Engaged Buddhism of Thich Nhat Hanh Allies With Ajanta Jataka Tales

Summary: Just, mindful, peaceful Engaged Buddhism of founder Thich Nhat Hanh in twentieth-century Vietnam activates Ajanta jataka tales in fifth-century India.

As one of the founders of An Quang Buddhist Institute in 1949, Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh built the institute's temple, which was actually named Ung Quang, with Venerable Tri Huu, a Dharma teacher from Danang; An Quang Pagoda (Chua An Quang), 243 Master Van Hanh Street, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Vietnam; Thursday, Sep. 22, 2005, 14:03: Lerdsuwa, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

The twentieth- and twenty-first-century Engaged Buddhism of founder Thich Nhat Hanh in Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam allies with the fifth-century Ajanta jataka tales in India.

The Engaged Buddhism of founder Thich Nhat Hanh, from 1954 onward, belongs within the mass-enlightening Mahayana Buddhist (from Sanskrit महायान, "great vehicle" and बुद्ध, "awakened") tradition. The 1,300- to 2,300-year-old Ajanta (from Sanskrit अजित, "invincible") Caves, like Vietnamese culture, commemorate 2,350-year-old self-enlightening Theravada (from Sanskrit स्थविरवाद, "elders' doctrine") and 2,000-year-old Mahayana Buddhism. Ajanta jataka (from Sanskrit जातक, "born under") tales describe 550 bodhisattva (from Sanskrit बोधिसत्त्व, "enlightened existence") reincarnations of Gautama (from Sanskrit गोतम, "brightness [dispels] darkness") Buddha.

Literal, painted, sculpted, symbolic Ajanta jataka tales expose Gautama Buddha's emergence as enlightened 35- to 80-year-old Siddhartha (from Sanskrit सिद्धार्थ, "successful") and 549 other sentient beings.

Thich Nhat Hanh formulates Engaged Buddhism for just, mindful, peaceful economics, education, politics and society from the Vietnamese di vao cuoc doi ("to enter social life").

Thich Nhat Hanh's years (1949-1961) as founding teacher at An Quang Buddhist Institute in the former Saigon at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, guide Engaged Buddhism. His 10 serialized articles, A Fresh Look at Buddhism, for Vu Ngoc Cac, manager of a daily newspaper in southeast Vietnam, heralded Engaged Buddhism in 1954. His second 10-article series, Buddhism Today, for Duc Tam, editor of a Buddhist magazine in Hue, central Vietnam, imparted more information on Engaged Buddhism in 1954.

Thich Nhat Hanh joined the two 10-article series into the publications Dao Phat Di Vao Cuoc Doi and, as the English equivalent, Engaged Buddhism, in 1964.

Thich Nhat Hanh founding Phuong Boi ("Fragrant Palm Leaves Monastery") practice in highland Vietnam in 1956 kindled Dao Phat Hien Dai Hoa ("Buddhism Updated") in 1964.

Thich Nhat Hanh launching the School of Youth for Social Service and Van Hanh University in central Vietnam in 1964 links with that and subsequent publications. Thich Nhat Hanh maintained the Engaged Buddhism momentum as La Boi and Parallax Press publishing house respective founder in Vietnam and California in 1964 and 1987. His Plum Village Tradition nestles one Australian mindfulness center, one German, one Hong Kongese, one Thai, two French and three United Statesian centers within Engaged Buddhism.

The Engaged Buddhism of founder Thich Nhat Hanh observes Five and Fourteen Mindfulnesses from Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path in Ajanta jataka tales.

The Four Noble Truths present ill-being through ill-living and well-living through the well-being of eightfold, non-self-aggrandizing, non-self-mortifying understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration.

Anger-free, communal, compassionate and healthy, free-thinking, generous, humane, loving, non-attached, non-punitive, nourishing and protective, open-minded, present-minded, reverent, truthful mindfulnesses queue up from 34 Ajanta jataka tales. Ajanta caves 1, 2, 16 and 17 retain 34 reincarnations recorded in Arya Shura's Jatakamala ("The Garland of Birth Stories") from Siddhartha Gautama's (624?-544 BCE?) revelations. Their literal, painted, sculpted, symbolic Ajanta jataka tales suggest the mass- and self-enlightening virtues of benevolence, determination, equanimity, generosity, insight, morality, patience, reality, renunciation and vigor.

Ajanta jataka tales of enlightened, enlightening, golden hamsa (from Sanskrit हंस, "goose") Dhatarattha and 33 others transmit activist, mass-enlightening, mindful, peaceful, self-enlightening tenets to Engaged Buddhism.

depiction of Jataka Mala's Hamsa Jataka, Ajanta Cave 17; Ajanta Caves, Maharashtra, west-central India: Yann Forget, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

As one of the founders of An Quang Buddhist Institute in 1949, Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh built the institute's temple, which was actually named Ung Quang, with Venerable Tri Huu, a Dharma teacher from Danang; An Quang Pagoda (Chua An Quang), 243 Master Van Hanh Street, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Vietnam; Thursday, Sep. 22, 2005, 14:03: Lerdsuwa, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HCMC_An_Quang.jpg

depiction of Jataka Mala's Hamsa Jataka, Ajanta Cave 17; Ajanta Caves, Maharashtra, west-central India: Yann Forget, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hamsa_jâtaka,_Ajanta,_India.jpg

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