Thích Nhất Hạnh ( ; , Huế dialect: ; born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo; 11 October 1926 – 22 January 2022) was a Vietnamese
Thiền Buddhist monk,
peace activist, prolific author, poet, and teacher,
who founded the
Plum Village Tradition, historically recognized as the main inspiration for
engaged Buddhism.
Known as the "father of
mindfulness",
Nhất Hạnh was a major influence on Western practices of
Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
.
In the mid-1960s, Nhất Hạnh co-founded the School of Youth for Social Services and created the
Order of Interbeing.
He was exiled from
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...
in 1966 after expressing opposition to the war and refusing to take sides.
In 1967,
Martin Luther King, Jr. nominated him for a
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...
.
Nhất Hạnh established dozens of monasteries and practice centers
and spent many years living at the
Plum Village Monastery, which he founded in 1982 in
southwest France near
Thénac,
traveling internationally to give retreats and talks. Nhất Hạnh promoted deep listening as a nonviolent solution to conflict and sought to raise awareness of the interconnectedness of environments that sustain and promote peace. He coined the term "engaged Buddhism" in his book ''
Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire''.
After a 39-year exile, Nhất Hạnh was permitted to visit Vietnam in 2005.
In 2018, he returned to Vietnam to his "root temple", Từ Hiếu Temple, near
Huế
Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...
,
where he lived until his death in 2022, at the age of 95.
Early life
Nhất Hạnh was born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo on 11 October 1926, in the ancient capital of
Huế
Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...
in central
Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
.
He is 15th generation Nguyễn Đình; the poet
Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, author of ''
Lục Vân Tiên'', was his ancestor.
His father, Nguyễn Đình Phúc, from Thành Trung village in Thừa Thiên, Huế, was an official with the French administration.
His mother, Trần Thị Dĩ, was a homemaker
from Gio Linh district.
Nhất Hạnh was the fifth of their six children.
Until he was age five, he lived with his large extended family at his grandmother's home.
He recalled feeling joy at age seven or eight after he saw a drawing of a peaceful Buddha, sitting on the grass.
On a school trip, he visited a mountain where a hermit lived who was said to sit quietly day and night to become peaceful like the Buddha. They explored the area, and he found a natural well, which he drank from and felt completely satisfied. It was this experience that led him to want to become a Buddhist monk.
At age 12, he expressed an interest in training to become a monk, which his parents, cautious at first, eventually let him pursue at age 16.
Names applied to him
Nhất Hạnh had many names in his lifetime. As a boy, he received a formal family name (Nguyễn Đình Lang) to register for school, but was known by his nickname (Bé Em). He received a spiritual name (Điệu Sung) as an aspirant for the monkhood; a lineage name (Trừng Quang) when he formally became a lay Buddhist; and when he ordained as a monk he received a
Dharma name
A Dharma name is a new name acquired during both lay and monastic Buddhist initiation rituals in Mahayana Buddhism and Pabbajjā, monastic ordination in Theravada Buddhism (where it is more proper to call it Dhamma or Sangha name). The name is ...
(Phùng Xuân). He took the Dharma title Nhất Hạnh when he moved to Saigon in 1949.
The
Vietnamese name ''Thích'' (
釋) is from "Thích Ca" or "Thích Già" (
釋迦, "of the
Shakya
Shakya (Pali, Pāḷi: ; Sanskrit: ) was an ancient Indo-Aryan clan of the northeastern region of South Asia, whose existence is attested during the Iron Age in India, Iron Age. The Shakyas were organised into a Gaṇasaṅgha, (an Aristocrac ...
clan").
All Buddhist monastics in
East Asian Buddhism adopt this name as their surname, implying that their first family is the Buddhist community. In many Buddhist traditions, a person can receive a progression of names. The lineage name is given first when a person takes
refuge in the
Three Jewels. Nhất Hạnh's lineage name is Trừng Quang (澄光, "Clear, Reflective Light"). The second is a dharma name, given when a person takes vows or is ordained as a monastic. Nhất Hạnh's dharma name is Phùng Xuân (逢春, "Meeting Spring") and his dharma title is Nhất Hạnh.
Neither ''Nhất'' (
一) nor ''Hạnh'' (
行), which approximate the roles of middle name and
given name
A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a f ...
, was part of his name at birth. ''Nhất'' means "one", implying "first-class", or "of best quality"; ''Hạnh'' means "action", implying "
right conduct", "good nature", or "virtue". He translated his Dharma names as "One" (Nhất) and "Action" (Hạnh). Vietnamese names follow this convention, placing the family name first, then the middle name, which often refers to the person's position in the family or generation, followed by the given name.
Nhất Hạnh's followers called him ("master; teacher"), or ''Thầy'' Nhất Hạnh. Any Vietnamese monk in the Mahayana tradition can be addressed as "thầy", with monks addressed as ''thầy tu'' ("monk") and nuns addressed as ''sư cô'' ("sister") or ''sư bà'' ("elder sister"). He is also known as Thiền Sư Nhất Hạnh ("Zen Master Nhất Hạnh").
Education

At age 16, Nhất Hạnh entered the monastery at Từ Hiếu Temple, where his primary teacher was
Zen Master Thanh Quý Chân Thật, who was from the 43rd generation of the Lâm Tế Zen school and the ninth generation of the Liễu Quán school.
He studied as a
novice
A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession with no prior experience.
Religion Buddhism
...
for three years and received training in Vietnamese traditions of
Mahayana
Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...
and
Theravada
''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' (anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or ''Dharma (Buddhi ...
Buddhism.
Here he also learned Chinese, English and French.
Nhất Hạnh attended
Báo Quốc Buddhist Academy.
