Thich Nhat Hanh (Thích Nhất Hạnh) was a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, prolific author, poet and teacher, who founded the Plum Village Tradition, historically recognized as the main inspiration for engaged Buddhism. Known as the "father of mindfulness", Nhất Hạnh was a major influence on Western practices of Buddhism.

Early life

Nhất Hạnh was born Nguyễn Xuân Bảo on 11 October 1926, in the ancient capital of Huế in central Vietnam. He is 15th generation Nguyễn Đình; the poet Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, author of Lục Vân Tiên, was his ancestor. His father, Nguyễn Đình Phúc, from Thành Trung village in Thừa Thiên, Huế, was an official with the French administration. His mother, Trần Thị Dĩ, was a homemaker from Gio Linh district. Nhất Hạnh was the fifth of their six children. Until he was age five, he lived with his large extended family at his grandmother's home. He recalled feeling joy at age seven or eight after he saw a drawing of a peaceful Buddha, sitting on the grass. On a school trip, he visited a mountain where a hermit lived who was said to sit quietly day and night to become peaceful like the Buddha. They explored the area, and he found a natural well, which he drank from and felt completely satisfied. It was this experience that led him to want to become a Buddhist monk. At age 12, he expressed an interest in training to become a monk, which his parents, cautious at first, eventually let him pursue at age 16.

Final years

In November 2014, Nhất Hạnh experienced a severe brain hemorrhage and was hospitalized. After months of rehabilitation, he was released from the stroke rehabilitation clinic at Bordeaux Segalen University. In July 2015, he flew to San Francisco to speed his recovery with an aggressive rehabilitation program at UCSF Medical Center. He returned to France in January 2016. After spending 2016 in France, Nhất Hạnh travelled to Thai Plum Village. He continued to see both Eastern and Western specialists while in Thailand, but was unable to verbally communicate for the remainder of his life.

Education

At age 16, Nhất Hạnh entered the monastery at Từ Hiếu Temple, where his primary teacher was Zen Master Thanh Quý Chân Thật, who was from the 43rd generation of the Lâm Tế Zen school and the ninth generation of the Liễu Quán school. He studied as a novice for three years and received training in Vietnamese traditions of Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism. Here he also learned Chinese, English and French. Nhất Hạnh attended Báo Quốc Buddhist Academy. Dissatisfied with the focus at Báo Quốc Academy, which he found lacking in philosophy, literature, and foreign languages, Nhất Hạnh left in 1950 and took up residence in the Ấn Quang Pagoda in Saigon, where he was ordained as a monk in 1951. He supported himself by selling books and poetry while attending Saigon University, where he studied science.

In 1955, Nhất Hạnh returned to Huế and served as the editor of Phật Giáo Việt Nam (Vietnamese Buddhism), the official publication of the General Association of Vietnamese Buddhists (Tổng Hội Phật Giáo Việt Nam) for two years before the publication was suspended as higher-ranking monks disapproved of his writing. He believed that this was due to his opinion that South Vietnam's various Buddhist organisations should unite. In 1956, while he was away teaching in Đà Lạt, his name was expunged from the records of Ấn Quang, effectively disowning him from the temple. In late 1957, Nhất Hạnh decided to go on retreat, and established a monastic "community of resistance" named Phương Bôi, in Đại Lao Forest near Đà Lạt. During this period, he taught at a nearby high school and continued to write, promoting the idea of a humanistic, unified Buddhism.

Death

Nhất Hạnh died at his residence in Từ Hiếu Temple on 22 January 2022, at age 95, as a result of complications from his stroke seven years earlier. His death was widely mourned by various Buddhist groups in and outside Vietnam. The Dalai Lama, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the U.S. State Department also issued words of condolence.