With terrorist attacks, civil war in Syria, and other sporadic conflicts around the world, today can seem like an even more chaotically violent time than when Sister Chân Không started her work during the Vietnam War. But the Buddhist nun, who lives in France’s Plum Village with more than 100 nuns, laypeople, and monks, including her mentor, Thích Nhất Hạnh, sees things more cyclically, noting that violence was quite prevalent during the Buddha’s lifetime, too. As the Buddha preached then, she believes that “practicing peace” will help move the world in a better direction.
Sister Chân Không comes to Trinity Episcopal Church (1500 State St.) on Wednesday, October 12, at 7 p.m. to lead a meditation and speak with Pacifica Graduate Institute’s Joseph Bobrow in a talk titled Being Peace in Divisive Times, an event sponsored by the Deep Streams Zen Institute. We spoke over the phone last week, and here’s what she had to say.
Thoughts on terrorism? She wants to send peace to victims of terrorist attacks, but also perpetrators. “We must send good energy to those who are terrorists,” she said. “They are victims of their own wrong perception. By sending love and kindness to them, they will not think that way.”