Buddhist Peace Activist Thich Nhat Hanh Died

Thích Nhất Hạnh born as Nguyễn Đình Lang and later known by the name Nguyễn Xuân Bảo; 11 October 1926 – 22 January 2022 was a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, and founder of the Plum Village Tradition, historically recognized as the main inspiration for engaged Buddhism.

Nhất Hạnh spent most of his later life at the Plum Village Monastery in southwest France near Thénac, travelling internationally to give retreats and talks. He coined the term "Engaged Buddhism" in his book Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire.  After a 39-year exile, he was permitted to visit Vietnam in 2005.  In November 2018, he returned to Vietnam to spend his remaining days at his "root temple", Từ Hiếu Temple, near Huế, where he died on 22 January 2022 at the age of 95.

Nhất Hạnh was active in the peace movement and deep ecology, promoting nonviolent solutions to conflict and raising awareness of the interconnectedness of all elements in nature.  He was the founder of the largest monastic order in the West.  He also refrained from consuming animal products, as a means of nonviolence toward animals.

During the Vietnam War

At an April 1965 meeting, Vạn Hanh Union of students issued a Call for Peace statement. It declared: "It is time for North and South Vietnam to find a way to stop the war and help all Vietnamese people live peacefully and with mutual respect."

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.

Nhất Hạnh returned to the US in 1966 to lead a symposium in Vietnamese Buddhism at Cornell University and continue his work for peace. While in the US, he visited Gethsemani Abbey to speak with 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".  In 1965 he had written Martin Luther King Jr. a letter titled "In Search of the Enemy of Man".   During his 1966 stay in the US, Nhất Hạnh met King and urged him to publicly denounce the Vietnam War.  In 1967, King gave the speech "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" at the 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.  In his nomination, King said, "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".  That King had revealed the candidate he had chosen to nominate and had made a "strong request" to the prize committee was in sharp violation of Nobel traditions and protocol.  The committee did not make an award that year.

Nhất Hạnh moved to France and became the chair of the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation.  When the Northern Vietnamese army took control of the south in 1975, he was denied permission to return to Vietnam.  In 1976–77 he led efforts to help rescue Vietnamese boat people in the Gulf of Siam, eventually stopping under pressure from the governments of Thailand and Singapore.

A CIA document from the Vietnam War has called Thích Nhất Hạnh a "brain truster" of Thích Trí Quang, the leader of a dissident group.

Establishing the Order of Interbeing

Nhất Hạnh created the Order of Interbeing (Vietnamese: Tiếp Hiện) in 1966. He headed this monastic and lay group, teaching Five Mindfulness Trainings and the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings.  In 1969 he 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 Potato Meditation Centre. The centre grew and in 1982 he and Chân Không founded Plum Village Monastery, a vihara in the Dordogne in the south of 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 recognised governing bodies of Plum Village in France; Blue Cliff Monastery in Pine Bush, New York; the Community of Mindful Living in Berkeley, California; Parallax Press; Deer Park Monastery (Tu Viện Lộc Uyển) in Escondido, California; Magnolia Grove Monastery (Đạo Tràng Mộc Lan) in Batesville, Mississippi; and the European Institute of Applied Buddhism in Waldbröl, Germany.  According to the Thích Nhất Hạnh Foundation, the charitable organization that serves as the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism's fundraising arm, 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 and at Prajna Temple in the central highlands. He and the Order of Interbeing have established monasteries and Dharma centres in the United States at Deer Park Monastery, Magnolia Grove Monastery, and Maple Forest Monastery (Tu Viện Rừng Phong) and Green Mountain Dharma Center (Ðạo Tràng Thanh Sơn) in Vermont, the last two of which closed in 2007 and moved to the Blue Cliff Monastery in Pine Bush, New York. These monasteries are open to the public during much of the year and provide ongoing retreats for lay people.  The Order of Interbeing also 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.  Nhất Hạnh conducted peace walks in Los Angeles in 2005 and 2007.

Notable members of the order of interbeing and disciples of Nhất Hạnh include Skip Ewing, founder of the Nashville Mindfulness Center; Natalie Goldberg, author and teacher; Chân Không, dharma teacher; Caitriona Reed, dharma teacher and co-founder of Manzanita Village Retreat Center; Larry Rosenberg, dharma teacher; Cheri Maples, police officer and dharma teacher; and Pritam Singh, real estate developer and editor of several of Nhất Hạnh's books.

Other notable students of Nhất Hạnh include Joan Halifax, founder of the Upaya Institute; Albert Low, Zen teacher and author; Joanna Macy, environmentalist and author; Jon Kabat-Zinn, creator of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR); Jack Kornfield, dharma teacher and author; Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; Garry Shandling, comedian and actor; Marc Benioff, founder of Salesforce.com; Jim Yong Kim, former president of the World Bank; John Croft, co-creator of Dragon Dreaming; Leila Seth, author and Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court; Stephanie Kaza, environmentalist; and Gregory M Corrigan, Roman Catholic priest.

Writings

Nhất Hạnh has published over 130 books, including more than 100 in English, which have sold over 5 million copies worldwide.

