Thích Nhất Hạnh

Thích Nhất Hạnh was born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo on 11 October 1926 in Huế, the ancient capital of central Vietnam. He became a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, author, poet, and teacher, and was widely known as the “father of mindfulness.” His life ran through war, exile, and a growing Western interest in Buddhism. To his followers he was often called Thầy, meaning “master” or “teacher,” a simple name that fit the role he came to hold for many people.

His wish to become a monk began early. As a child, he remembered feeling joy when he saw a drawing of a peaceful Buddha sitting on the grass. On a school trip to a mountain associated with a quiet hermit, he found and drank from a natural well, an experience he later connected with his desire for Buddhist practice. At 12 he expressed interest in monastic training, and at 16 his parents allowed him to enter Từ Hiếu Temple. There he studied under Zen Master Thanh Quý Chân Thật and received training in Vietnamese Mahayana and Theravada Buddhist traditions.

Nhất Hạnh’s education was broad and restless. He studied at Báo Quốc Buddhist Academy, but left in 1950 because he found it lacking in philosophy, literature, and foreign languages. In Saigon, he was ordained as a monk in 1951 and supported himself by selling books and poetry while studying literature, philosophy, psychology, and science at Saigon University, where he received a degree in French and Vietnamese Literature. He later edited Phật Giáo Việt Nam, the official publication of the General Association of Vietnamese Buddhists, and continued to write for a more humanistic and unified Buddhism, even when his views drew opposition.

In the mid-1960s, Nhất Hạnh co-founded the School of Youth for Social Services and created the Order of Interbeing. He also coined the term “engaged Buddhism” in his book Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire. His work joined meditation with action, calling attention to suffering, social service, and peace. In 1966 he was exiled from South Vietnam after opposing the war and refusing to take sides. The next year, Martin Luther King, Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

After leaving Vietnam, Nhất Hạnh became a major influence on Western practices of Buddhism. He founded the Plum Village Monastery in 1982 in southwest France near Thénac, and spent many years there while traveling internationally to give retreats and talks. He established dozens of monasteries and practice centers. He taught deep listening as a nonviolent answer to conflict and spoke often about the interconnectedness of the environments that sustain and promote peace.

After 39 years of exile, Nhất Hạnh was permitted to visit Vietnam in 2005. In 2018 he returned to Từ Hiếu Temple, his “root temple” near Huế, and lived there until his death on 22 January 2022 at the age of 95. His words still carry force because they came from a life of practice as well as conflict: a monk shaped by study, poetry, war, exile, community, and the steady discipline of listening.