I was approached with this amazing opportunity to write the authorized biography of Thích Nhất Hạnh, who is this Zen Buddhist monk. What’s interesting is that when I was approached by his publisher to see if I would work on this book, I was actually on my way to Vietnam for the first time in 30 years, to visit my grandmother, and she lives in Central Vietnam.
And so when we were there we went to visit the temple where he was staying. And he’s very, he’s very ill, so he wasn’t seeing many people, but his senior advisors kind of took me on a tour of the grounds where he became a monk, and kind of like told me a lot about his story.
And then when my family came back to pick me up, my parents were there, my wife and my boys, the nun who was giving me the tour said, ‘Well, why don’t we go up to his quarters? We can kind of look around and just see where he’s staying. It’ll give you a good sense of what his life is like right now.’ And so, we go up there, and she goes into his quarters while we’re looking around, and my kids are just, you know, doing what kids do, just kind of playing out in the courtyard. And then she comes out a minute later and says, ‘This never happens, but he is inviting your whole family to come in and say hello.’
He is known for loving children, like children bring him so much joy. So, in my mind I think maybe he saw my children and wanted to say hello. So, they brought us into his space and he held my children’s hands, and you saw this huge smile on his face. And my mother who is a disciple of his didn’t think she would ever get to see him again, so she was just like so emotional and like got to pay her respects to him.
And it was such a powerful moment, especially since my oldest son is about the age that I was when I met him when I was a child. So, it really does feel like things have come full circle. And to be able to pass on that personal experience to my children to me kind of feels appropriate for writing a book that will share some of his teachings with the children to come and with a new generation of readers. So, it was a very, very special moment for me and my family.
