Thích Nhất Hạnh

In 1961 Nhất Hạnh went to the US to teach comparative religion at Princeton University,[18] and was subsequently appointed lecturer in Buddhism at Columbia University.[18] By then he had gained fluency in French, Chinese, Sanskrit, Pali, Japanese and English, in addition to his native Vietnamese. In 1963, he returned to Vietnam to aid his fellow monks in their non-violent peace efforts.[18]

Nhất Hạnh taught Buddhist psychology and prajnaparamita literature at Vạn Hanh Buddhist University, a private institution that taught Buddhist studies, Vietnamese culture, and languages.[18] At a meeting in April 1965, Vạn Hanh Union 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." Nhất Hạnh left for the U.S. shortly afterwards, leaving Sister Chân Không in charge of the SYSS. Vạn Hạnh University was taken over by one of the Chancellors who wished to sever ties with Thich Nhất Hạnh and the SYSS, accusing Sister Chân Không of being a communist. From that point the SYSS struggled to raise funds and faced attacks on its members. The SYSS persisted in their relief efforts without taking sides in the conflict.[5]

Nhất Hạnh returned to the US in 1966 to lead a symposium in Vietnamese Buddhism at Cornell University, and to continue his work for peace. While in the US, Nhất Hạnh stopped at Gethsemani Abbey to speak with Thomas Merton.[19] When Vietnam threatened to block Nhất Hạnh's re-entry to the country, Merton penned an essay of solidarity entitled "Nhat Hanh is my Brother".[19][20] He had written a letter to Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1965 entitled: "In Search of the Enemy of Man". It was during his 1966 stay in the US that Nhất Hạnh met with King and urged him to publicly denounce the Vietnam War.[21] In 1967, Dr. King gave the speech Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence at the Riverside Church in New York City, his first to publicly question the U.S. involvement in Vietnam.[22] Later that year, Dr. King nominated Nhất Hạnh for the 1967 Nobel Peace Prize. In his nomination Dr. 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".[23] The fact 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 the Nobel traditions and protocol.[24][25] The committee did not make an award that year.

Nhất Hạnh moved to France and became the chair of the Vietnamese Buddhist Peace Delegation.[18] When the Northern Vietnamese army took control of the south in 1975, he was denied permission to return to Vietnam.[18] From 1976–1977 he led efforts to help rescue Vietnamese boat people in the Gulf of Siam,[26] eventually stopping under pressure from the governments of Thailand and Singapore.[27]

A CIA document from the Vietnam War has called Thích Nhất Hạnh a "brain truster" of Thich Tri Quang, the leader of a dissident group.[28]

Deer Park Monastery in California

Nhất Hạnh created the Order of Interbeing (Vietnamese: Tiếp Hiện) in 1966. He heads this monastic and lay group, teaching Five Mindfulness Trainings[29] and the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings.[30] 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 Center. The center grew and in 1982 he and his colleague Sister Chân Không founded Plum Village Monastery, a vihara[upper-alpha 1] in the Dordogne in the south of France.[4] The Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism [31] (formerly the Unified Buddhist Church) and its sister organization in France the Congregation Bouddhique Zen Village des Pruniers are the legally recognized governing bodies for Plum Village in France, for Blue Cliff Monastery in Pine Bush, New York, the Community of Mindful Living, Parallax Press, Deer Park Monastery in California, Magnolia Grove Monastery in Batesville, Mississippi, and the European Institute of Applied Buddhism in Waldbröl, Germany.[32][33] According to the Thích Nhất Hạnh Foundation, (the charitable organization that serves as the fundraising arm of the Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism), the monastic order established by Thich Nhat Hanh comprises 589 monastics in 9 monasteries worldwide. [34]

He established two monasteries in Vietnam, at the original Từ Hiếu Temple near Huế and at Prajna Temple in the central highlands. Thích Nhất Hạnh and the Order of Interbeing have established monasteries and Dharma centers in the United States at Deer Park Monastery (Tu Viện Lộc Uyển) in Escondido, California, Maple Forest Monastery (Tu Viện Rừng Phong) and Green Mountain Dharma Center (Ðạo Tràng Thanh Sơn) in Vermont and Magnolia Grove Monastery (Đạo Tràng Mộc Lan) in Mississippi, the second 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 laypersons. The Order of Interbeing also holds retreats for specific groups of lay people, such as families, teenagers, veterans, the entertainment industry, members of Congress, law enforcement officers and people of color.[35][35][36][37][38] Nhất Hạnh conducted a peace walk in Los Angeles in 2005, and again in 2007.[39]

Notable members of the order of interbeing and disciples of Thích Nhất Hạnh include: Skip Ewing, founder of the Nashville Mindfulness Center; Natalie Goldberg, author and teacher; Sister 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 Thích 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; and Stephanie Kaza, environmentalist.

