Chân Không
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Chân Không (born 1938) is an
expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...
Vietnamese
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
Bhikkhunī A bhikkhunī ( pi, 𑀪𑀺𑀓𑁆𑀔𑀼𑀦𑀻) or bhikṣuṇī ( sa, भिक्षुणी) is a fully ordained female monastic in Buddhism. Male monastics are called bhikkhus. Both bhikkhunis and bhikkhus live by the Vinaya, a set ...
(
nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
) and
peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...
activist who has worked closely with
Thích Nhất Hạnh Thích Nhất Hạnh ( ; ; born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo; 11 October 1926 – 22 January 2022) was a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, prolific author, poet and teacher, who founded the Plum Village Tradition, historically recogni ...
in starting the
Plum Village Tradition The Plum Village Tradition is a school of Buddhism named after the Plum Village Monastery in France, the first monastic practice center founded by Thích Nhất Hạnh. It is an approach to Engaged Buddhism mainly from a Mahayana perspective ...
and helping conduct spiritual retreats internationally.


Early life

Chân Không was born Cao Ngoc Phuong in 1938 in Bến Tre, French Indochina in the center of the Mekong Delta. As the eighth of nine children in a middle-class family, her father taught her and her siblings the value of work and humility. She quotes her father as saying: "...never bargain with a poor farmer because for you a few dong may not be much, but for him it is enough to support his children."


Education

In 1958 she enrolled in the University of Saigon to study
biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
. She was also involved in political action, becoming the student leader at the University, spending much of her time helping the poor and sick in the slums of the city. She first met Thích Nhất Hạnh in 1959 and considered him her spiritual teacher. In 1963 she left for
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
to finish her degree in biology which was awarded in 1964. She returned to Vietnam later that year and joined Thích Nhất Hạnh in founding the Van Hanh University.


Youth and Social Service

Chân Không was central in the foundation and many of the activities of the Youth and Social Service (SYSS) which organized medical, educational and agricultural facilities in rural Vietnam during the war. At one stage the SYSS involved over 10,000 young peace workers who rebuilt many villages ravaged by the fighting. When Thích Nhất Hạnh returned to the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, Chân Không ran the day-to-day operations.


Order of Interbeing

On February 5, 1966 Chân Không was
ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...
as one of the first six members of the
Order of Interbeing The Order of Interbeing ( vi, Tiếp Hiện, anglicised Tiep Hien, french: Ordre de l'Interêtre) is an international Buddhist community of monks, nuns and laypeople in the Plum Village Tradition founded between 1964 and 1966 by Vietnamese Buddhi ...
, sometimes called the "Six Cedars". Following her ordination, she was given the name Sister Chân Không, True Emptiness. In explaining the meaning of the name, she says: "In Buddhism, the word 'emptiness' is a translation of the
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
sunyata. It means 'empty of a separate self.' It is not a negative or despairing term. It is a celebration of interconnectedness, of interbeing. It means nothing can exist by itself alone, that everything is inextricably interconnected with everything else. I know that I must always work to remember that I am empty of a separate self and full of the many wonders of this universe, including the generosity of my grandparents and parents, the many friends and teachers who have helped and supported me along the path, and you dear readers, without whom this book could not exist. We inter-are, and therefore we are empty of an identity that is separate from our interconnectedness." The Order of Interbeing was to be composed of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. The first six ordainees were free to choose whether they preferred to live and practice as formal monastics or as laypersons. The first three women chose to live celibate lives like nuns, although they didn't shave their heads, while the three men chose to marry and practice as lay Buddhists. Among the three women was
Nhat Chi Mai Nhất Chi Mai (February 20, 1934 – May 16, 1967), born Phan Thị Mai and legally named Thích nữ Diệu Huỳnh, was a Buddhist nun who killed herself in an act of self-immolation in Saigon on May 16, 1967 in protest at the Vietnam War. Ear ...
, known for her active participation in the group "Youth Serving Society" who taught within various orphanages and
immolated ''Immolated'' is the first album by the Polish death metal band Dies Irae released in 2000 by Metal Blade Records. A video was filmed for the track "Lion Of Knowledge". Track listing Credits * Marcin "Novy" Nowak - bass, vocals * Maurycy " ...
herself in 1967 for peace. From 1969 to 1972 Chân Không worked with Thích Nhất Hạnh in Paris organizing the Buddhist Peace Delegation which campaigned for peace in Vietnam. She then worked with Thích Nhất Hạnh to establish the first the Sweet Potato community near Paris, then
Plum Village Monastery The Plum Village Monastery ( vi, Làng Mai; french: Village des pruniers) is a Buddhist monastery of the Plum Village Tradition in the Dordogne, southern France near the city of Bordeaux. It was founded by two Vietnamese monastics, Thích Nhấ ...
in 1982. Chân Không accompanied and assisted Thích Nhất Hạnh when he traveled. In addition, she has organized relief work for those in need in Vietnam, by coordinating relief food parcels for poor children and medicine for the sick, and has helped organize activities at Plum Village. Sister Chân Không ordained as a nun by Thích Nhất Hạnh in 1988 on ulture Peak in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. During the three-month return to Vietnam (January to early April, 2005), Thích Nhất Hạnh spoke to thousands of people throughout the country - bureaucrats, politicians, intellectuals, street vendors, taxi drivers, artists. In addition to Thich Thích Nhất Hạnh's Dharma talks, Sister Chân Không also taught and conducted additional mindfulness practices. She led the crowds in singing Plum Village songs, chanting, and leading "total relaxation" sessions. Other times, it was her simple application of Vietnamese heritage to modern ways of life that appealed to the people they met. During
Tết Tết (), short for Tết Nguyên Đán ( Chữ Hán: 節元旦), Spring Festival, Lunar New Year, or Vietnamese Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations in Vietnamese culture. The colloquial term "Tết" is a shortened form of ...
(Vietnamese new year) celebrations in February, she performed an "oracle reading" for hundreds of Buddhist followers.


