Thich Nhat Hanh teaching village children in rural Vietnam, 1964.
Thich Nhat Hanh pioneered Buddhist engagement in social work and rural development, founding in 1965 the School of Youth for Social Service in Vietnam, a kind of Peace Corps. Here he is in October 1964 teaching rural children to read and write using a song about the bodhisattva of compassion.
In 1966, Thich Nhat Hanh traveled to the US to call for peace.
Desperate to find the roots of the war in Vietnam, Thich Nhat Hanh traveled to the US and another 18 countries to call for peace in 1966-67. But the price of his courage was exile – an exile that was to last 39 years.
Thich Nhat Hanh, 1966
Thich Nhat Hanh was a leading figure in the Buddhist peace movement in Vietnam. In the year before this photo was taken, he had founded Van Hanh University, a publishing house (La Boi Press), the School of Youth for Social Service, and a new Buddhist Order (the Order of Interbeing).
Thich Nhat Hanh, black and white portrait
Thich Nhat Hanh has been called „The most Beloved Teacher in the West“
Thich Nhat Hanh leading a peace walk for several thousand people in Paris, 2006
Thich Nhat Hanh listening deeply to his students in Hong Kong, 2013.
Thich Nhat Hanh is a renowned Buddhist scholar
Thich Nhat Hanh has made modern English, French and Vietnamese translations of some of Buddhism’s most important texts, including the Heart Sutra, the Anapanasati and Satipatthana Sutras, and the Buddhist monastic code.
Thich Nhat Hanh, New Hamlet Buddha Hall (Plum Village)
Thich Nhat Hanh is a Dharma Teacher in the Vietnamese Zen Tradition of the Liễu Quán Dharma line in the 42nd generation of the Linji (Rinzai) School.
Preparing the Hall for Meditation – Plum Village, France
With over 200 resident monks and nuns, Plum Village has the largest Buddhist monastic community in the West.
Thich Nhat Hanh presiding over a Bhikshu Ordination Ceremony in Plum Village, France
Thich Nhat Hanh with Theravada monks in Thailand in 2007
Thich Nhat Hanh’s modernised Buddhist teachings have been well received in Thailand, in particular at the Mahachulalongkorn University, the world’s largest Buddhist university.
Thich Nhat Hanh is a leading voice in Buddhist ecology. Here he is planting a Bodhi tree in Mussoorie, in the Indian Himalayas in 2008.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marching in 1967 under a Vietnamese banner with a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh
The banner reads: „Men are not our enemies. If we kill men, with whom shall we live?“ Thich Nhat Hanh had first written to Dr. King with this question in 1965. They met for the first time a year later, in 1966 in Chicago, and again in May 1967 in Geneva. Dr. King decisively came out against the war in a speech in NYC on April 4 1967, and quoted Thich Nhat Hanh in that speech.
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March for nuclear disarmament, New York City, 17 June 1982.
Thich Nhat Hanh was in New York in 1982 to lead a meditation and mindfulness retreat, and together everyone on the retreat joined the march. L to R: Lewis Richmond, Richard Baker Roshi, and Thich Nhat Hanh. Several years later, Thich Nhat Hanh reflected, „There was a lot of anger in the peace movement. We should not walk „for“ peace. We should „be“ peace as we walk.“
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Thich Nhat Hanh with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
At a joint press conference on 31 May 1966 Chicago Sheraton Hotel.
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© Thich Nhat Hanh in Plum Village in 2016
Following his stroke and treatment in Bordeaux and San Francisco, Thich Nhat Hanh returned to Plum Village in 2016 and was present for the ceremony to open the 3-month Rains Retreat.
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The Buddha Hill at Plum Village, France
Stone Buddhas at Thich Nhat Hanh’s Plum Village Practice Center in south-west France.
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Lay men and monks in Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France
Over 10,000 people every year visit Plum Village to participate in retreats and „days of mindfulness.“
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Thich Nhat Hanh returned to Vietnam in 2005 after 39 years of exile. Here he is leading hundreds of monastics in a traditional almsround procession in Huế.
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Thich Nhat Hanh receiving an Honorary Doctorate from Hong Kong University in 2014.
Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings on bringing mindfulness and „applied ethics“ into education settings have been taken up around the world.
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Thich Nhat Hanh arrives at Từ Hiếu Temple in Huế in 2005, after nearly four decades of exile.
Từ Hiếu Temple is Thich Nhat Hanh’s „Root Temple“ in Vietnam. He received novice ordination there under Zen Master Chân Thật when he was 16 years old, and received the Dharma Lamp there in 1966.
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Thich Nhat Hanh leading his community on walking meditation in Plum Village, France 2014
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Children with monks in Plum Village, France.
Plum Village welcomes hundreds of children and families every summer, to experience the joy of mindful living, play and meditation.
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Sister Chan Khong, Thich Nhat Hanh’s longtime student and collaborator, in Hong Kong in 2013.
During the Wesak (Buddha’s Birthday) celebrations at Lotus Pond Temple (Asian Institute of Applied Buddhism) on Lantau Island, part of the international Plum Village network of temples and practice centers.
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Sister Chan Khong and the Buddhist nuns in Thich Nhat Hanh’s community on alms-round during a teaching tour of Indonesia in 2010. Thich Nhat Hanh has renewed the Buddhist monastic code and embraced the full presence of nuns in every role in the community, including teaching, working, decision-making and ceremonies, making it one of the most progressive sanghas in the world.
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Thich Nhat Hanh: mudra of compassion
This photo was taken while his monks and nuns were offering the compassion chant at his European Institute of Applied Buddhism in Germany (circa 2009).
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Thich Nhat Hanh being welcomed to Indonesia in 2010
In the 2010s Thich Nhat Hanh’s popularity in South-East Asia grew rapidly. Thousands attended his public talks on teaching tours to Hong Kong, Thailand, Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia.
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Thich Nhat Hanh answering questions at a press conference in Germany 2009
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Thich Nhat Hanh creating calligraphies in his Hut in Plum Village, France (circa 2009)
His Zen calligraphies have been exhibited in New York, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Bangkok, Germany and France.
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Thich Nhat Hanh inviting the bell in Lower Hamlet, France – 2014
The practice of stopping and breathing with the sound of the bell – developed by Thich Nhat Hanh – has now been adopted by mindfulness practitioners all over the world.
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Thich Nhat Hanh leads sitting meditation in Trafalgar Square, London
Over 4,000 people joined a guided sitting meditation led by Thich Nhat Hanh in the heart of the capital on 31st March, 2012.
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Thich Nhat Hanh at the Northern Ireland Parliament in 2012.
Thich Nhat Hanh was invited to speak in the Senate Chamber at Stormont on 17th April 2012. He was hosted by Mindfulness Ireland and welcomed by Stormont Junior Minister and former IRA inmate, Martina Anderson, who had cherished his book „The Miracle of Mindfulness“ during her time in jail.
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