As Christmas and the New Year approach, and the darkest days come and pass, many people across the world continue to hold Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) in their hearts. The latest update from Plum Village, sent out last week, tells us that he is still in a coma but showing signs of wakefulness. The update continues, “There have been times when Thay had his eyes open for more than two hours, and is responsive, but he is not yet showing clear signs of communication.” While all hope and energy is committed to ensuring Thay’s recovery, thoughts for some have turned toward the eventuality of the 88 year-old’s death. In a poignant commentary on his life and legacy, Buddhist Door editorial staff writes:

Plum Village is hopefully finding ways to creatively build on Thay’s immense philosophical bequest: the greatest danger to a movement as vibrant and adaptable as Engaged Buddhism is being paralyzed by its founder’s legacy. For the sake of both those inside and outside their communities, Plum Village has probably begun to envision what a world without its founder would look like. A spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral titan of Western Buddhism, the last few decades have been nothing less than the era of Thich Nhat Hanh—in Thomas Merton’s words, “the Zen monk who sees beyond life and death.”

In the same commentary they write that, “Centuries from now, he may well be remembered as a monk whose role in transmitting Buddhism to different regions of the world and successfully adapting it to local needs was as important as that of the Central Asian and Indian translators and their Chinese collaborators in imperial China.” Indeed, his transformative effect on humanity itself may also be the topic of such discussion, as his work has won him not only deeply devout followers around the world, but also a broader circle of admirers among fellow workers for peace and justice. Most notable among these was Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who said of him:

I do not personally know of anyone more worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize than this gentle Buddhist monk from Vietnam. This would be a notably auspicious year [1967] for you to bestow your Prize on the Venerable Nhat Hanh. Here is an apostle of peace and non-violence, cruelly separated from his own people while they are oppressed by a vicious war which has grown to threaten the sanity and security of the entire world. Because no honor is more respected than the Nobel Peace Prize, conferring the Prize on Nhat Hanh would itself be a most generous act of peace. It would remind all nations that men of good will stand ready to lead warring elements out of an abyss of hatred and destruction. It would re-awaken men to the teaching of beauty and love found in peace. It would help to revive hopes for a new order of justice and harmony. read on…

But this, of course, was in the past, and what comes in the future for Thay is completely unknown. Gary Gach, writing here at Patheos earlier this month, brings us to Thay’s life and legacy in the here and now:

Earlier this year, Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh accepted an invitation from His Holiness Pope Francis to visit the Vatican, in support of a global initiative to end slavery. Having experienced a severe brain hemorrhage since the invitation, a delegation of twenty-two monks and nuns of his core community are in Rome today, realizing his wish. Many heroes are active this very moment. Visible and invisible. Known and anonymous. Actually, we all encounter heroes every day, over the phone, on the street, at the grocery store, on the bus, everywhere. Yet, some human beings live with such intensity of meaning and nobility, they elevate all who come in contact with their presence. Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh is such a human being in my life. Maybe yours, too. Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh’s 2014 accomplishments include a retranslation of the Heart Sutra, Buddhism’s pithiest nondualist teaching. Earlier, this summer, he led a summer retreat dedicated to the topic “What happens when we die?” (Hint: what happens when we live?) But I cannot separate any one year’s contributions from his immeasurable living legacy—pacifism, engaged Buddhism, interfaith, mindfulness, poetry, and more. Please note, these aren’t separate, like ice cubes in a tray, but, rather, all coined from a common ore.

Shortly after that, tricycle posted an excerpt from Thich Nhat Hanh’s forthcoming book Silence: The Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise. The excerpt, and no doubt the book, is worth reading in full, but what caught me was the further exhortation to return to the present:

Breathing in, I know I’m breathing in. Breathing out, I know I’m breathing out. (In. Out.) Breathing in, my breath grows deep. Breathing out, my breath grows slow. (Deep. Slow.) Breathing in, I’m aware of my body. Breathing out, I calm my body. (Aware of body. Calming.) Breathing in, I smile. Breathing out, I release. (Smile. Release.)