Master and disciple

Suthichai Yoon and Thich Nhat Hanh met only once, briefly, in Bangkok in the summer of 2007, but formed a spiritual bond. The famed Vietnamese Zen monk invited The Nation's founder to the spiritual retreat he'd founded, Plum Village in southwest France.

Suthichai finally found time to take up the invitation in June 2009, accompanied by a Nation Channel production team - of which I was a member - for a two-week retreat. It's resulted in a documentary TV series, "Zen 2010: From Suan Mokkh to Plum Village".

The first episode aired on Modernine last week, and the series, the channel's first documentary on contemplative dharma practice, continues every Wednesday at 11.15pm.

The documentary asks, metaphorically, whether the same raindrops fall on Zen practice elsewhere that fell on the house of the late Buddhadasa Bhikku in Surat Thani, in southern Thailand.

And, without metaphor, are Nhat Hanh and Buddhadasa fundamentally and personally connected?

Both are regarded as seminal thinkers and philosophers.

The Vietnamese is known as a meditation teacher, a social activist and an advocate of peace. He blends mindfulness practice usually associated with the Theravada tradition with the insights of the Mahayana sutras and Zen.

The Thai founded Suan Mokkh - the Garden of Liberation - as a religious meditation retreat after giving up on the monastic system in Bangkok.

He'd become disillusioned with Bangkok temples - dirty, crowded and corrupt, nothing like the purer, simpler Buddhism in the province of his birth.

At Suan Mokkh, Buddhadasa pioneered a socially conscious form of Buddhism, based on the Buddha's teachings about society.

This documentary wouldn't have been possible without Suthichai's intense personal interest in the subject. It's more like an outgrowth and an expression of his own spiritual practice. 

This is hardly Suthichai's first journey of faith documented for the media. His spiritual practice spans a far greater time than his journalism career. Though an active participant in world affairs, Suthichai remains so introspective that he once told his wife, Nanthawan, that he might spend the rest of his life in the monkhood, meditating.

To appeal to the younger viewers, he decided, this documentary needed to be unusual. He called upon the popular young preacher Phramaha Vudhijaya Vajiramedhi, a prolific writer under the pen name V Vajiramedhi.

Meeting at the Vimuttayalaya Institute on May 27, 2009, which was the 103rd anniversary of Buddhadasa's birth, Suthichai and Phramaha Vudhijaya discussed their forthcoming encounter with Nhat Hanh.

The documentary's producer, Kanchit Lertuthai, also brought in SeaWrite Award-winning writer Prabda Yoon, Suthichai's son, as co-host.

"Nhat Hanh keeps asking me when I'm coming to Plum," Suthichai told Vudhijaya. "Now it's time to go. Maybe Nhat Hanh will even ask you to present a dharma sermon for the foreigners - who knows?"

Our production crew underwent two weeks of serious training to learn how to overcome the relentless desire of atta (self). We were reminded to always control our breathing - and to be patient.

The latter was certainly needed when things went wrong during the shoot. We also embraced mindfulness as our guide - Suthichai likes to echo Buddhadasa's aphorism: "Work is a kind of dharma practice."

On our arrival in Plum, the crew got straight to work despite jetlag and fatigue. Fortunately a bhikkuni, a female monk, named Niramisa, who'd been there for years, was available as our coordinator.

She sent Sister Tu Nghiem, another bhikkuni, to take care of us at Hillside House, our lodging. She guided on mindfulness walks and led our 5am meditation sessions.

Tu Nghiem, an American, was a former orthodox Christian and a former nurse who'd tended to terminally ill patients. We learned a lot from her about death.

Over dinner with 10 monks from Thailand, Suthichai introduced the crew, and then we were all assigned to do the dishwashing afterwards. Prabda proved to be the most skilled - it was one of his childhood chores - and he made sure the pots and pans shone brightly.

The importance behind this tedious task is spelled out on a sign at Suan Mokkh: "If you can't wash the dishes, how can you practise dharma?"

At Plum, chores are done in complete silence. "Washing is washing, not speaking," Niramisa reminded us every time someone spoke.

This was Prabda's first time co-hosting a documentary. Judging by his performance, he seems to have a great future in this. He was pretty much well liked by all the bhikku and bhikkuni at Plum because of his self-effacing and humble disposition, as well as his thought-provoking questions.

Soon enough, Suthichai began his dialogue with Nhat Hanh, posing his customary direct questions. And Nhat Hanh, as is his custom too, always had smart answers, especially on issues like building peace in the mind and in the world.

Phramaha Vudhijaya turned out to be a favourite among the Westerners at Plum, although he never did get a chance to formally preach. The foreigners found his Pali-Sanskrit prayers - common in Theravada Buddhism - quite spellbinding.

In Plum's Zen Buddhism, prayer becomes song, and Suthichai and Vudhijaya were always humming along.

Suthichai had to ask, though, whether singing might be a form of saddharmapratirupaka - a false doctrine - designed to appeal more to Westerners.

"If the songs are for dharma practice," Nhat Hanh replied, "why can't we sing?"

Watch for Part 2 next Monday.