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Thich Nhat Hanh

As one of the best known Buddhist teachers in the West, Thich Nhat Hanh offers a practice of mindfulness adapted to Western sensibilities. His teachings and practices appeal to people from various religious, spiritual, and political backgrounds. Nhat Hanh is an expatriate Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist.

Being Beneath the Dirt

Nhat Hanh, born in central Vietnam in 1926, joined a Zen monastery at the age of 16, studied Buddhism as a novice, and was fully ordained as a monk in his early 20s. Commonly referred to as Thich Nhat Hanh, the title Thích is used by all Vietnamese monks and nuns, meaning that they are part of the Shakya (Shakyamuni Buddha) clan. The Vietnam War confronted the monasteries with the question of whether to adhere to the contemplative life and remain meditating in the monasteries, or to help the villagers suffering under bombings and other devastation of the war. Nhat Hanh was one of those who chose to do both, helping to found the “engaged Buddhism” movement.

Branching Out Roots for Balance

Since the mid 60s, Thich Nhat Hanh has headed a monastic and lay group, called the Order of Inter-Being, teaching the Five and Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings and “Engaged Buddhism.” As a Dharmacharya, or Dharma Teacher, from Master Chân Th?t, Thich Nhat Hanh has combined his deep knowledge of a variety of traditional Zen teachings with methods from Theravada Buddhism, insights from Mahayana Buddhism, and ideas from Western psychology to form his approach to modern meditation practice. He has established monastic and practice centers around the world.

Rising like a Surfacing Stem

During the Vietnam War, he aided his fellow monks in their non-violent peace efforts. He led efforts to help rescue Vietnamese boat people in the Gulf of Siam, but was forced to stop because of the hostility of the governments of Thailand and Singapore. Later, Nhat Hanh founded a grassroots relief organization to rebuild bombed villages, set up schools and medical centers, and resettled families left homeless during the war.

He traveled to the U.S. with the main goal of urging the American government to withdraw from Vietnam. Thich Nhat Hanh urged Martin Luther King, Jr. to publicly denounce the Vietnam War. Despite his efforts to end the violent conflict in Vietnam, the vietnamese government denied Nhat Hanh permission to return to Vietnam as a result of his involvement in the Paris Peace Accords, signed in 1973. Nhat Hanh went into exile in France.

Reaching Fruition

Nhat Hanh traveled to the U.S. a number of times to study comparative religion at Princeton University, and later lecture at Cornell University and teach at Columbia University. In 1967, the same year Dr. King publicly questioned the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, he nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for the Nobel Peace Prize, stating, “I do not personally know of anyone more worthy of [this prize] than this gentle monk from Vietnam. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.”

Leaving a Legacy

Thich Nhat Hanh has become an important influence in the development of Western Buddhism. He has published more than 100 books, including more than 40 in English, while also publishing a quarterly Dharma talk in the journal of the Order of Interbeing, the Mindfulness Bell. Nhat Hanh continues to be active in the peace movement, sponsoring retreats for Israelis and Palestinians, encouraging them to listen and learn about each other. He has conducted peace walks attended by thousands of people and he has given speeches urging warring countries to stop fighting and look for non-violent solutions to problems.

Disclaimer: Mud Puds bios are derived from widely-accepted “truths,” as shared in the Public Domain. In the absence of first-hand accounts, information is presented as: “Factual, as far as we know.”