Thích Nhất Hạnh during a ceremony in Da Nang on his 2007 trip to Vietnam

In 2005, following lengthy negotiations, Nhất Hạnh was given permission from the Vietnamese government to return for a visit. He was also allowed to teach there, publish four of his books in Vietnamese, and travel the country with monastic and lay members of his Order, including a return to his root temple, Tu Hieu Temple in Huế.[6][40] The trip was not without controversy. Thich Vien Dinh, writing on behalf of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (considered illegal by the Vietnamese government), called for Nhất Hạnh to make a statement against the Vietnam government's poor record on religious freedom. Thich Vien Dinh feared that the trip would be used as propaganda by the Vietnamese government, suggesting to the world that religious freedom is improving there, while abuses continue.[41][42][43]

Despite the controversy, Thích Nhất Hạnh again returned to Vietnam in 2007, while two senior officials of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) remained under house arrest. The Unified Buddhist Church called his visit a betrayal, symbolizing his willingness to work with his co-religionists' oppressors. Võ Văn Ái, a spokesman for the UBCV, said "I believe Thích Nhất Hạnh's trip is manipulated by the Hanoi government to hide its repression of the Unified Buddhist Church and create a false impression of religious freedom in Vietnam."[44] The Plum Village Website states that the three goals of his 2007 trip back to Vietnam were to support new monastics in his Order; to organize and conduct "Great Chanting Ceremonies" intended to help heal remaining wounds from the Vietnam War; and to lead retreats for monastics and lay people. The chanting ceremonies were originally called "Grand Requiem for Praying Equally for All to Untie the Knots of Unjust Suffering", but Vietnamese officials objected, saying it was unacceptable for the government to "equally" pray for soldiers in the South Vietnamese army or U.S. soldiers. Nhất Hạnh agreed to change the name to "Grand Requiem For Praying".[44]

In 2014, major Anglican, Catholic, and Orthodox Christian leaders, as well as Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist leaders, met to sign a shared commitment against modern-day slavery; the declaration they signed calls for the elimination of slavery and human trafficking by the year 2020. Nhất Hạnh was represented by Sister Chân Không.[45]

In November 2014, Nhất Hạnh experienced a severe brain hemorrhage and was hospitalized.[46][47] After months of rehabilitation, Nhất Hạnh was released from the stroke rehabilitation clinic at Bordeaux University Hospital, in France. On July 11, 2015, Nhất Hạnh was flown to San Francisco to speed his recovery with an aggressive rehabilitation program through UCSF Medical Center.[48] He returned to France on January 8, 2016.[49]

After spending 2016 in France, Nhất Hạnh traveled to Thai Plum Village.[50] He has continued to see both Eastern and Western specialists while in Thailand.[50] He is still unable to speak.[50]

On November 2, 2018, a press release from the Plum Village community confirmed that Nhất Hạnh, now aged 92, had returned to Vietnam a final time and will reside at Từ Hiếu Temple to "live his remaining days". In a meeting with senior disciples, he had "clearly communicated his wish to return to Vietnam using gestures, nodding and shaking his head in response to questions."[7] A representative for Plum Village, Sister True Dedication, has described his life in Vietnam (referring to him as "Thay" which is Vietnamese for "Teacher"):

"Thay’s health has been remarkably stable, and he is continuing to receive Eastern treatment and acupuncture," wrote Plum Village representative Sister True Dedication in an email. "When there’s a break in the rains, Thay comes outside to enjoy visiting the Root Temple’s ponds and stupas, in his wheelchair, joined by his disciples. Many practitioners, lay and monastic, are coming to visit Tu Hieu, and there is a beautiful, light atmosphere of serenity and peace, as the community enjoys practicing together there in Thay’s presence."[51]