The Diamond That Cuts Through Illusion pdf

Thich Nhat Hanh was​ a Vietnamese Buddhist Zen Master, poet, and peace activist and one of the most revered and influential spiritual teachers in the world​. Born in 1926, he became a Zen Buddhist monk at the age of sixteen. His work for peace and reconciliation during the war in Vietnam moved Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. In Vietnam, Thich Nhat Hanh founded Van Hanh Buddhist University and the School of Youth for Social Service, a corps of Buddhist peace​ workers. Exiled as a result of his work for peace, he continued his humanitarian efforts, rescuing boat people and helping to resettle refugees. ​In 1982 he established Plum Village France, the largest Buddhist monastery in Europe​ and the hub of the international Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism​.​​ Over seven decades of teaching, he published a hundred books, which have been translated into more than forty languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide.

The Diamond That Cuts Through Illusion pdf by Thich Nhat Hanh

The Diamond Sutra has fascinated Buddhists for centuries because of its insights into dualism and illusion. It illuminates how our minds construct limited categories of thought. It offers us alternative ways to look at the world in its wholeness so we can encounter a deeper reality; develop reverence for the environment and more harmonious communities, families, and relationships; and act in the world skillfully and effectively. In his trademark style of making even the most esoteric teachings accessible and meaningful for our every day life, Thich Nhat Hanh writes with great humor, even about the more mundane applications of the sutra, such as the insights one may gain while peeing into the woods: “After I studied the Diamond Sutra . . . I realized that peeing is also a marvelous and wondrous reality, our gift to the universe. We only have to pee mindfully, with great respect for ourselves and whatever surroundings we are in."