Declaration of Religious Leaders Against Modern day slavery

In 2014, for the first time in history major Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox Christian leaders, as well as Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist leaders (including Chân Không, representing
Thích Nhất Hạnh Thích Nhất Hạnh ( ; ; born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo; 11 October 1926 – 22 January 2022) was a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, prolific author, poet and teacher, who founded the Plum Village Tradition, historically recogni ...
), met to sign a shared commitment against modern-day slavery; the declaration they signed calls for the elimination of slavery and human trafficking by the year 2020.


Autobiography

Chân Không wrote her autobiography, ''Learning True Love: How I Learned & Practiced Social Change in Vietnam'' in 1993.


Bibliography

* ''Learning True Love: How I Learned & Practiced Social Change in Vietnam'', 1993, Parallax Press, Berkeley, CA, . * ''Be Free Where You Are'', Thích Nhất Hạnh, foreword by Chân Không, Parallax Press, 2005, . * ''Drops of Emptiness'', Thích Nhất Hạnh and Chân Không,
Sounds True In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
Direct, 1998,
ASIN Asin Thottumkal (born 26 October 1985), known mononymously as Asin, is a former Indian actress who appeared predominantly in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu films. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. She has received three Filmfare Awards. She ...
B00000379W. * ''The Present Moment: A Retreat on the Practice of Mindfulness'', Thích Nhất Hạnh and Chân Không, Sounds True, 1994, . * ''Touching the Earth: The Five Prostrations and Deep Relaxation'', Thích Nhất Hạnh and Chân Không, Sounds True, 1997, * ''Beginning Anew: Four Steps to Renewing Communication'', Chân Không, introduction by Thích Nhất Hạnh, Parallax Press, 2014,


See also

* Buddhism in America *
Buddhism in France Buddhism is the third largest religion in France, after Christianity and Islam. France has over two hundred Buddhist meditation centers, including about twenty sizable retreat centers in rural areas. The Buddhist population mainly consists o ...
* Buddhism in Vietnam *'' ONE: The Movie'' *
Women in Buddhism Women in Buddhism is a topic that can be approached from varied perspectives including those of theology, history, anthropology, and feminism. Topical interests include the theological status of women, the treatment of women in Buddhist societi ...


References


External links


One: The Movie (2005)
Sister Chân Không taking part as well as Thích Nhất Hạnh and others {{DEFAULTSORT:Chan Khong Thiền Buddhists Plum Village Tradition 1938 births Living people Buddhist pacifists Vietnamese Buddhist nuns Nonviolence advocates Vietnamese pacifists Women in war in Vietnam Women in warfare post-1945 Zen Buddhist spiritual teachers People from Bến Tre Province 20th-century Buddhist nuns 21st-century Buddhist nuns 21st-century Vietnamese women