By Carol Tannenhauser
The world lost a great spiritual leader and peace activist when Thich Nhat Hanh died in January, 2022.
A Vietnamese monk who was exiled from his homeland because of his anti-war activities in the 1960s, Thich Nhat Hanh went on to become one of the most influential Zen masters in the world, spreading Buddhism and the practice of mindfulness to the West through his teachings and bestselling books.
On his way, he passed through the Upper West Side.
“Thich Nhat Hanh lived at 306 West 109th Street in the early 1960s while studying and teaching at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University — a formative period in his life as a scholar, teacher, and activist,” according to his website biography.
This month, New York City will recognize those years, and Thich Nhat Hanh’s lasting importance, by co-naming the Upper West Side street where he lived for him. West 109th Street from Riverside Drive to Broadway will have the secondary name “Thich Nhat Hanh Way,” following the unveiling of a co- or secondary street sign at a ceremony to be held on April 11.
Free and open to the public, the day’s events will officially begin at 11:30 a.m. with a ceremony at the corner of West 109th Street and Broadway, led by City Councilmember Shaun Abreu, whose district includes the street.
The unveiling of the commemorative sign will also include remarks by monastic students who studied with Thich Nhat Hanh at Blue Cliff Monastery in upstate New York. “This ceremony marks a moment of profound gratitude for Thich Nhat Hanh’s contributions to mindfulness, peace, and social justice,” said Stephen Pradarelli, of the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation
It is fitting that the honor comes in the days before the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War on April 30, 1975. “Given Thich Nhat Hanh’s ceaseless advocacy for peace in Vietnam, this seems a salient fact,” Pradarelli added in an email to the Rag.
Following the ceremony, attendees will be able to practice mindful walking meditation in silence from West 109th Street and Broadway to Union Theological Seminary at Broadway and West 121st Street, led by Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic students.
Schedule of Events
11:00 a.m. on April 11 – Arrival of monastics from Blue Cliff and Deer Park Monasteries at West 109th Street and Broadway
11:30 a.m. – Co-naming Ceremony:
Remarks by City Councilmember Shaun Abreu
Unveiling of the new street sign
Reflections from monastics and community leaders
Closing chant
12:00 p.m. – Mindful Walking Meditation from West 109th St. and Broadway to Union Theological Seminary
1:00 p.m. – Closing of the event
How Street Co-Naming Works
It is not an easy process to have a New York City street co-named for a person or an entity. Before it can be approved, local community boards throughout the city must weigh in on applications involving their districts.
The Upper West Side’s Community Board 7 lays out the guidelines for secondary street naming on its website. Here are the key criteria: a petition with at least 100 signatures from the local area is needed to get the bureaucratic ball rolling, and then you must present “compelling evidence that the person or not-for-profit entity…contributed in an extraordinary way to the welfare of the block and/or the community and the country.”
Community boards do not have the power to approve or deny the secondary street namings, but their resolutions on whether or not to recommend a new secondary street name are generally mirrored by their local councilmembers and the mayor.
Here is an example of a secondary-street-naming sign:
You can find all of the secondary street namings on the UWS — HERE.
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I had the great privilege and fortune to study in his tradition. Thay, as his student called him, flew to New York after 9/11 and gave a talk on mindfulness, andPeace. His desire was to go to Washington DC to talk to the government; I do not know If this ever happened, but if so, it made no impression on the United States Senate.
Thank you for posting this event WSR. I don’t remember how I got a paper flyer to the post- 9/11 event in 2001 at the Riverside Church. I do remember the long line of people wrapped around the building on Claremont Ave. His brief talk also touched upon our own grief, anger, and hatred. What stayed with me the most that day in the cavernous church packed with fear, anger and anxiety was this slight figure’s mindful walk with his monk brothers and sisters from the door to the cushions on the platform in front of the congregants. His exhibition of Peace is Every Step seemed to have calmed the room if not the whole city.
I am very grateful to have walked with his brothers, sisters and 500+(?) others yesterday in Riverside park. The exhibition of his calligraphy (in English), photos, and poems will be up until 5PM today (4/12). It’s free, and enter at 121st and B’way.
https://usfblogs.usfca.edu/fierce-urgency/2021/10/12/thich-nhat-hanh-and-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-spiritual-brothers-partners-in-nonviolence/
At a time when one can be so utterly overwhelmed by the damaging actions of our leaders, to our communities, our country, our traditions, and our friends around the world…a walk of mindful meditation, remembering and celebrating the work and truth that half a century of peace and repair to terrible damage can also be started by quiet and determined activism – sounds very welcome. Even as we may feel helpless to do much else, we can do this. Thank you for this alert.
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 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 the door of my heart
could be left open,
the door of compassion.
Excerpt from Call Me By My True Names
From Call Me By My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh,