Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh was a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher and peace activist who became one of the best-known Buddhist teachers in the West. During the Vietnam War he worked for reconciliation and social service, and Martin Luther King Jr. nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Exiled from Vietnam for decades, he founded the Plum Village community in France in 1982. The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching (1998) explains core teachings, such as the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, in plain language centred on mindfulness in everyday life.

Key ideas

• Mindfulness, full awareness of the present moment, can be practised in ordinary activities such as breathing, walking and washing dishes.
• 'Interbeing': nothing exists by itself alone; each thing is made of everything else.
• Engaged Buddhism holds that practice must respond to social suffering, war and injustice rather than withdraw from them.
• Suffering, deeply understood, can be transformed, and understanding gives rise to compassion.

Major works

• The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching (1998)
• The Miracle of Mindfulness (1975)
• Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire (1967)
• Being Peace (1987)

In the Book corner

• The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching 1998 · Beginner
  An introduction to core Buddhist teachings by the Vietnamese Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh, published in 1998. It is organised in three…

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