Being Peace

Dear Friend,

This semester, the two of us are taking a World Religions course. Well, in Kylie's case, she has an independent study where she's watching videos through an online course (due to a class scheduling ruh roh). But in Catherine's class, in order to introduce the unit on Buddhism, a class period was devoted to beginning the book Being Peace. 

Being Peace is a collection of teachings on peace and meditation by the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk and peace activist, Thich Nhat Hanh. After reading the first couple pages, you are immediately captivated by this book's message. While the book itself is easy to read, the many lessons intertwined on each page hold concepts that can lead to great reflection. The two of us have always been interested in Buddhism- in fact, Kylie considers herself a Buddhist (she went through this whole conversion process awhile ago- we'll save that story for another time). We consider many Buddhist teachings very valuable and relevant to the way the two of us want to live each day.

So as we continue to read Being Peace, we thought we'd share our experience in hopes that we are able to make sense of complex ideas as well as share some meaningful messages. In upcoming posts, we'll be sharing what we've learned- chapter by chapter. We have a really good feeling about this book, and we hope it turns out to be just as eye-opening and special to all of you as it already is for us.

"Enlightenment is always there. Small enlightenment will bring great enlightenment. If you breathe in and are aware that you are alive—that you can touch the miracle of being alive—then that is a kind of enlightenment." - Thich Nhat Hanh 

Yours truly,
Kylie and Catherine