefited from Clyde Bellecourt's activism."

The Rainbow Bridge

As a rhythm seeker, I spent much of my life exploring the rhythms of many of the world's shamanic and spiritual traditions. As I learned the drum ways of various world cultures, I found the same rhythmic qualities underlying all of them. Like the colors of the rainbow, each culture has its own hue or identity, yet each is a part of the whole society. Although the focus or intent differs from culture to culture, rhythmic drumming invariably has the same power and effects in all traditions. The resonant qualities and attributes of these rhythmic phenomena are universal and come into play whenever we drum.
 

The universal power of rhythm is the effects it has on consciousness. Recent studies have demonstrated that rhythmic drumming produces deeper self-awareness by inducing synchronous brain activity. The physical transmission of rhythmic energy to the brain synchronizes the two cerebral hemispheres. This shared resonance integrates conscious and unconscious awareness. The ability to access unconscious information through symbols and imagery facilitates psychological integration and a reintegration of self.
 

The ethereal rainbow arching high into the heavens symbolizes this harmonious union of intuition and intellect. In her book Voices of Our Ancestors: Cherokee Teachings from the Wisdom Fire, Dhyani Ywahoo states, "We are the rainbow, each of us. When we speak of rebuilding the 'Rainbow Bridge,' it is to bring into harmony the left and right hemispheres of the brain, to renew the flow of our intuitive mind." Regarding rhythmic stimulation, she says, "Chanting and drumming were also a significant part of the learning, balancing activity of the right and left hemispheres of the brain."
 

In his book Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing, anthropologist Michael Winkelman reports that drumming also synchronizes the frontal and lower areas of the brain, integrating nonverbal information from lower brain structures into the frontal cortex, producing "feelings of insight, understanding, integration, certainty, conviction, and truth, which surpass ordinary understandings and tend to persist long after the experience, often providing foundational insights for religious and cultural traditions."
 

Brain hemisphere synchronization connects us to the guidance of our own intuitive knowing. Intuition reveals appropriate action in the moment for a given set of circumstances. Synchronous activity appears within consciousness as the most natural thing to do. One can readily perceive what aims are in accord with the cosmos and not waste energy on discordant pursuits. By allowing the intuition to lead the body, one attains clarity in movement. So long as one follows one's intuitive sense, one's actions will be in sync with the true self and ultimately the cosmos.

Native American Gourd Rattles

Native American artisans have long utilized gourds to make many items, including utensils, serving bowls and rattles. The gourd rattle represents the three kingdoms in Native American culture, with the animal kingdom represented by feathers, the mineral kingdom represented by rocks inside the rattle, and the plant kingdom represented by the gourd itself. Music, many Native people believe, is a vessel used to transform ourselves into spiritual beings capable of healing ourselves and others through the transfer of energy, and these rattles are commonly used during ceremonies of song and dance. The following are some examples of gourd rattles crafted by Native Americans:
 

The Kachina Rattle
 

The gourd rattle used by the Hopi Katsinam (spirit messengers) is highly symbolic. Often only painted light blue with little decoration, this special instrument is used in Kachina dance and ceremony, and also as a gift given to children during their initiation ceremonies into the Kachina Society. The rattle is constructed of a flattened gourd, which represents the earth, and the handle represents the axis of the Hero Twins, iconic figures of ancient Hopi lore who help keep the earth spinning.
 

The Peyote Rattle
 

The Peyote rattle (pictured above) was frequently used during Native American church ceremonies, and was an important element of the Half Moon ceremony. A community elder is in charge of leading this ceremony, which involves the ingestion of dried peyote, a hallucinogenic cactus that was believed to induce visions. This rattle was also constructed from a spherical gourd shape and filled with nut or seed.
 

The Iroquois Rattle
 

According to the Iroquois or "people of the longhouse," the gourd rattle is the sound of Creation. The Iroquoian creation stories tell of the first sound, a shimmering sound, which went out in all directions; this was the sound of "the Creator's thoughts." The seeds of the gourd rattle embody the voice of the Creator, since they are the source of newly created life. The seeds within the rattle scatter the illusions of the conscious mind, planting seeds of pure and clear mind.
 

The Shaman's Rattle
 

The shaman's rattle is used to invoke the assistance of power animals and helping spirits. It is also possible to direct energy with rattles, much like a magician with a magic wand. Healing energy can be mentally transmitted through the rattle and out into the environment or into a patient's body. Prayer and intention can be broadcast to the spirit world. Moreover, you can create sacred space by describing a circle with the rattle while shaking it.