NEW YORK (RNS) — Dozens of Buddhist monastics and lay believers huddled together on a busy Upper West Side street corner on a cold, rainy day to bear witness to a historic new street sign placed in their spiritual leader’s honor Friday (April 11).
Thích Nhất Hạnh Way, located at the corner of Broadway and West 109th streets, was symbolically named in honor of the influential Vietnamese Buddhist monk, who died at age 95 in 2022.
“New Yorkers are not necessarily known for peace,” said New York City Councilmember Shaun Abreu to the crowd of robed monks and jacketed city dwellers. “We live with a lot of noise, a lot of stress. But Thích Nhất Hạnh had a message for people like us. He knew that we can’t build a better world if we’re angry all the time, or if we lose sight of each other’s humanity. By putting his name right here, we’re creating a moment of pause and of breath.”
The Zen master, considered the father of mindfulness, lived on the same block in the early 1960s, when he was studying comparative religion and teaching Buddhism at nearby Union The …