Our Teacher

thay-portrait-06Thich Nhat Hanh (known as “Thay” by his students) is a Vietnamese Buddhist Zen Master, poet, author and peacemaker who was nominated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. Born in central Vietnam in 1926, he became a monk at the age of 16. In 1966 at the age of 40, Thay was exiled from Vietnam because of his commitment to peace. A model of “engaged Buddhism”, he and the monastic community reside in Plum Village in the south of France.

The Buddha’s Teaching on Living in the Present Moment

Do not pursue the past.
Do not lose yourself in the future.
The past no longer is.
The future has not yet come.
Looking deeply at life as it is
in the very here and now,
the practitioner dwells
in stability and freedom

We must be diligent today.
To wait until tomorrow is too late,
Death comes unexpectedly.
How can we bargain with it?
The sage calls a person who knows
how to dwell in mindfulness night and day “one who knows the better way to live alone.”

Thich Nhat Hanh, Our Appointment With Life: The Buddha’s Teaching on Living in the Present.

Thich Nhat Hanh Vietnam

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh is a global spiritual leader, poet, and peace activist, revered throughout the world for his powerful teachings and bestselling writings on mindfulness and peace. 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 has 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 the United States alone, some of the best-known include Being PeacePeace Is Every StepThe Miracle of MindfulnessThe Art of PowerTrue Love and Anger.

Thich Nhat Hanh has been a pioneer in bringing Buddhism to the West, founding six monasteries and dozens of practice centers in the United States, Asia, and Europe, as well as over 1,000 local mindfulness practice communities, known as ‘sanghas.’ He has built a thriving community of over 600 monks and nuns worldwide, who, together with his 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.

Thich Nhat Hanh is a gentle, humble monk – the man Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called “an Apostle of peace and nonviolence” when nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. In the media he has also been called “The Father of Mindfulness,” “The Other Dalai Lama” and “The Zen Master Who Fills Stadiums.”