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Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh Quick Facts
Main Areas: Spirituality; MindfulnessBest Sellers: “Living Buddha, Living Christ”; “Being Peace”; “Anger”
Career Focus: Author; Speaker; Buddhist Monk; Scholar; Retreat Leader
Affiliation: Unified Buddhist Church
Thich Nhat Hanh has been a Buddhist monk since age 16. He has been living in exile from his native Vietnam since 1966. That year the South Vietnamese government did not allow him to return home because of his role in working to stop the violence he saw affecting his people. Known as Thây (pronounced “tie”) to his followers, he championed a movement known as “engaged Buddhism,” which combined traditional meditative practices with nonviolent social action.
When Thây left Vietnam, he set out on a mission around the world to work for peace in Vietnam. When he came to the United States for the first of many visits, the territory was not completely new to him because he had experienced American culture as a student at Princeton and professor at Columbia. He offered an enlightened view on ways to end the Vietnam conflict. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Even after the unification of Vietnam under Communist rule, Thây is still seen as a threat by the Vietnamese government. A respected writer, scholar, and leader, he now lives in southwestern France, where he founded a retreat center. The center, Plum Village, houses about 200 monks, nuns, and laypeople, but thousands from around the globe call it home. Thây has written more than 75 books of prose, poetry, and meditations; his teachings appeal to a wide audience.
Other Programs & Highlights
Thây speaks to the individual’s desire for wholeness and inner calm. In 1993, he drew a crowd of 1,200 people at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., led a retreat of 500 people in upstate New York, and assembled 300 people in West Virginia. The Unified Buddhist Church, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, officially represents Thich Nhat Hanh and his sangha (community of practice) in the United States.
Favorite Quotes & Thoughts from Thich Nhat Hanh
• People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.
• People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air but to walk on Earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child—our own two eyes. All is a miracle.
• Feelings, whether of compassion or irritation, should be welcomed, recognized, and treated on an absolutely equal basis because both are ourselves. The tangerine I am eating is me. The mustard greens I am planting are me. I plant with all my heart and mind. I clean this teapot with the kind of attention I would have were I giving the baby Buddha or Jesus a bath. Nothing should be treated more carefully than anything else. In mindfulness, compassion, irritation, mustard green plant, and teapot are all sacred.”
• If we are too busy, if we are carried away every day by our projects, our uncertainty, our craving, how can we have the time to stop and look deeply into the situation—our own situation, the situation of our beloved one, the situation of our family and of our community, and the situation of our nation and of the other nations?
• Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. All systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.
Getting Started With Thich Nhat Hanh
Thich Nhat Hanh (Thây) is a prolific writer with a wide variety of starting points. The ideal starting point varies depending on your vantage point, but I would recommend beginning with his national bestseller, Living Buddha, Living Christ.
Buddha and Christ are arguably two of the most important figures in the history of humankind. Each of them left behind a legacy of teachings and practices that have shaped the lives of billions of people in the East and in the West. During Thây’s life and now in this book, he tries to identify parallels between these two traditions and see how these two religions can coexist.
In Thây’s book, he quotes Professor Hans Kung: “Until there is peace between religions, there can be no peace in the world.” According to Thây, “When we believe that our faith is the only faith that contains the truth, then violence and suffering will surely be the result.” The challenge, of course, is how to reconcile these two religions.
In Thây’s life, he has been part of a decades-long dialogue between these two traditions. Thây starts with his Buddhist background and works to incorporate Christian beliefs into his thoughts. He says, “On the altar in my hermitage are images of Buddha and Jesus, and I touch both of them as my spiritual ancestors.”
In Christianity, he “finds mindfulness in the Holy Spirit as an agent of healing.” In Buddhism, he “finds unqualified love in the form of compassion for all living things. And in both he finds an emphasis on living practice and community spirit.”
In Living Buddha, Living Christ, Thây uses anecdotes, scripture references, and teachings from both traditions and points out that mindfulness is an integral part of all religious practice and teaches us how to cultivate it in our own lives. Thây does not want to downplay the theological and ritual teachings that distinguish Buddhism and Christianity, but he does cause one to consider that beyond the letter of doctrine lies a unity of truth.
If you want to get a sense of how respected Thây is, all you need to do is look at the back cover of his book and read the quotes by Martin Luther King and the Dalai Lama.
