Thay’s 100th Continuation Day
by Carolina León Rolón
Dear Community,
With a grateful heart, we join the collective celebration of the 100th anniversary of our beloved teacher’s birth.
The monastic community has transmitted to us how, for his birthday, Thay would say that the most beautiful present we could offer him was our sincere practice. We can ask ourselves what concrete practice we want to offer Thay –and ourselves– as a present. We can choose one action that we can incorporate in our daily lives that will help us be Thay’s continuation every day.
What action can help me continue Thay into the future?
We are grateful to our beloved Thay as he worked mindfully to create the conditions that allow us to have the precious opportunity to practice as one spiritual global community. Now, following Thay’s path, we have the opportunity to keep nourishing joyful seeds in our hearts and local communities, we can keep strengthening our capacity to continue his engaged commitment in a world that needs deep understanding and our compassionate action. As a present to Thay, we can ask ourselves what concrete actions we can offer our spiritual community to contribute to grow our collective capacity for accessibility, racial, social, gender justice, inclusivity and diversity of the human and more than human within our mahasangha.
What actions can help us continue Thay into the future?
We offer this Touching of the Earth that we practiced together during our monthly online gathering this Sunday, October 11th, 2026. We hope you feel inspired by it to include it in your practice or to create a similar one for you and your sangha.
Touching the Earth with Thay
Touching the Earth, I bow to our beloved teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, peaceful and beautiful flower of Mother Earth.
Bell – We touch the Earth
October 11th, 1926, Vietnam, I see Thay as a new born baby, I feel his tenderness, his vulnerability, I see that his original fear and my own are one and the same, I hold him lovingly until his tears dry and a smile is born in his lips, I smile too. I see Thay as a young child playing with other children, I hear the joyful music of his laughter experiencing the freedom of being fully in the present moment with a group of friends. I see Thay as a young monk exploring his spiritual aspiration, learning diligently the ancestral teachings, I hear him practicing the art of inviting the bell mindfully for all beings. I see Thay hearing the bombs, looking at the eyes of death, I feel his fear, his anger and his powerful determination to rebuild the conditions for true peace. I see Thay working mindfully with Sr Chan Khong and so many to help the boat people, working for social justice with the School of Youth for Social Service, advocating for peace and sowing peace with each step with Dr Martin Luther King. I see Thay’s founding the Order of Interbeing with the first six Order of Interbeing members, I see them and their spiritual aspiration in me, I see myself as part of the multifold sangha. In gratitude, I bow to Thay and the Plum Village tradition and vow to continue learning, practicing and sharing the spiritual teachings that Thay offered us to walk the path that transforms suffering, the path for the liberation of all beings. I breath and I feel my breath is one with Thay’s breath. I open my heart to receive Thay’s words with all my being:
The heart of the Buddha has been touched by our being wonderfully together. Please practice as an individual, a family, a city, a nation, and a worldwide community. Please take good care of the happiness of everyone around you. Enjoy your breathing, your smiling, your shining the light of mindfulness on each thing you do. Please practice transformation at the base through deep looking and deep touching. The teachings of the Buddha on transformation and healing are very deep. They are not theoretical. They can be practiced every day. Please practice them and realize them. I am confident that you can do it. —TNH, The Hearth of the Buddha’s Teaching, “Touching the Buddha Within”, p.253, 2015.