Dissatisfied with the focus at Báo Quốc Academy, which he found lacking in philosophy, literature, and foreign languages, Nhất Hạnh left in 1950
and took up residence in the
Ấn Quang Pagoda in Saigon, where he was
ordained as a monk in 1951.
He supported himself by selling books and poetry while attending
Saigon University,
where he studied literature, philosophy, psychology, and science and received a degree in
French and
Vietnamese Literature.
In 1955, Nhất Hạnh returned to
Huế
Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...
and served as the editor of ''Phật Giáo Việt Nam'' (''Vietnamese Buddhism''), the official publication of the General Association of Vietnamese Buddhists (Tổng Hội Phật Giáo Việt Nam) for two years before the publication was suspended as higher-ranking monks disapproved of his writing. He believed that this was due to his opinion that South Vietnam's various Buddhist organisations should unite. In 1956, while he was away teaching in
Đà Lạt, his name was expunged from the records of Ấn Quang, effectively disowning him from the temple. In late 1957, Nhất Hạnh decided to go on retreat, and established a monastic "community of resistance" named Phương Bôi, in Đại Lao Forest near Đà Lạt. During this period, he taught at a nearby high school and continued to write, promoting the idea of a humanistic, unified Buddhism.
From 1959 to 1961, Nhất Hạnh taught several short courses on Buddhism at various Saigon temples, including the large
Xá Lợi Pagoda, where his class was cancelled mid-session and he was removed due to disapproval of his teachings. Facing further opposition from Vietnamese religious and secular authorities,
Nhất Hạnh accepted a
Fulbright Fellowship in 1960 to study
comparative religion at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
.
He studied at the
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a Private university, private seminary, school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Establish ...
in 1961.
In 1962 he was appointed lecturer in Buddhism at
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
and also taught as a lecturer at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
.
By then he had gained fluency in French,
Classical Chinese
Classical Chinese is the language in which the classics of Chinese literature were written, from . For millennia thereafter, the written Chinese used in these works was imitated and iterated upon by scholars in a form now called Literary ...
,
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
,
Pali
Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...
and English, in addition to his native
Vietnamese.
Career
Activism in Vietnam 1963–1966
In 1963, after the
military overthrow of the minority Catholic regime of President
Ngo Dinh Diem, Nhất Hạnh returned to
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...
on 16 December 1963, at the request of
Thich Tri Quang, the monk most prominent in
protesting the religious discrimination of Diem, to help restructure the administration of Vietnamese Buddhism.
[ As a result of a congress, the General Association of Buddhists and other groups merged to form the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) in January 1964, and Nhất Hạnh proposed that the executive publicly call for an end to the ]Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
, help establish an institute for the study of Buddhism to train future leaders, and create a centre to train pacifist social workers based on Buddhist teaching.[
In 1964, two of Nhất Hạnh's students founded La Boi Press with a grant from Mrs. Ngo Van Hieu. Within two years, the press published 12 books, but by 1966, the publishers risked arrest and jail because the word "peace" was taken to mean communism. Nhất Hạnh also edited the weekly journal ''Hải Triều Âm'' (''Sound of the Rising Tide''), the UBCV's official publication. He continually advocated peace and reconciliation, notably calling in September 1964, soon after the Gulf of Tonkin incident, for a peace settlement, and referring to the Viet Cong as brothers. The South Vietnamese government subsequently closed the journal.][
On 1 May 1966, at Từ Hiếu Temple, Nhất Hạnh received the "lamp transmission" from Zen Master Chân Thật, making him a dharmacharya (teacher)] and the spiritual head of Từ Hiếu and associated monasteries.
Vạn Hanh Buddhist University
On 13 March 1964, Nhất Hạnh and the monks at An Quang Pagoda founded the Institute of Higher Buddhist Studies (Học Viện Phật Giáo Việt Nam), with the UBCV's support and endorsement.[ Renamed Vạn Hanh Buddhist University, it was a private institution that taught Buddhist studies, Vietnamese culture, and languages, in Saigon. Nhất Hạnh taught Buddhist psychology and ]prajnaparamita
file:Medicine Buddha painted mandala with goddess Prajnaparamita in center, 19th century, Rubin.jpg, A Tibetan painting with a Prajñāpāramitā sūtra at the center of the mandala
Prajñāpāramitā means "the Perfection of Wisdom" or "Trans ...
literature there, and helped finance the university by fundraising from supporters.[
]
School of Youth for Social Service (SYSS)
In 1964, Nhất Hạnh co-founded the School of Youth for Social Service (SYSS), a neutral corps of Buddhist peace workers who went into rural areas to establish schools, build healthcare clinics, and help rebuild villages. The SYSS consisted of 10,000 volunteers and social workers who aided war-torn villages, rebuilt schools and established medical centers. He left for the U.S. shortly afterwards and was not allowed to return, leaving Sister Chân Không in charge of the SYSS. Chân Không was central to the foundation and many of the activities of the SYSS, which organized medical, educational and agricultural facilities in rural Vietnam during the war. Nhất Hạnh was initially given substantial autonomy to run the SYSS, which was initially part of Vạn Hạnh University. In April 1966, the Vạn Hạnh Students’ Union under the presidency of Phượng issued a "Call for Peace". Vice Chancellor Thích Minh Châu dissolved the students' union and removed the SYSS from the university's auspices.[
]
The Order of Interbeing
Nhất Hạnh created the Order of Interbeing (), a monastic and lay group, between 1964 and 1966. He headed this group, basing it on the philosophical concept of interbeing and teaching it through the Five Mindfulness Trainings and the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings. The trainings were a modern adaptation of the traditional bodhisattva vows
file:Sumedha and Dīpankara, 2nd century, Swat Valley, Gandhāra.jpg, Gandharan relief depicting the ascetic Megha (The Buddha, Shakyamuni in a past life) prostrating before the past Buddha Dipankara, Dīpaṅkara, c. 2nd century CE (Gandhara, Swa ...
designed to support efforts to promote peace and rebuild war-torn villages. Nhất Hạnh established the Order of Interbeing from a selection of six SYSS board members, three men and three women, who took a vow to practice the Fourteen Precepts of Engaged Buddhism. He added a seventh member in 1981.