Bibliography

• A Pebble for Your Pocket, Full Circle Publishing, 2001, ISBN 81-7621-188-5
• Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames, Riverhead Trade, 2002, ISBN 1-57322-937-7
• At Home in the World: Stories and Essential Teachings from a Monk's Life, with Jason Deantonis (Illustrator), Parallax Press, 2016, ISBN 1941529429
• The Moon Bamboo, Parallax Press, 1989, ISBN 0938077201
• Be Free Where You Are, Parallax Press, 2002, ISBN 1-888375-23-X
• Being Peace, Parallax Press, 1987, ISBN 0-938077-00-7
• Buddha Mind, Buddha Body: Walking Toward Enlightenment, Parallax Press, 2007, ISBN 1-888375-75-2
• Cultivating The Mind Of Love, Full Circle, 1996, ISBN 81-216-0676-4
• Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm, HarperOne, 2012, ISBN 978-1846043185
• Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals, 1962–1966, Riverhead Trade, 1999, ISBN 1-57322-796-X
• Going Home: Jesus and Buddha as Brothers, Riverhead Books, 1999, ISBN 1-57322-145-7
• Hermitage Among the Clouds, Parallax Press, 1993, ISBN 0-938077-56-2
• How to Eat, Parallax Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1937006723
• How to Fight, Parallax Press, 2017, ISBN 978-1941529867
• How to Love, Parallax Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1937006884
• How to Relax, Parallax Press, 2015, ISBN 978-1941529089
• How to Sit, Parallax Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1937006587
• Is nothing something? : Kids' questions and zen answers about life, death, family, friendship, and everything in between, Parallax Press 2014, ISBN 978-1-937006-65-5
• Living Buddha, Living Christ, Riverhead Trade, 1997, ISBN 1-57322-568-1
• Love Letter to the Earth, Parallax Press, 2012, ISBN 978-1937006389
• Mindful Movements: Ten Exercises for Well-Being, Parallax Press 2008, ISBN 978-1-888375-79-4
• No Death, No Fear, Riverhead Trade reissue, 2003, ISBN 1-57322-333-6
• No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering, Parallax Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1937006853
• Old Path White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha, Parallax Press, 1991, ISBN 81-216-0675-6
• Old Path, White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha Blackstone Audio, Inc.; 2016, ISBN 978-1504615983
• Our Appointment with Life: Sutra on Knowing the Better Way to Live Alone, Parallax Press, 1990, ISBN 1-935209-79-5
• Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life, Bantam reissue, 1992, ISBN 9780553351392
• Reconciliation: Healing the Inner Child, Parallax Press, 2010, ISBN 1-935209-64-7
• Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life. HarperOne. 2010. ISBN 978-0-06-169769-2.
• Silence: The Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise], HarperOne (1705), 2015, ASIN: B014TAC7GQ
• Teachings on Love, Full Circle Publishing, 2005, ISBN 81-7621-167-2
• The Art of Communicating, HarperOne, 2013, ISBN 978-0-06-222467-5
• The Art of Living: Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now, HarperOne, 2017, ISBN 978-0062434661
• The Art of Power, HarperOne, 2007, ISBN 0-06-124234-9
• The Blooming of a Lotus, Beacon Press, 2009, ISBN 9780807012383
• The Diamond That Cuts Through Illusion, Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Diamond Sutrs, Parallax Press, 1992, ISBN 0-938077-51-1
• The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching, Broadway Books, 1999, ISBN 0-7679-0369-2
• The Heart Of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra, Full Circle, 1997, ISBN 81-216-0703-5, ISBN 9781888375923 (2005 Edition)
• The Miracle of Mindfulness, Rider Books, 1991, ISBN 978-0-7126-4787-8
• The Miracle of Mindfulness: A Manual on Meditation, Beacon Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8070-1239-4 (Vietnamese: Phép lạ của sự tỉnh thức).
• The Novice: A Story of True Love, HarperCollins, 2011, ISBN 978-0-06-200583-0
• The Other Shore: A New Translation of the Heart Sutra with Commentaries, Palm Leaves Press, 2017, ISBN 978-1-941529-14-0
• The Path of Emancipation: Talks from a 21-Day Mindfulness Retreat, Unified Buddhist Church, 2000, ISBN 81-7621-189-3
• The Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh, Shambhala Pocket Classics, 2012, ISBN 978-1-59030-936-0
• The Raft Is Not the Shore: Conversations Toward a Buddhist/Christian Awareness, Daniel Berrigan (Co-author), Orbis Books, 2000, ISBN 1-57075-344-X
• The Sun My Heart, Parallax Press, 1988, ISBN 0-938077-12-0
• Thich Nhat Hanh: Essential Writings, Robert Ellsberg (Editor), Orbis Books, 2001, ISBN 1-57075-370-9
• Touching the Earth: Intimate Conversations with the Buddha, Parallax Press, 2004, ISBN 1-888375-41-8
• Transformation and Healing: Sutra on the Four Establishments of Mindfulness, Full Circle, 1997, ISBN 81-216-0696-9
• True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart, Shambhala Publications, 1997, ISBN 1-59030-404-7
• Under the Banyan Tree, Full Circle Publishing, 2008, ISBN 81-7621-175-3
• Understanding Our Mind, HarperCollins, 2006, ISBN 978-81-7223-796-7
• Vietnam: Lotus in a sea of fire. New York, Hill and Wang. 1967.
• Works by or about Thích Nhất Hạnh in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• You Are Here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment, Shambhala Publications, 2010, ISBN 978-1590308387
• Your True Home: The Everyday Wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh, Shambhala Publications, 2011, ISBN 978-1-59030-926-1
• Zen Keys: A Guide to Zen Practice, Harmony, 1994, ISBN 978-0-385-47561-7
• Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet, Harper Collins, 2021, ISBN 978-0-06-295479-4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Nh%E1%BA%A5t_H%E1%BA%A1nh#During_the_Vietnam_War