Parvati Magazine October 2014- Equilibrium | Page 19
BOOKS
His 1991 work “Peace is
Every Step: The Path of
Mindfulness in Everyday
Life” is now 23 years old,
and remains fresh and
timely in an increasingly
agitated world. “Peace
is Every Step” moves from
the call to begin breathing, through the need
to practice mindfulness
through painful emotions,
to an expanded view
of our interconnection
with each other and the
planet and the need to
act with mindfulness in
the face of environmental problems.
Nhat Hanh has mastered, through his own
experience, the balance between inward
individual practice and
outward engaged activism, and he elucidates
on this subject in “Peace
is Every Step”. The two
- inward and outward
gazes - depend on each
other. Mindfulness inspires
compassionate action in
alignment with dharma,
and engagement with
the world keeps our
mindfulness practices
honest and sober rather
than theoretical. Coming
into greater awareness
of the present moment
allows us to begin to see
past our own mental
reactivity into the deep
reality of interconnection,
“interbeing”, and lets us
live a life of equilibrium
within ourselves and in
relationship to the planet
and all things.
Nhat Hanh does not pull
any punches when it
comes to the intensity
of experience in which
we are summoned to be
mindful. His gentle and
humble practice blossomed during violence
in his home country.
He shares in this book a
poem called “Call Me By
My True Names” in which
he finds compassion for,
and interconnection
with, starving children,
arms merchants, a young
refugee girl who commits suicide after being
raped, and the sea pirate who raped her. Yet
he manages never to
come across as preachy
or idealistic in his invitation to look deeply and
compassionately at
events that may tempt us
to rage or hate. His presence itself reminds us that
such compassion is possible, is innate within all of
us.
Accessible to nonpractitioners as well as
to Zen scholars, Nhat
Hanh’s simple writing
style narrates stories and
concepts to make them
available to the widest
audience possible. A
series of short mindfulness
writings, each just a few
paragraphs long, make
for a book that can be
read in large chunks or in
a single mindful sip at a
time.
“Peace is Every Step” is
an ideal book for those
seeking to develop
peace and equilibrium
in their own lives or support peace in the world.
Its approachability and
readability also make it
a gift book suitable for a
wide range of people,
whether or not they
identify with Buddhism
or have ever even tried
meditating.
Pranada Devi is a communications professional living in Toronto, Canada.
She is the Managing Editor of Parvati Magazine, and serves as an advisor
on marketing communications for Parvati’s various projects. Recently, she
edited Parvati’s new book “Confessions of a Former Yoga Junkie”, which is
has gone on to sell out its first two printing runs.