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. 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 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, Chân Không ran the day-to-day operations. Chan Khong cropped

Order of Interbeing

On February 5, 1966 Chân Không was ordination, ordained as one of the first six members of the Order of Interbeing, 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 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, known for her active participation in the group "Youth Serving Society" who taught within various orphanages and self-immolation, immolated 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 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 [Vulture Peak], in India. 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 (Buddhism), mindfulness practices. She led the crowds in singing Plum Village songs, chanting, and leading "total Relaxation technique, 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 (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

), 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 Direct, 1998, ASIN 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,

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