In 1967, Nhat Chi Mai, one of the first six Order of Interbeing members, set fire to herself and burned to death in front of the Tu Nghiem Pagoda in Saigon as a peace protest after calling for an end to the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
. On several occasions, Nhất Hạnh explained to Westerners that Thích Quảng Đức and other Vietnamese Buddhist monks who self-immolated during the Vietnam war did not perform acts of suicide; rather, their acts were, in his words, aimed "at moving the hearts of the oppressors, and at calling the attention of the world to the suffering endured then by the Vietnamese."
The Order of Interbeing expanded into an international community of laypeople and monastics focused on "mindfulness practice, ethical behavior, and compassionate action in society." By 2017, the group had grown to include thousands known to recite the Fourteen Precepts.
During the Vietnam War
Vạn Hạnh University was taken over by one of the chancellors, who wished to sever ties with Nhất Hạnh and the SYSS, accusing Chân Không of being a communist. Thereafter the SYSS struggled to raise funds and faced attacks on its members. It persisted in its relief efforts without taking sides in the conflict.[ (2002)]
Nhất Hạnh returned to the U.S. in 1966 to lead a symposium in Vietnamese Buddhism at Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
and continue his work for peace.[ He was invited by Professor George McTurnan Kahin, also of Cornell and a U.S. government foreign policy consultant, to participate on a forum on U.S. policy in Vietnam. On 1 June, Nhất Hạnh released a five-point proposal addressed to the U.S. government, recommending that (1) the U.S. make a clear statement of its desire to help the Vietnamese people form a government "truly responsive to Vietnamese aspirations"; (2) the U.S. and South Vietnam cease air strikes throughout Vietnam; (3) all anti-communist military operations be purely defensive; (4) the U.S. demonstrate a willingness to withdraw within a few months; and (5) the U.S. offer to pay for reconstruction.][ In 1967 he wrote ''Vietnam — The Lotus in the Sea of Fire'', about his proposals.][ The South Vietnamese military junta responded by accusing him of treason and being a communist.][
While in the U.S., Nhất Hạnh visited Gethsemani Abbey to speak with the ]Trappist
The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious o ...
monk Thomas Merton. When the South Vietnamese regime threatened to block Nhất Hạnh's reentry to the country, Merton wrote an essay of solidarity, "Nhat Hanh is my Brother". Between June and October 1963, Nhất Hạnh conducted numerous interviews with newspapers and television networks to rally support for the peace movement. During this time, he also undertook a widely publicized five-day fast. Additionally, he translated reports of human rights violations from Vietnamese into English and compiled them into a document he presented to the United Nations. In 1964, after the publication of his poem ''"whoever is listening, be my witness: I cannot accept this war..."'', the American press called Nhất Hạnh an "antiwar poet" and a "pro-Communist propagandist". In 1965 he wrote Martin Luther King Jr. a letter titled "In Search of the Enemy of Man".[ Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation.] During his 1966 stay in the U.S., Nhất Hạnh met King and urged him to publicly denounce the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...
.[, Archived on the African-American Involvement in the Vietnam War website] In 1967, due in large part to Nhất Hạnh, King gave the speech " Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" at Riverside Church in New York City, his first to publicly question U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Later that year, King nominated Nhất Hạnh for the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...
. In his nomination, King said, "I do not personally know of anyone more worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize than this gentle monk from Vietnam. His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity". King also called Nhất Hạnh "an apostle of peace and nonviolence". King named the candidate he had chosen to nominate with a "strong request" to the prize committee, in sharp violation of Nobel traditions and protocol. The committee did not make an award that year.
Refuge in France
Nhất Hạnh moved to Paris in 1966 and became the chair of the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation a group involved with the Paris Peace Accords, which ultimately ended American involvement in the Vietnam War. For refusing to take sides in the war, Nhất Hạnh was exiled by both the North and South Vietnamese governments. He received asylum in France and moved to the Paris suburbs, living with other Vietnamese refugees.
In 1969, Nhất Hạnh established the Unified Buddhist Church (Église Bouddhique Unifiée) in France (not a part of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam). In 1975, he formed the Sweet Potatoes Meditation Centre at Fontvannes, in the Foret d’Othe, near Troyes
Troyes () is a Communes of France, commune and the capital of the Departments of France, department of Aube in the Grand Est region of north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about south-east of Paris. Troyes is situated within ...
in Aube
Aube ( ) is a French departments of France, department in the Grand Est region of northeastern France. As with sixty departments in France, this department is named after a river: the Aube (river), Aube. With 310,242 inhabitants (2019), province southeast of Paris.[ For the next seven years, he focused on writing, and completed ''The Miracle of Mindfulness'', ''The Moon Bamboo'', and ''The Sun My Heart''.][
Nhất Hạnh began teaching mindfulness in the mid-1970s with his books, particularly ''The Miracle of Mindfulness'' (1975), serving as the main vehicle for his early teachings. In an interview for On Being, he said that ''The Miracle of Mindfulness'' was "written for our social workers, first, in Vietnam, because they were living in a situation where the danger of dying was there every day. So out of compassion, out of a willingness to help them to continue their work, ''The Miracle of Mindfulness'' was written as a practice manual. And after that, many friends in the West, they think that it is helpful for them, so we allow it to be translated into English." The book was originally titled ''The Miracle of Being Awake'', as in 1975 "mindfulness" was barely recognized in English.] Its focus on integrating mindfulness into daily life, rather than confining it to meditation, emphasized that living mindfully could foster personal growth, enlightenment, and even global peace.
