In this letter to children from 1987, Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) recounts a story about really appreciating the beauty in natural objects like leaves and pebbles.
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Celebrating the History of Buddhism in Vietnam, and a way forward
THICH NHAT HANH Celebrating 1,000 Years of Hanoi In the year 1010, one thousand years ago, the first king of the Ly dynasty founded Thang Long, the city now known as Hanoi. The Ly dynasty has been described as “the most compassionate, peaceful and harmonious in the history of...
Thay’s letter to Root Temple Descendants, October 2018
This letter sets out Thay's intention in returning to Vietnam for his final chapter. Although Thay can no longer write or dictate, he used gestures to indicate his intention, and the letter was drafted over many hours, with his approval of each line.
Thich Nhat Hanh’s statement on Climate Change for the United Nations
In 2014, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) approached Thich Nhat Hanh as an international faith leader, to request a brief statement about climate change and our relationship to one another and to the Earth. This statement was published on the UNFCCC website, ahead of the Paris Climate Summit...
Connecting to Our Root Teacher, the Buddha
Thay wrote this letter in autumn 2014, as his health was weakening. He teaches us how to keep our practice authentic and alive, and see the Buddha not as a God, but as our very own "root teacher", our soul-mate.
Thich Nhat Hanh’s Speech at the Vatican, December 2, 2014
On December 2, 2014, a delegation of monks and nuns from Plum Village travelled to the Vatican to represent Thich Nhat Hanh at a Summit of World Faith Leaders to End Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. At the time, Thich Nhat Hanh was still critically ill in hospital in...
New Designs for Monastic Robes
From the hospital in Agen, Thay writes to his monastic students recommending they design new robes for working meditation, sports and swimming, and sustainable unisex canvas shoes.
New Heart Sutra translation by Thich Nhat Hanh
On 11th September Thay completed a profound and beautiful new English translation of the Heart Sutra, one of the most important sutras in Mahayana Buddhism. This new English translation is based on the new Vietnamese translation that Thay began working on three weeks ago at the European Institute of...
Letter to a Prisoner
On March 12, Thay received a letter from Zachary Crow, who is supporting a young man called Daniel on Death Row in Jackson, Georgia in the USA. Together, Zachary and Daniel have been practising mindfulness and studying Thay’s book The Heart of The Buddha’s Teaching, but Daniel’s time is...
Message to Friends in Japan
Words of comfort from Thay to his friends in Japan after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in March 2011.
Bat Nha: a Koan
Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s compassionate response to the persecution of his students in Vietnam “The koan “Bat Nha” is everyone’s koan; it is the koan of every individual and every community. The koan can be practiced by a Bat Nha monastic, by a monk or nun studying at...
Bat Nha: The Indestructible Seed of Awakening
Fragrant Source Inner Monastery The last days of 2009 To my Bat Nha children, I know that in these moments, you have to disperse to many places, and you cannot live together to practice as a monastic community anymore, but I trust that my letter will still reach you....
Bat Nha: Rekindling the Sacred Fire
Thay’s letter to the Bat Nha Monastics, continued. Blue Cliff MonasteryOctober 21, 2009 Yesterday, in the Great Harmony Meditation Hall of Blue Cliff Monastery, there was an ordination ceremony for two young people, one who had already graduated from Dental School and the other, from Business School. They are...
Bat Nha: Magical Sound of the Sitar
Thay is continuing to write a letter to you from the hermitage Thach Lang in Blue Cliff Monastery. It is October 13th, 2009. Thay just came back from New York. In New York, Thay and the Sangha guided two days of practice for over 2000 American practitioners in the...
Bat Nha: Diamond Body
Blue Cliff, October 7th, 2009 To my Bat Nha Children, I write “my Bat Nha children” and not “my children in Bat Nha” as I had done before, because even though you are not living in Bat Nha anymore, you continue to carry the name of the Bat Nha...
