Home >> Legendary Mud Puds >> Pioneering Thinkers >> Thich Nhat Hanh

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.”

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Home >> Legendary Mud Puds >> Pioneering Thinkers >> Richard St. Barbe Baker

Richard St. Barbe Baker

Richard St. Barbe Baker was an English forester, environmental activist, and author who contributed greatly to worldwide reforestation efforts. As a leader, he founded an organization called the Men of the Trees, active today as the International Tree Foundation, whose many chapters carry out reforestation internationally.

Being Beneath the Dirt

St. Barbe Baker was born into a family that descended from lines of farmers, parsons, and evangelists – with the occasional adventurer amongst his forebears, as well. Since his family’s home was surrounded by a forest, he began to explore the woods at an early age. His interest in the sciences of botany and forestry brought him to inland Canada in 1910, where he lived in rough-hewn conditions, traveling widely on horseback to study the region.

Branching Out Roots for Balance

During his time in Canada and through his forestry studies at Cambridge, he became convinced that the agricultural practices (including the razing of the natural scrub trees) by European settlers were leading to deplorable soil degradation and potential aridity on Canada’s prairies. He realized through observation that deforestation, resulting from the removal of trees without sufficient reforestation, results in soil-loss problems, in declines in habitat and biodiversity, declines in availability of wood for fuel and industrial use, and reduction in quality of life.

Rising like a Surfacing Stem

Working in North Africa, he saw the effects of centuries of land mismanagement. Immediately concerned with the deforestation problems, he set up a tree nursery and founded an organization with Kenya’s Kikuyu people to carry out managed reforestation in the region, utilizing native species. In the regional dialect, the local society was called “Watu wa Miti,” it was a foundation stone for what became an international organization, the Men of the Trees (a translation of the original name). On one occasion, during his reforestation efforts in Africa, an incident occurred in which he defended an African man against abuse by a British official and, thereby running afoul of the Colonial Office, he was discharged from his duties.

Reaching Fruition

On his own again, he attended the First World Forestry Congress in Rome and then went on to work in Palestine and set up a chapter of the Men of the Trees there. St. Barbe Baker won the support of Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith who became the first life member of the Men of the Trees in Palestine. He earned the support of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian leaders for a program to reforest Palestine.

The magnitude of his influence reached every continent. He lectured across America, and worked with President Franklin D. Roosevelt to establish the American Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), said eventually to involve some six-million youths. Even more immense was his challenge of gradually reclaiming the Sahara Desert through the strategic planting of trees. This idea took shape after a 25,000-mile expedition around the Desert (through 24 countries) that he made with a team in 1964.

Leaving a Legacy

St. Barbe Baker’s organization, the Men of the Trees, eventually grew to be known as the International Tree Foundation. Ultimately, there were chapters in over 100 countries. By some estimates, organizations he founded or assisted have been responsible for planting at least 26 trillion trees, internationally. After World War II, a lecture tour into Austria, Germany and other countries launched his concept of an international Green Front to promote the idea of reforestation worldwide.

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.”

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Home >> Legendary Mud Puds >> Unlikely Heroes >> Vandana Shiva

Vandana Shiva

Vandana Shiva is a physicist, environmental activist and author. Shiva, currently based in Delhi, is author of over 300 papers in leading scientific and technical journals. She is one of the leaders of the International Forum on Globalization, (along with Jerry Mander, Edward Goldsmith, Ralph Nader, Jeremy Rifkin, et al.), and a figure of the global solidarity movement known as the alter-globalization movement. She has argued for the wisdom of many traditional practices, as is evident from her interview in the book Vedic Ecology (by Ranchor Prime) that draws upon India’s Vedic heritage.

Being Beneath the Dirt

Shiva was born in the valley of Dehradun, to a father who was the conservator of forests and a farmer mother with a love for nature. Her intellectual prowess carried her through a Ph.D. in physics and beyond, as she went on to interdisciplinary research in science, technology and environmental policy.

Branching Out Roots for Balance

Shiva participated in the nonviolent Chipko movement during the 1970s. The movement, whose main participants were women, adopted the tactic of hugging trees to prevent their felling.

Rising like a Surfacing Stem

She has fought for changes in the practice and paradigms of agriculture and food, contributing intellectually through her writing and also through activist campaigns. She has assisted grassroots organizations of the Green movement in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Ireland, Switzerland and Austria with campaigns against genetic engineering. She also founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology in 1982, which led to the creation of Navdanya, an Indian-based non-governmental organization which promotes biodiversity conservation, organic farming, the rights of farmers, and the process of seed saving.

Reaching Fruition

Shiva has made important contributions not only to the ecologist movement, but also to the feminist movement, particularly in India. Her book, “Staying Alive” helped redefine perceptions of third world women. Shiva has served as an adviser to governments in India and abroad as well as non governmental organizations, including the International Forum on Globalization, the Women’s Environment & Development Organization and the Third World Network.

Leaving a Legacy

She has earned worldwide applause for her outstanding services to conservation, ecology, and human rights. In 1993, Shiva received the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize) for “placing women and ecology at the heart of modern development discourse.” The United Nations has recognized her with two awards, including the Global 500 Award of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 1993, and the Earth Day International Award of the United Nations (UN) for her dedicated commitment to the preservation of the planet as demonstrated by her actions, leadership and by setting an example for the rest of the world.

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.”

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