Thích Nhất Hạnh (1926 - 2022) was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, poet, teacher, peace activist, and global spiritual leader renowned for his powerful teachings and bestselling writings on mindfulness and peace. He founded the Engaged Buddhism movement which sought to apply Buddhist ethics to contemporary issues.
Nhất Hạnh was born in central Vietnam and became a novice monk at the age of sixteen. In the mid-1960s, he co-founded the School of Youth for Social Services and created the Order of Interbeing. He was then denied re-entry to Vietnam in 1966 after expressing opposition to the war, beginning an exile that lasted 39 years. In 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize, calling him “an Apostle of peace and nonviolence."
He founded the Plum Village Monastery in France, the West's largest and most active Buddhist monastery, established dozens of other monasteries and practice centers globally, and travelled internationally to give retreats and talks. He returned to Vietnam in 2018, where he lived until his death in 2022.
It is estimated that over 100,000 people have committed to follow his modernized code of universal global ethics.
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