Joan Halifax: Compassion in action in the mountains of Nepal

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It is the wild iris time at the Refuge. I am here resting, absorbing, meditating, considering. The journey to Amsterdam was profoundly uplifting, the beautiful film by Annegré Bosman reminding me of the hundreds of clinics Upaya has offered in the high Himalayas over the many years… brave people on both sides of the equation of service. Now I feel my years and still the heart is calling me to return, perhaps or not. But the work will continue in a new way and reading this article in Bodhi reminds me of my roots.
-Joan Halifax

 

By René van der Stok

In early June, the famous Zen teacher and activist Joan Halifax was in the Netherlands for the premiere of the documentary Into the Heart of the Mountain. Editor René van der Stok participated in the accompanying masterclass: “Instead of placing the world outside ourselves, we can better be present in the world.”

There is a fire burning inside. It tells me that things can be better, must be better! The world is falling apart, and we are all responsible. I want to do something, but how? How do I become a good activist, a good person? And how do I do that without being destroyed by it myself?

It is teachers like Joan Halifax who set the example. Halifax was briefly in the Netherlands, for the premiere of the film Into the Heart of the Mountain on June 10 in Amsterdam. In the documentary, Dutch film maker Annegré Bosman follows the Zen teacher during the ‘Nomads Clinic’. This is an annual pilgrimage, in which a group of aid workers travels into the Himalayas to provide care in remote areas.

Bosman went along and followed Halifax and the other expedition members on their journey through the mountains. The result is an inspiring response to the life and work of Joan Halifax. She is living proof that it is possible: to lead an inspired life and to take good care of the earth. Before the premiere, Roshi Joan will give a masterclass. In it, she will tell from her own experience how you can have a socially involved life. “How to bring life to life”, in her own words.

 

“Oh my Buddha!”

Joan Halifax (1942) is a Zen teacher and activist, and one of the pioneers of Buddhism in the West. She is the head of the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fé, New Mexico. She has worked with terminal patients, studied with Thich Nhat Hanh and Bernie Glassman, and wrote (in the 1970s) a book about LSD as a means of end-of-life care. In addition, she has regularly traveled to Nepal since 1980 for the Nomads Clinic.

Halifax – almost 81 years old – appears in black and has a head of long grey hair. She is cheerful, has a sharp mind and the appearance of a true elder, the oldest of a tribe that you love to listen to. She clearly enjoys what she does. And regularly uses the phrase “Oh my Buddha” when she is surprised or indignant.

 

Moral anger

Because there is enough outrage, moral outrage. The unjust world in which we live is an important driving force for many activists. This is also the case with Halifax, who tells how she grew up in a safe white commune in the southern United States. As a child, she was unaware of the racism around her. But as she grew older, she quickly realised that the world is not a fair place for everyone. In the 1960s, she protested against the violence of the Vietnam War. She was driven by great anger at her government and her racist ancestors. But just being angry isn’t enough, as Joan Halifax realized when she learned to meditate and met Thich Nhat Hanh. The then young Vietnamese monk was in New York to try to get the U.S. government to stop bombing his homeland. Halifax was impressed by Hanh: he had “been through hell,” exiled from his homeland where he had experienced the horrors of war. And yet he could try to make peace with a straight back and an open heart. It made Halifax realize that she couldn’t be an activist without a good spiritual grounding.

De three dharma’s

She received this grounding from Bernie Glassman, founder of Zen Peacemakers and one of her teachers. Glassman was a “quite radical” teacher, in Halifax’s words. He told her about the ‘Three Tenets’, or the three dharmas: Not knowing, Acknowledging what is, and the action from Compassion that follows from that. Not knowing means that you develop a kind of fundamental curiosity, in which your prejudices and knowledge do not stand in the way of seeing the truth. Very challenging for us Westerners, according to Halifax: “because we identify very strongly with what we know.”

The second dharma, acknowledging what is, is about connecting with the world in all its beauty and ugliness. Seeing the truth and not running away from it, but connecting with it. Compassion can flow from that: the desire and the actions to help people. These three elements form the basis of the Nomad Clinic.

Many of them are in pain from the hard work and there is a lot of alcoholism

With these wise and warm lessons from Halifax, we dive into the cinema for Into the Heart of the Mountain. The film was shot during the Nomads Clinic in 2019. In 27 days, various medical specialists, together with supporting expedition members – and of course with Joan Halifax – travel on foot and on horseback through the Humla district in Nepal, a high-altitude area where people live with little access to care.

The caravan travels from village to village. In each village they set up a tent camp and receive the residents with their health complaints. Many of them are in pain from the hard work and there is a lot of alcoholism. Medicines are distributed, the dentist pulls out hundreds of rotten teeth and young women receive menstrual education. It is busy at the traveling clinic, so busy that sometimes there is too little time for a real treatment. But the villagers are warm and hospitable, and the participants of the Clinic, under the care of Roshi Joan, have the time of their lives.

Chala, Nepal
Nomads Clinic

Being present instead of making better

One of the stories that touches me most is that of Wendy Lau, a physician and student of Joan Halifax, who emotionally tells how she got stuck in Western medicine, where emotions and connection with the patient are often seen as enemies of the profession. With passion and vision, Lau tells how doctors need to learn that it is not just about ‘what they have to do’ with a patient, but that ‘how they do it’ is just as important.

It is an important message in the film: Western medicine – with all its science – has lost the art of healing with its cold, emotionless approach. Lau argues that we need to learn to stand side by side with the patient again, instead of just focusing on ‘making it better’. Acknowledging what is there with an open mind, and taking action from there – Glassman’s three dharmas in practice.

The world is saved by women

Another important theme in the film, and in Joan Halifax’s life, is inclusivity. As a Buddhist teacher, she has been aware of her womanhood all her life. Especially in Asian Buddhism, it is often difficult for women to become nuns. The expedition members also visit a monastery that gives its young residents opportunities to do good deeds for the community. But the residents are all boys.

Roshi Joan also says that in her role as a meditation teacher, she has regularly been approached in various inappropriate ways by Asian men, without going into further detail. She therefore has a strong vision of the role of women in the new world. “Our world can only be saved by women,” she says. In her masterclass she also talks about ‘Rematriation’: a counter-movement that wants to transform the patriarchy by returning to indigenous wisdom and a spirituality that revolves around love and respect for Mother Earth.

Intimacy instead of scalability

Although the role of women is crucial, we should not see Rematriation as a process to get as many women at the top as quickly as possible. That would be patriarchal. No, it is about the power of feminine energy in transforming the world. This is expressed, for example, in a warm exchange between people.

Intimacy, with each other and with nature, that is exactly what is needed

Nomads Clinic is an example of this: the project is deliberately kept small-scale. It could be turned into an institute. They could roll out more projects like this in other countries. They could build roads and use technology to automate the supply of goods to the mountain villages. But that is precisely not the intention. Because with such an upscaling, much of the value of a trip like this is lost. “Scale ruins intimacy,” according to Halifax. And intimacy, with each other and with nature, that is exactly what is needed.

Photo by Babeth VanLoo

Mutual exchange

Halifax and the Nomads Clinic have achieved a lot in the past forty years. Members of the local community also participated in the journey. Some of them have become important leaders in the project. The Western participants also take something back to their country. They learn hospitality, warmth and connection from the inhabitants, whose ancestors have often lived in this area for generations. And they learn humility from nature. The journey goes through the mountains and is not without danger. Everyone is dependent on each other. “There’s no room for your ego,” says Halifax. On a pilgrimage you throw yourself into the unknown. You are only concerned with what really matters.