A Young Monastic’s Dream
My dear students, near and far, In the Daily Chanting book, there is a chant that I really liked when I was a novice. The prose of this piece is very beautiful, and its content has a great capacity to nourish the aspiration of monastics. Every time the novice...
Seeing Thay in the Sangha
This letter was written by Thay in 2009, after he was urgently hospitalized with a serious lung infection, in the middle of a 3-month U.S. Tour. About 900 people had gathered in at the YMCA campus in Estes Park, Colorado, for a 5-day retreat that he would lead. However,...
Thay Misses The Sangha
Dear Friends and Co-practitioners at the Retreat One Buddha is Not Enough, Estes Park, CO. My dear friends, I am writing to you from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. I know the Sangha has manifested today in Estes Park. I miss the Reterat. I miss the beautiful setting...
The Mountain Cliff Robe
European Institute of Applied Buddhism Waldbroel, Germany 2009 Last night while sleeping here Thầy had a dream. He saw that he was climbing a mountain with the Buddha and with little Hải Triều Âm (Sound of the Rising Tide). At that time, it was about 2 am in the...
Sitting Still, Imperturbable
Sitting Still Hut, Upper Hamlet, Plum Village July 20, 2009 To my students in Bat Nha, Tu Hieu and everywhere, Thay is sitting at “Sitting Still Hut,” in the Upper Hamlet of Plum Village while writing this letter to you. The Summer Retreat in Plum Village is very joyful...
The Toadskin Hut and Paths of Legend
Thay wrote this end-of-year letter addressed to all of his students about the Toadskin Hut, the hermit of Still Sitting Hut, walking meditation paths that have become legendary, and the new young Dharma Teachers in Plum Village. Still Sitting Hut, Plum Village Upper Hamlet, France December 5, 2008 There is sunshine in Upper...
Letter to the CEO of KFC
Thay wrote this letter to David Novak, the CEO of Kentucky Fried Chicken, in 2008.
The Times of India, 2 October, 2008: Terrorists are victims who create more victims
‘Terrorists are victims who create more victims’ TNN | Oct 2, 2008, 12.19 AM IST Midway through the news meeting on Wednesday, the grim news came in: Agartala had been rocked by serial blasts. All eyes immediately turned to Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh, the Guest Editor for our special...
The Times of India, 2 October, 2008: Thich Nhat Hanh on the use of force to bring peace
You can use a knife to kill or you can use it to chop vegetables Oct 1, 2008, 07.41 PM IST An Israeli soldier asks about the use of force during a question and answer session with Thich Nhat Hanh on November 29th, 2001. Question: I am from the...
Comments on Tibet
When the Plum Village delegation led by Thich Nhat Hanh landed in Rome in March 2008 for fourteen days of public talks, retreats, and other events, the demonstration by 600 Tibetan monks on the occasion of the forty-ninth year of the movement to oppose the yoke of Chinese rule was in its eighth...
Sitting in the Autumn Breeze: Thay’s Blue Cliff Letter, 2007
In this landmark letter, Thay announces that his monastic community is turning vegan, to protect the planet and stop contributing to climate change.
Call for a Collective Awakening: Speech to UNESCO
Thich Nhat Hanh gave this speech at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, October 7, 2006 Ten years ago, I was asked by the director of UNESCO, his Excellency Federico Mayor, to write a manual on the practice of peace and nonviolence, and I readily accepted the work. For me,...
Letter to President G.W.Bush
A handwritten letter to President Bush inviting him to open his heart to the deaths taking place in the Middle East.
Embracing our pain: comments on 2004 Asia Tsunami
Paris, France — The whole human race is in mourning … Over the past days I have offered incense and recited Buddha’s name every day to send energy to the victims and their families. The whole world is shaken by the disaster in southeast Asia. Indonesia and Sri Lanka have...
Thich Nhat Hanh address to US Congress, September 10, 2003
Thich Nhat Hanh gave a lecture titled Leading with Courage and Compassion at the Library of Congress on September 10, 2003. It took place in the Coolidge Auditorium of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. The event was part of the annual Capps-Emerson lecture series organized by the...