Thích Nhất Hạnh

Nhất Hạnh in Paris in 2006

Thích Nhất Hạnh (/ˈtɪk ˈnjʌt ˈhʌn/; October 11, 1926 – January 21, 2022) was a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet and peace activist who is considered by many to be the father of mindfulness. He lived in the Plum Village Monastery in the Dordogne region in the South of France. He was born in Thừa Thiên Huế province, Vietnam.

Works

He created the term Engaged Buddhism in his book Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire. A long-term exile, he was given permission to make his first return trip to Vietnam in 2005. Nhất Hạnh has published more than 100 books, including more than 40 in English.

He believed that peace and joy is always accessible for all people. One way to discover that joy, is by what they call "mindful" meditation. Which is a type of meditation that concentrates on your breathing and embracing everything that comes up on your consciousness, without interpreting it with thought and critisism. But accompanying it with the great power of forgiveness, understanding and realisation of the present moment, which is also a very important point of reference in his teachings.

Health and death

On 11 November 2014, Nhất Hạnh was hospitalized with a severe brain hemorrhage.^[1]^[2]

Nhất Hạnh died on January 21, 2022 in Huế, Vietnam from problems caused by a stroke at the age of 95.^[3]

Thích Nhất Hạnh Media

Buddha hall of the Từ Hiếu Temple
Thích Nhất Hạnh was the forty-second heir of the Linji school of Zen Buddhism in Vietnam
Chân Không(Sister True Emptiness)
Deer Park Monastery in California
Rewata Dhamma, Sangharakshita, and Nhất Hạnh (l-r) in Berlin, 1992
Thích Nhất Hạnh in Vught, the Netherlands, 2006
Nhất Hạnh with monks and nuns at the Plum Village in Thailand
Altar of Thích Nhất Hạnh and his predecessors