Campaign to help boat people and expulsion from Singapore
When the North Vietnamese army took control of the south in 1975, Nhất Hạnh was denied permission to return to Vietnam, and the communist government banned his publications. He soon began to lead efforts to help rescue Vietnamese boat people in the Gulf of Siam, eventually stopping under pressure from the governments of Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
and Singapore.
Recounting his experience years later, Nhất Hạnh said he was in Singapore attending a conference on religion and peace when he discovered the plight of the suffering of the boat people:So many boat people were dying in the ocean, and Singapore had a very harsh policy on the boat people… The policy of Singapore at that time was to reject the boat people; Malaysia, also. They preferred to have the boat people die in the ocean rather than to bring them to land and make them into prisoners. Every time there was a boat with the boat people hat cameto the shore, they tried to push them ackout into the sea in order or themto die. They didn't want to host hem
A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the ga ...
And those fishermen who had compassion, who were able to save the boat people from drowning in the sea, were punished. They had to pay a very huge sum of money so that next time they won't have the courage to save the boat people.
He stayed on in Singapore to organise a secret rescue operation. Aided by concerned individuals from France, the Netherlands, and other European countries, he hired a boat to bring food, water and medicine to refugees in the sea. Sympathetic fishermen who had rescued boat people would call up his team, and they shuttled the refugees to the French embassy in the middle of the night and helped them climb into the compound, before they were discovered by staff in the morning and handed over to the police where they were placed in the relative safety of detention. ''Please Call Me by My True Names'', Nhất Hạnh's best-known poem, was written in 1978 during his efforts to assist the boat people.
When the Singapore government discovered the clandestine network, the police surrounded its office and impounded the passports of both Nhất Hạnh and Chân Không, giving them 24 hours to leave the country. It was only with the intervention of the then-French ambassador to Singapore Jacques Gasseau that they were given 10 days to wind down their rescue operations.
Nhất Hạnh was only allowed to return to Singapore in 2010 to lead a meditation retreat at the Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery.
Plum Village
By 1982, Sweet Potatoes was too small to accommodate the growing number of people who wanted to visit for retreats. In 1982, Nhất Hạnh and Chân Không established the Plum Village Monastery, a vihara in the Dordogne
Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...
near Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...
in southern France. Plum Village is the largest Buddhist monastery in Europe and America, with over 200 monastics and over 10,000 visitors a year.
The Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism (formerly the Unified Buddhist Church) and its sister organization in France, the Congrégation Bouddhique Zen Village des Pruniers, are the legally recognized governing bodies of Plum Village in France.
Expanded practice centres
By 2019, Nhất Hạnh had built a network of monasteries and retreat centres in several countries, including France, the U.S., Australia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Hong Kong. Additional practice centres and associated organizations Nhất Hạnh and the Order of Interbeing established in the US include Blue Cliff Monastery in Pine Bush, New York; the Community of Mindful Living in Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...
; Parallax Press; Deer Park Monastery (Tu Viện Lộc Uyển), established in 2000 in Escondido, California
Escondido (Spanish language, Spanish for "Hidden") is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Located in the North County (San Diego area), North County region, it was incorporated in 1888, and is one of the oldest cities in San ...
; Magnolia Grove Monastery (Đạo Tràng Mộc Lan) in Batesville, Mississippi; and the European Institute of Applied Buddhism in Waldbröl, Germany. (The Maple Forest Monastery (Tu Viện Rừng Phong) and Green Mountain Dharma Center (Ðạo Tràng Thanh Sơn) in Vermont
Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...
closed in 2007 and moved to the Blue Cliff Monastery in Pine Bush.) The monasteries, open to the public during much of the year, provide ongoing retreats for laypeople, while the Order of Interbeing holds retreats for specific groups of laypeople, such as families, teenagers, military veterans, the entertainment industry, members of Congress, law enforcement officers and people of colour.
According to the Thích Nhất Hạnh Foundation, the charitable organization that serves as the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism's fundraising arm, as of 2017 the monastic order Nhất Hạnh established comprises over 750 monastics in 9 monasteries worldwide.
Nhất Hạnh established two monasteries in Vietnam, at the original Từ Hiếu Temple near Huế
Huế (formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province) is the southernmost coastal Municipalities of Vietnam, city in the North Central Coast region, the Central Vietnam, Central of Vietnam, approximately in the center of the country. It borders Quảng ...
and at Prajna Temple in the central highlands.
Writings
Nhất Hạnh has published over 130 books, including more than 100 in English, which as of January 2019 had sold over five million copies worldwide. His books, which cover topics including spiritual guides and Buddhist texts, teachings on mindfulness, poetry, story collections, a biography of the Buddha, and scholarly essays on Zen practice, have been translated into more than 40 languages as of January 2022. In 1986 Nhất Hạnh founded Parallax Press, a nonprofit
A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
book publisher
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
and part of the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism.
During his long exile, Nhất Hạnh's books were often smuggled into Vietnam, where they had been banned.
Later activism
In 2014, major Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders met to sign a shared commitment against modern-day slavery; the declaration they signed called for the elimination of slavery and human trafficking by 2020. Nhất Hạnh was represented by Chân Không.
Nhất Hạnh was known to refrain from consuming animal products as a means of nonviolence toward animals.
