I was approached with this amazing opportunity to write the authorized biography of Thích Nhất Hạnh, who is this Zen Buddhist monk. He is such a powerful force in my family, he’s Vietnamese, and I grew up with him as such a strong presence within my, within my life. He actually gave my mother her Buddhist name and my grandparents knew him when he was first in the United States, and I think back in Vietnam.
But for me to see a Vietnamese individual like that, who has had such a global impact, he’s done so much to bring Buddhism to the world, to make it accessible to people that it was a true honor to get to work on this project. I actually met him when I was a child at a meditation retreat and that’s how the title A Lotus for You came about because I remember talking to him, and he was talking to me and my sisters, and he bowed to us, and when he held his hands like this he said, ‘I’m making my hands in the shape of a lotus bud because within you and within everyone you meet we all have the potential to become a Buddha.’
The Buddha isn’t some like superhero figure out there in the world that is unattainable. It’s like the nature of Buddha is within every individual. And so he was like, ‘When I’m greeting you with this lotus bud it’s a recognition of the fact that you have the bud of a Buddha within you that can someday flower into, like a lotus bud will flower into a lotus that you as an individual can blossom into a Buddha through practice and mindfulness.
And that’s such a powerful, that’s such a powerful message to me as a child that, that I and everyone around me has that potential. And so, when I was working on this book it was something that I wanted to convey to a young audience kind of to give a sense of his spirit and personality, and also share some of his teachings. He has done so much to bring Buddhism to the world. To have the opportunity to share his message with a new generation of readers is, is truly an honor.
