By Jikyo Bonnie Shoultz Sensei
In today’s world, where there is so much war and suffering, we yearn for peace. In November 2023, Jifu Devyani Sadh, the originator of the ZSS Engaged Buddhism initiative, held a workshop that explored the delusion of separateness, the root cause of conflict and strife. This workshop examined Buddhist Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s famous poem, Please Call Me by My True Names, and I invite you to experience this poem today as we contemplate the possibility of peace.
This poem was written soon after the Vietnam war ended, and it provides us with insight into how we cannot separate ourselves from the world around us, even from those who cause harm. I find that each time I read this poem, its meaning deepens and sheds new light on my questions about peace.
“Please Call Me by My True Names” by Thich Nhat Hanh
Don’t say that I will depart tomorrow —
even today I am still arriving.
Look deeply: every second I am arriving
to be a bud on a Spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.
I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
of all that is alive.
I am the mayfly metamorphosing
on the surface of the river.
And I am the bird
that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.
I am the frog swimming happily
in the clear water of a pond.
And I am the grass-snake
that silently feeds itself on the frog.
I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks.
And I am the arms merchant,
selling deadly weapons to Uganda.
I am the twelve-year-old girl,
refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean
after being raped by a sea pirate.
And I am the pirate,
my heart not yet capable
of seeing and loving.
I am a member of the politburo,
with plenty of power in my hands.
And I am the man who has to pay
his “debt of blood” to my people
dying slowly in a forced-labor camp.
My joy is like Spring, so warm
it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth.
My pain is like a river of tears,
so vast it fills the four oceans.
Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and my laughter at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.
Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart
can be left open,
the door of compassion.
To me, this poem exemplifies that peace cannot come as long as we separate ourselves as “us” vs “them;” peace will only come when we truly realize our oneness. Can we look at each other and recognize ourselves in each other? Can we generate peace?