Christiana Figueres has said that Nhất Hạnh helped her overcome a personal crisis and develop the deep listening and empathy required to facilitate the Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement (also called the Paris Accords or Paris Climate Accords) is an international treaty on climate change that was signed in 2016. The treaty covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. The Paris Agreement was ...
on climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
.
Relations with Vietnamese governments
Nhất Hạnh's relationship with the government of Vietnam varied over the years. He stayed away from politics, but did not support the South Vietnamese government's policies of Catholicization. He questioned American involvement, putting him at odds with the Saigon leadership, which banned him from returning to South Vietnam while he was abroad in 1966.[
His relationship with the communist government ruling Vietnam was tense due to its anti-religious stance. The communist government viewed him with skepticism, distrusted his work with the ]overseas Vietnamese
Overseas Vietnamese (, , or ) refers to the Vietnamese diaspora living outside of Vietnam.
The global overseas Vietnamese population is estimated at 5 to 6 million people. The largest communities are in the United States, with over 2.3 million ...
population, and restricted his praying requiem on several occasions.
Return visits to Vietnam 2005–2007
In 2005, after lengthy negotiations, the Vietnamese government allowed Nhất Hạnh to return for a visit. He was also allowed to teach there, publish four of his books in Vietnamese, and travel the country with monastic and lay members of his Order, including a return to his root temple, Tu Hieu Temple in Huế. Nhất Hạnh arrived on 12 January after 39 years in exile.[ The trip was not without controversy. Thich Vien Dinh, writing on behalf of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), called for Nhất Hạnh to make a statement against the Vietnamese government's poor record on religious freedom. Vien Dinh feared that the government would use the trip as propaganda, suggesting that religious freedom is improving there, while abuses continue.
Despite the controversy, Nhất Hạnh returned to Vietnam in 2007, while the heads of the UBCV, Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do, remained under house arrest. The UBCV called his visit a betrayal, symbolizing his willingness to work with his co-religionists' oppressors. Võ Văn Ái, a UBCV spokesman, said, "I believe Thích Nhất Hạnh's trip is manipulated by the Hanoi government to hide its repression of the Unified Buddhist Church and create a false impression of religious freedom in Vietnam."] The Plum Village website listed three goals for his 2007 trip to Vietnam: to support new monastics in his Order; to organize and conduct "Great Chanting Ceremonies" intended to help heal remaining wounds from the Vietnam War; and to lead retreats for monastics and laypeople. The chanting ceremonies were originally called " Grand Requiem for Praying Equally for All to Untie the Knots of Unjust Suffering", but Vietnamese officials objected, calling it unacceptable for the government to "equally" pray for South Vietnamese and U.S. soldiers. Nhất Hạnh agreed to change the name to "Grand Requiem For Praying". During the 2007 visit, Nhất Hạnh suggested ending government control of religion to President Nguyen Minh Triet. A provincial police officer
A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a Warrant (law), warranted law employee of a police, police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. ...
later spoke to a reporter about this incident, accusing Nhất Hạnh of breaking Vietnamese law. The officer said, " hất Hạnhshould focus on Buddhism and keep out of politics."
During the 2005 visit, Nhất Hạnh 's followers were invited by Abbot Duc Nghi, a member of the official Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam, to occupy Bat Nha monastery and continue their practice there. Nhất Hạnh's followers say that during a sacred ceremony at Plum Village Monastery in 2006, Nghi received a transmission from Nhất Hạnh and agreed to let them occupy Bat Nha. Nhất Hạnh's followers spent $1 million developing the monastery, building a meditation hall for 1,800 people. The government support initially given to his supporters is now believed to have been a ploy to get Vietnam off the US State Department's Religious Freedom
Freedom of religion or religious liberty, also known as freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice ...
blacklist
Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...
, improve chances of entry into the World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...
, and increase foreign investment. During this time, thousands of people came to the center to practice, and Nhất Hạnh ordained more than 500 monks and nuns at the monastery.
In 2008, during an interview in Italian television, Nhất Hạnh made some statements regarding the Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣 识一切 瓦齐尔达喇 达赖 喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...
that his followers claim upset Chinese officials, who in turn put pressure on the Vietnamese government. The chairman of Vietnam's national Committee on Religious Affairs sent a letter that accused Nhat Hanh's organization of publishing false information about Vietnam on its website. It was written that the posted information misrepresented Vietnam's policies on religion and could undermine national unity. The chairman requested that Nhất Hạnh's followers leave Bat Nha. The letter also stated that Abbot Duc Nghi wanted them to leave. "Duc Nghi is breaking a vow that he made to us... We have videotapes of him inviting us to turn the monastery into a place for worship in the Plum Village tradition, even after he dies — life after life. Nobody can go against that wish," said Brother Phap Kham. In September and October 2009, a standoff developed, which ended when authorities cut the power, and followed up with police raids augmented by mobs assembled through gang contacts. The attackers used sticks and hammers to break in and dragged off hundreds of monks and nuns. "Senior monks were dragged like animals out of their rooms, then left sitting in the rain until police dragged them to the taxis where ‘black society’ bad guys pushed them into cars," a villager said in a phone interview. Two senior monks had their IDs taken and were put under house arrest
House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...
without charges in their home towns. Monastics responded with chanting, but continued to be persecuted by the government.
Religious approach and influence
Engaged Buddhism
Nhất Hạnh combined a variety of teachings of Early Buddhist schools
The early Buddhist schools refers to the History of Buddhism in India, Indian Buddhist "doctrinal schools" or "schools of thought" (Sanskrit: ''vāda'') which arose out of the early unified Buddhist monasticism, Buddhist monastic community (San ...
, Mahayana
Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...
, Zen
Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...
, and ideas from Western psychology to teach mindfulness of breathing and the four foundations of mindfulness, offering a modern perspective on meditation practice.
