| Thich
Nhat Hanh (pronounced Tick-Naught-Han) is a Vietnamese Buddhist
monk. During the war in Vietnam, he worked tirelessly for
reconciliation between North and South Vietnam. His lifelong
efforts to generate peace moved Martin Luther King, Jr. to
nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. He lives in exile
in a small community in France where he teaches, writes, gardens,
and works to help refugees worldwide. He has conducted many
mindfulness retreats in Europe and North America helping veterans,
children, environmentalists, psychotherapists, artists and many
thousands of individuals seeking peace in their hearts, and in
their world.
Thich
Nhat Hanh has been living in exile from his native Vietnam since
the age of forty. In that year of 1966, he was banned by both the
non-Communist and Communist governments for his role in
undermining the violence he saw affecting his people. A Buddhist
monk since the age of sixteen, Thây ("teacher," as he
is commonly known to followers) earned a reputation as a respected
writer, scholar, and leader. He championed a movement known as
"engaged Buddhism," which intertwined traditional
meditative practices with active nonviolent civil disobedience.
This movement lay behind the establishment of the most influential
center of Buddhist studies in Saigon, the An Quang Pagoda. He also
set up relief organizations to rebuild destroyed villages,
instituted the School of Youth for Social Service (a Peace Corps
of sorts for Buddhist peace workers), founded a peace magazine,
and urged world leaders to use nonviolence as a tool. Although his
struggle for cooperation meant he had to relinquish a homeland, it
won him accolades around the world.
When
Thich Nhat Hanh left Vietnam, he embarked on a mission to spread
Buddhist thought around the globe. In 1966, when Thây came to the
United States for the first of many humanitarian visits, the
territory was not completely new to him: he had experienced
American culture before as a student at Princeton, and more
recently as a professor at Columbia. The Fellowship of
Reconciliation and Cornell invited Thây to speak on behalf of
Buddhist monks, and he offered an enlightened view on ways to end
the Vietnam conflict. He spoke on college campuses, met with
administration officials, and impressed social dignitaries. The
following year, Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Martin Luther King,
Jr., nominated Thich Nhat Hanh for the same honor. Hanh's Buddhist
delegation to the Paris peace talks resulted in accords between
North Vietnam and the United States, but his pacifist efforts did
not end with the war. He also helped organize rescue missions well
into the 1970's for Vietnamese trying to escape from political
oppression. Even after the political stabilization of Vietnam,
Thich Nhat Hanh has not been allowed to return home. The
government still sees him as a threat--ironic, when one considers
the subjects of his teachings: respect for life, generosity,
responsible sexual behavior, loving communication, and cultivation
of a healthful life style. |
