Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh was a global spiritual leader, poet, and peace activist, revered throughout the world for his powerful teachings and bestselling writings on mindfulness and peace. His influence continues through a global community of monastics, lay teachers, and practitioners.
His key teaching is that through mindfulness, we can learn to live happily in the present moment—the only way to truly develop peace, both in one’s self and in the world.
Thich Nhat Hanh (known as "Thay" by his students) published over 100 titles on meditation, mindfulness and Engaged Buddhism, as well as poems, children’s stories, and commentaries on ancient Buddhist texts. He has sold over three million books in America alone, some of the best-known include Peace Is Every Step, The Miracle of Mindfulness, The Art of Power, True Love and Anger.
Thich Nhat Hanh was a pioneer in bringing Buddhism to the West, founding six monasteries and dozens of practice centers in America and Europe, as well as over 1,000 local mindfulness practice communities, known as "sanghas" (as Planting Seeds Sangha). Today there is a thriving community of over 600 monks and nuns worldwide, who, together with tens of thousands of lay students, apply his teachings on mindfulness, peace-making and community-building in schools, workplaces, businesses – and even prisons – throughout the world. For over 30 years he lived at Plum Village, France, in a monastery he founded in 1982.
Thich Nhat Hanh was born in 1926 and died in 2021. A gentle, humble monk, he was described by Martin Luther King as, “An Apostle of peace and nonviolence.”
In the short video below Thay talks about how awareness of the breath can allow us to be truly alive and present.