Nhất Hạnh has also been a leader in the Engaged Buddhism movement (he is credited with coining the term), promoting the individual's active role in creating change. He credited the 13th-century Vietnamese Emperor Trần Nhân Tông with originating the concept. Trần Nhân Tông abdicated his throne to become a monk and founded the Vietnamese Buddhist school of the Bamboo Forest tradition. He also called it Applied Buddhism in later years to emphasize its practical nature.
Mindfulness Trainings
Nhất Hạnh rephrased the five precepts for lay Buddhists, which were traditionally written in terms of refraining from negative activities, such as committing to taking positive action to prevent or minimize others' negative actions. For example, instead of merely refraining from stealing, Nhất Hạnh wrote, "prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on Earth" by, for example, taking action against unfair practices or unsafe workplaces.[King, pp. 26–27.]
According to Plum Village, Manifesto 2000, introduced by UNESCO, was largely inspired by their five mindfulness trainings. In keeping with the northern tradition of Bodhisattva precepts, Nhất Hạnh wrote the fourteen mindfulness trainings for the Order of Interbeing based on the ten deeds. He also updated the Dharmaguptaka
The Dharmaguptaka (Sanskrit: धर्मगुप्तक; ; ) are one of the eighteen or twenty early Buddhist schools from the ancient region of Gandhara, now Pakistan. They are said to have originated from another sect, the Mahīśāsakas f ...
Vinaya for Plum Village monastics while keeping its number of rules, 250 for monks and 348 for nuns.
Interbeing
Nhất Hạnh developed the English term " interbeing" by combining the prefix "inter-" with the verb "to be" to denote the interconnection of all phenomena. This was inspired by the Chinese word 相即 in Master Fa Zang's "Golden Lion Chapter", a Huayan summary of the Avatamsaka Sutra. Some scholars believed it was a presentation of the Prajnaparamita
file:Medicine Buddha painted mandala with goddess Prajnaparamita in center, 19th century, Rubin.jpg, A Tibetan painting with a Prajñāpāramitā sūtra at the center of the mandala
Prajñāpāramitā means "the Perfection of Wisdom" or "Trans ...
, which "is often said to provide a philosophical foundation" for Zen. Nhất Hạnh was also known for expressing deep teachings through simple phrases or parables. "The sun my heart", for instance, was an insight of meditation on the interdependence of all things. He used "no mud no lotus" to illustrate the interrelationship between awakening and afflictions, well-being and ill-being. "A cloud never dies", on the other hand, is a contemplation of phenomena beyond birth and death. To teach non-duality, he often told the story of his left and right hand. His meditation on aimlessness (''apranihita'') was told through the story of a river. The relationship between waves and water explained the Dharma Realm of Unobstructed Interpenetration of Truth and Phenomena.
A new translation of the ''Heart Sutra''
Nhất Hạnh completed new English and Vietnamese translations of the Heart Sutra
The ''Heart Sūtra'', ) is a popular sutra in Mahayana, Mahāyāna Buddhism. In Sanskrit, the title ' translates as "The Heart of the Prajnaparamita, Perfection of Wisdom".
The Sutra famously states, "Form is emptiness (''śūnyatā''), em ...
in September 2014. In a letter to his students, he said he wrote these new translations because he thought that poor word choices in the original text had resulted in significant misunderstandings of these teachings for almost 2,000 years.
Manifestation-Only Teaching
Continuing the Yogācāra
Yogachara (, IAST: ') is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditation, as well as philosophical reasoning (hetuvidyā). ...
and Dharmalaksana school, Nhất Hạnh composed the "fifty verses on the nature of consciousness". He preferred calling the teaching manifestation-only (vijnapti-matrata) rather than consciousness-only (vijnana-matrata) to avoid misintepretation into a kind of idealism.
The Father of Mindfulness
Called "the Father of Mindfulness", Nhất Hạnh has been credited as one of the main figures in bringing Buddhism to the West, and especially for making mindfulness well known in the West. According to James Shaheen, the editor of the American Buddhist magazine '' Tricycle: The Buddhist Review'', "In the West, he's an icon. I can't think of a Western Buddhist who does not know of Thich Nhất Hạnh." His 1975 book ''The Miracle of Mindfulness'' was credited with helping to "lay the foundations" for the use of mindfulness in treating depression through "mindfulness-based cognitive therapy", influencing the work of University of Washington psychology professor Marsha M. Linehan, the originator of dialectical behavior therapy
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based psychotherapy that began with efforts to treat personality disorders and interpersonal conflicts. Evidence suggests that DBT can be useful in treating mood disorders and suicidal ideati ...
(DBT). J. Mark G. Williams
J. Mark G. Williams, is Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry. He held previous posts at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, the Medical Research Co ...
of Oxford University and the Oxford Mindfulness Centre has said, "What he was able to do was to communicate the essentials of Buddhist wisdom and make it accessible to people all over the world, and build that bridge between the modern world of psychological science and the modern healthcare system and these ancient wisdom practices – and then he continued to do that in his teaching." One of Nhất Hạnh's students, Jon Kabat-Zinn, developed the mindfulness-based stress reduction course that is available at hospitals and medical centres across the world, and as of 2015, around 80% of medical schools are reported to have offered mindfulness training. As of 2019, it was reported that mindfulness as espoused by Nhất Hạnh had become the theoretical underpinning of a $1.1 billion industry in the U.S. One survey determined that 35% of employers used mindfulness in practices in the workplace.
