Nonviolence: Martin Luther King, Jr. and Tich Nhat Hanh

Authors Avatar

Tim Flynn

4/22/07

THL-4690-X17

Paper Three

Upon engaging the text of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s anti-war speech “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” one recognizes an undeniable continuity between King’s thinking and that of his contemporary Thich Nhat Hanh. It is important to note, however, that King’s reflections in this discourse are not entirely beholden to his Buddhist counterpart. The overarching concepts of “interbeing” and interrelation which drive the speech were evident in King’s work and philosophy well before his correspondence with Nhat Hahn. The similarities regarding each man’s approach to these notions should be expected given their respective spiritual vocations. Therefore, although King’s reflections in this address - which encompass the broader considerations of nonviolence and exhibit a direct rebuke of the war effort - mirror almost identically those made in writings by Nhat Hanh, it is unclear how directly the latter may have influenced the former. Regardless, this speech does reflect elements of Nhat Hanh’s nonviolent vision and does so specifically through considering the concept of mutuality in relation to addressing the roots of war, its effects and how to end it.

In his address, King makes clear that humanity’s failures and the origins of violence stem from the propagation of illusions and artificial perceptions. In particular, King asserts that “the war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit…,” whereby Americans suffer from false “comfort, complacency [and] a morbid fear of communism…” (King). This assertion is clearly reflective of Nhat Hanh’s observation that “thinking is at the base of everything [and that]....our thoughts can be misleading and create confusion, despair, anger or hatred,” and that “a civilization in which we kill and exploit others for our own aggrandizement is sick” (Nhat Hanh 68; 120). The societal illness both men perceive is rooted in a proliferation of fear and ignorance, or as King so forcefully asserts, “legions of half-truths, prejudices, and false facts” (King 14).  

Join now!

The influence of these fallacies manifests itself most directly through manufactured notions about our enemies. By reducing our enemies to concepts that we can thoughtlessly abhor, we take no serious deliberation concerning our inherent reciprocity to them, and thus fail to realize the true extent our similarities. Though King had expressed similar sentiments previous to this speech, such as in his sermon “Loving your Enemies,” one cannot ignore the presence of a comparable position advocated by Nhat Hanh in his 1965 letter to King entitled “In Search of the Enemy of Man.” In that letter, Nhat Hanh professes that “[our] ...

This is a preview of the whole essay