On a Quiet Path, Seeking Solace in the Here and Now : Buddhism: Exiled Zen master tutors initiates of many faiths in how to live for the present.

By LARRY B. STAMMER

Oct. 16, 1993 12 AM PT

TIMES RELIGION WRITER

The Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, the exiled Buddhist Zen master from Vietnam, walks slowly down the wooded path near the Ventura County coast.

Behind him an estimated 230 women, men and children follow quietly at the same measured pace--mindful of the Earth on which each foot treads.

At intervals Thich Nhat Hanh (pronounced Tick Not Hahn) stops. A bell resonates, beckoning wandering minds back to the present, back to the eternal now.

Silently, they repeat the gatha , or refrain: “Listen. Listen. I arrive. I am home.”

Consciously, they “breathe in and breathe out,” “breathe in and breathe out,” as the clear tone of the bell fades into the breeze.

What were these people doing on a meditation walk with this slight and gentle Buddhist monk, poet and political figure--a man whom the late Martin Luther King Jr. nominated for the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize?

Many of them had been reared as Catholics, Protestants or Jews. Had their historic faiths and cultural heritages failed them? How was it that these Westerners were following a path of Eastern spirituality?

Like many Americans whose daily lives are preoccupied with hopes and dreams of the future or what happened in the past--or simply ground down by the drudgery of daily routine--these initiates are seeking refuge in the present. Their hope is to become fully alive and able to transcend anxiety or sorrow.

In the Buddhist vernacular it is called being mindful as opposed to being forgetful. Being mindful is not a matter of faith, they are told, but a matter of practice.

“Being mindful, you suddenly become present, and being in the present moment they will be able to touch all the wonders of life,” Nhat Hanh, 67, told his students, gathered last week at Camp Hess Kramer, a Jewish retreat about 25 miles north of Santa Monica in Ventura County.

Buddhism, of course, is not the only belief system that counsels presence. In an interview, Nhat Hanh (whose title is Thich, an honorific akin to reverend) noted that many Christians envision the “real presence” of Jesus in the sacrament of the bread and wine.

He noted that in Matthew 6:34 Jesus says: “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.”

Indeed, after meeting Nhat Hanh in 1966, famed Trappist monk Thomas Merton marveled: “Thich Nhat Hanh is more my brother than many who are nearer to me in race and nationality, because he and I see things in exactly the same way.”

The trouble is that many have forgotten their spiritual roots, Nhat Hanh said, or have not studied their religions.

One of those at the retreat, Gaila Allen, a child welfare worker from Berkeley, explained. “Christianity teaches of ‘a still small voice’ within us,” she said. “I’ve always had a sense that those seeds reside within me. . . . Christianity teaches that--but Buddhism cultivates it.”

Nhat Hanh, whose works are banned in his native Vietnam and who lives in exile an hour’s train ride outside Paris, said he counsels those brought up in other traditions to return to them even as they engage in Buddhist spiritual exercises.

Participant Dale Schellenger of Denver, who was confirmed in the Lutheran church, said: “Buddhism doesn’t take anything away from you, so I’m not sure I’m done dealing with Christianity.

“In the beginning, Buddhism seemed more human to me. It’s almost like I had to go back to Christianity through Buddhism.”

Many are turning to Buddhism, Nhat Hanh said, because of a lack of communication in society--and because of the absence of love, the presence of too much violence and the breakdown of families.

Although living in the present will not make problems go away, Nhat Hanh explains, it will provide enough strength to confront problems effectively.

“Buddhism is very centering,” said Lisa Leeman of Echo Park, who grew up in a Jewish-Christian home. “When things start to go crazy, practicing Buddhism bleeds into your life, and there have been moments when I’ve been able to let go.”

In his recent book, “Touching Peace: Practicing the Art of Mindful Living,” Nhat Hanh implores: “We must stop destroying our body and soul for the idea of happiness in the future. We have to learn to live happily in the present moment, to touch the peace and joy that are available now.

“If someone were to ask us, ‘Has the best moment of your life arrived yet?’ we may say that it will come very soon. But if we continue to live in the same way, it may never arrive. We have to transform this moment into the most wonderful moment, and we can do that by stopping--stopping running to the future, stopping worrying about the past, stopping accumulating so many possessions. You are a free person; you are alive. Open your eyes and enjoy the sunshine, the beautiful sky and the wonderful children all around you.”

Speaking outdoors near a large wooden menorah fashioned from logs, Nhat Hanh elaborated. “Mindfulness is a light. It shows the way. You know what to do and what not to do--now. It protects you. You are free from insecurity, free from fear, because you have touched the best within yourself.”

Nhat Hanh points out that conscious breathing has been practiced for 3,000 years.

“As we breathe in, we know we are breathing in, and as we breathe out, we know we are breathing out,” he wrote. “As we do this, we observe many elements of happiness inside us and around us. We can really enjoy touching our breathing and our being alive.”

The sound of the bell is a reminder to practice the present, he told his students.

First, there is a muted bell. “This is half of a bell sound,” Nhat Hanh explained. It is intended to prepare them to be fully present so that they may enjoy the whole sound.

“The sound of the bell is the voice of the Buddha calling us back to our true home,” he said.

“Our practice is the practice of arriving and we are arriving every second . . . from forgetfulness to mindfulness. We make ourselves available to the here and now in order for us to encounter life.”

Mindfulness is one of 51 categories of mental formations. Others include violence and feelings. But consciousness is the basis for all. There are practical suggestions too. “True love does not admit pride.” “Speak promptly of your pain.”

Nhat Hanh told the story of a husband who wrongly believed he had not fathered the son he was rearing. One day a friend told the father, “The boy looks like you.” The father’s relationship with the boy changed for the better. He saw the truth in their resemblance. But between the misperception and the reality there had been 12 years of pain for both.

“You may have a wrong perception of someone and you may continue to hate that person for your whole life--and you do injustice to him and to yourself,” Nhat Hanh said. “Are you sure?”

Finding inner peace is part of a quest that can lead to world peace, Nhat Hanh said. Banished from Vietnam first by the South Vietnamese government in 1966 and later by the victorious Communist government, Nhat Hanh so impressed King that the civil rights leader called a Chicago news conference in May, 1966, to declare his opposition to the Vietnam War. Nhat Hanh stood by his side.

During the war, Nhat Hanh co-founded the School of Youth for Social Service in Vietnam, a movement of more than 10,000 young people grounded in Buddhist precepts of nonviolence.

Nhat Hanh said he continues to be prohibited from returning to his country because the government sees him as a threat. He said the government saw how the Roman Catholic Church in Eastern Europe helped bring the downfall of the Iron Curtain and fears Buddhists may do the same in Vietnam. But he and other Buddhists wish only to practice their faith, he said.