Interfaith dialogue
Nhất Hạnh was known for his involvement in interfaith dialogue, which was not common when he began. He was noted for his friendships with Martin Luther King Jr. and Thomas Merton, and King wrote in his Nobel nomination for Nhất Hạnh, "His ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity". Merton wrote an essay for ''Jubilee'' in August 1966 titled "Nhất Hạnh Is My Brother", in which he said, "I have far more in common with Nhất Hạnh than I have with many Americans, and I do not hesitate to say it. It is vitally important that such bonds be admitted. They are the bonds of a new solidarity ... which is beginning to be evident on all five continents and which cuts across all political, religious and cultural lines to unite young men and women in every country in something that is more concrete than an ideal and more alive than a program." The same year, Nhất Hạnh met with Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...
and the pair called on Catholics and Buddhists to help bring about world peace, especially relating to the conflict in Vietnam. According to Buddhism scholar Sallie B. King, Nhất Hạnh was "extremely skilled at expressing their teachings in the language of a kind of universal spirituality rather than a specifically Buddhist terminology. The language of this universal spirituality is the same as the basic values that they see expressed in other religions as well".
Final years
In November 2014, Nhất Hạnh experienced a severe brain hemorrhage
The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...
and was hospitalized. After months of rehabilitation, he was released from the stroke rehabilitation clinic at Bordeaux Segalen University. In July 2015, he flew to San Francisco to speed his recovery with an aggressive rehabilitation program at UCSF Medical Center. He returned to France in January 2016. After spending 2016 in France, Nhất Hạnh travelled to the Thai Plum Village. He continued to see both Eastern and Western specialists while in Thailand, but was unable to verbally communicate for the remainder of his life.
In November 2018, a press release from the Plum Village community confirmed that Nhất Hạnh, then 92, had returned to Vietnam a final time and would live at Từ Hiếu Temple for "his remaining days". In a meeting with senior disciples, he had "clearly communicated his wish to return to Vietnam using gestures, nodding and shaking his head in response to questions". In January 2019, a representative of Plum Village, Sister True Dedication, wrote:
While it was clear Nhất Hạnh could no longer speak, Vietnamese authorities assigned plainclothes police to monitor his activities at the temple.
Death
Nhất Hạnh died at his residence in Từ Hiếu Temple on 22 January 2022, at age 95, as a result of complications from his stroke
Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...
seven years earlier. His death was widely mourned by various Buddhist groups in and outside Vietnam. The Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣 识一切 瓦齐尔达喇 达赖 喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...
, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the U.S. State Department also issued words of condolence.
His five-day funeral, which began on the day of his death, had a seven-day wake that culminated with his cremation on 29 January. In a 2015 book, Nhất Hạnh described what he wanted for the disposition of his remains, in part to illustrate how he believes that he "continues" on in his teachings:
At the conclusion of the 49-day mourning period, Nhất Hạnh's ashes were portioned and scattered in Từ Hiếu Temple and temples associated with Plum Village.
Bibliography
* ''Vietnam: Lotus in a sea of fire''. New York, Hill and Wang. 1967.
* ''The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation'', Beacon Press, 1975. .
* ''Being Peace'', Parallax Press, 1987. .
* ''The Sun My Heart'', Parallax Press, 1988.
* ''The Moon Bamboo'', Parallax Press, 1989. .
* ''Our Appointment with Life: Sutra on Knowing the Better Way to Live Alone'', Parallax Press, 1990. .
* ''Breathe, You Are Alive: Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing'', Parallax Press, 1990. . Revised in 1996.
* '' Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha'', Parallax Press, 1991. .
* ''Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life'', Bantam reissue, 1992. .
* ''The Diamond That Cuts Through Illusion, Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Diamond Sutra'', Parallax Press, 1992. .
* ''Hermitage Among the Clouds'', Parallax Press, 1993. .
* ''Call Me By My True Names: The Collected Poems of Thich Nhat Hanh'', Parallax Press, 1993. . Second edition published in 2022 .
* ''Love in Action: Writings on Nonviolent Social Change'', Parallax Press, 1993. .
* ''Zen Keys: A Guide to Zen Practice'', Harmony, 1994. .
* ''Cultivating The Mind Of Love'', Full Circle, 1996. .
* ''Living Buddha, Living Christ'', Riverhead Trade, 1997. .
* ''The Heart Of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra'', Full Circle, 1997. , (2005 edition).
* ''Transformation and Healing: Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness'', Full Circle, 1997. .
* ''True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart'', Shambhala Publications, 1997. .
* ''Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals, 1962–1966'', Riverhead Trade, 1999. .
* ''Going Home: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers'', Riverhead Books, 1999. .
* ''The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching'', Broadway Books, 1999. .
* ''The Miracle of Mindfulness: A Manual on Meditation'', Beacon Press, 1999. (Vietnamese: Phép lạ của sự tỉnh thức).
* ''The Path of Emancipation: Talks from a 21-Day Mindfulness Retreat'', Unified Buddhist Church, 2000. .
* ''The Raft Is Not the Shore: Conversations Toward a Buddhist/Christian Awareness'', Daniel Berrigan (Co-author), Orbis Books, 2000. .
* ''A Pebble for Your Pocket'', Full Circle Publishing, 2001. .
* ''Thich Nhat Hanh: Essential Writings'', Robert Ellsberg (Editor), Orbis Books, 2001. .
* ''Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames'', Riverhead Trade, 2001. .
* ''Be Free Where You Are'', Parallax Press, 2002. .
* ''My Master's Robe: Memories of a Novice Monk'', Parallax Press, 2002. .
* ''No Death, No Fear'', Riverhead Trade reissue, 2003. .
* ''Creating True Peace: Ending Violence in Yourself, Your Family, Your Community, and the World'', Parallax Press, 2003. .
* ''Touching the Earth: Intimate Conversations with the Buddha'', Parallax Press, 2004. .
* ''The Hermit and the Well'', with Vo-Dinh Mai (Illustrator), Parallax Press, 2004. .
* ''Teachings on Love'', Full Circle Publishing, 2005. .
* ''Understanding Our Mind'', HarperCollins, 2006. .
* ''The Energy of Prayer: How to Deepen Your Spiritual Practice'', Parallax Press, 2006. .
* ''Present Moment Wonderful Moment: Mindfulness Verses for Daily Living'', Parallax Press, 2006. .
* ''Buddha Mind, Buddha Body: Walking Toward Enlightenment'', Parallax Press, 2007. .
* ''Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go: Waking Up To Who You Are'', Parallax Press, 2007. .
* ''The Art of Power'', HarperOne, 2007. .
* ''Good Citizens: Creating Enlightened Society'', Parallax Press, 2008, .
* ''Mindful Movements: Ten Exercises for Well-Being'', Parallax Press, 2008, .
* ''Under the Banyan Tree: Overcoming Fear and Sorrow'', Full Circle Publishing, 2008. .
* ''A Handful of Quiet: Happiness in Four Pebbles'', Parallax Press, 2008. .
* ''The World We Have: A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology'', Parallax Press, 2008. .
* ''The Blooming of a Lotus'', Beacon Press, 2009. .
* ''Reconciliation: Healing the Inner Child'', Parallax Press, 2010. .
*
* ''You Are Here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment'', Shambhala Publications, 2010. .
* ''Fidelity: How to Create a Loving Relationship That Lasts'', Parallax Press, 2011. .
* ''The Novice: A Story of True Love'', HarperCollins, 2011. .
* ''Your True Home: The Everyday Wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh'', Shambhala Publications, 2011. .
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* '' Love Letter to the Earth'', Parallax Press, 2012. .
* ''The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh'', Shambhala Pocket Classics, 2012. .
* '' The Art of Communicating'', HarperOne, 2013. .
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* ''No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering'', Parallax Press, 2014. .
* ''How to Eat'', Parallax Press, 2014. .
* ''How to Love'', Parallax Press, 2014. .
* ''How to Sit'', Parallax Press, 2014. .
* ''How to Walk'', Parallax Press, 2015. .
* ''How to Relax'', Parallax Press, 2015. .
* ''Inside the Now: Meditations on Time'', Parallax Press, 2015. .
* ''Silence: The Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise'', HarperOne, 2015. ASIN: B014TAC7GQ.
* ''At Home in the World: Stories and Essential Teachings from a Monk's Life'', with Jason Deantonis (Illustrator), Parallax Press, 2016. .
* ''How to Fight'', Parallax Press, 2017. .
* ''The Art of Living: Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now'', HarperOne, 2017. .
* ''The Other Shore: A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries'', Palm Leaves Press, 2017. .
* ''How to See'', Parallax Press, 2018. ISBN 978-19-4676-433-1.
* ''How to Connect'', Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddishm, Inc., 2020. ISBN 978-84-1121-050-8.
* ''Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet'', HarperCollins, 2021. .
Awards and honours
Nobel laureate
The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...
Martin Luther King Jr. nominated Nhất Hạnh for the Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...
in 1967. The prize was not awarded that year. Nhất Hạnh was awarded the Courage of Conscience award in 1991.
Nhất Hạnh received 2015's ''Pacem in Terris'' Peace and Freedom Award.
In November 2017, the Education University of Hong Kong conferred an honorary doctorate upon Nhất Hạnh for his "lifelong contributions to the promotion of mindfulness, peace and happiness across the world". As he was unable to attend the ceremony in Hong Kong, a simple ceremony was held on 29 August 2017, in Thailand, where John Lee Chi-kin, vice-president (academic) of EdUHK, presented the honorary degree certificate and academic gown to Nhất Hạnh on the university's behalf.
In popular culture
Films
Nhất Hạnh has been featured in many films, including:
* '' The Power of Forgiveness'', shown at the Dawn Breakers International Film Festival
* '' Walk with Me'', a documentary directed by Marc James Francis and Max Pugh, and supported by director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Filmed over three years, ''Walk with Me'' focuses on the Plum Village monastics' daily life and rites, with Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch (born 19 July 1976) is an English actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Benedict Cumberbatch, various accolades, including a BAFTA TV Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Laurenc ...
narrating passages from ''Fragrant Palm Leaves'' in voiceover. The film was released in 2017, premiering at SXSW
South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
Festival.
* One: The Movie: Nhất Hạnh and Chân Không appear in this documentary that surveys beliefs on the meaning of life
The meaning of life is the concept of an individual's life, or existence in general, having an intrinsic value (ethics), inherent significance or a Meaning (philosophy), philosophical point. There is no consensus on the specifics of such a conce ...
.
* A Cloud Never Dies: a biographical documentary produced by Pugh and Francis and narrated by Peter Coyote.
Graphic novel
Along with Alfred Hassler and Chân Không, Nhất Hạnh is the subject of the 2013 graphic novel ''The Secret of the 5 Powers''.
See also
* Buddhism in Vietnam
* Buddhist crisis
* Vietnamese Thiền
* List of peace activists
* Religion and peacebuilding
Explanatory notes
References
External links
Order of Interbeing
Parallax Press
– founded by Thich Nhat Hanh
Plum Village
– Thich Nhat Hanh's monastery
Sangha Directory
– List of communities practicing in Thich Nhat Hanh's tradition
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thich, Nhat Hanh
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2022 deaths
20th-century Buddhist monks
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Engaged Buddhism
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Founders of new religious movements
Mindfulness (Buddhism)
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Monks of Vietnamese descent
Nautilus Book Award winners
Nonviolence advocates
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